The Ghana Police Administration has uncovered the latest modus operandi being used by scammers to swindle innocent citizens of their hard earned monies. The latest scheme, according to the police, is the use of the name of the security service to defraud unsuspecting victims.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana Police, DSP Cephas Arthur, who revealed the new tricks in an interview with The General Telegraph, said the fraudsters swindle relatives of their victims under the guise that their family member had been arrested by the police for an alleged bumping into a police vehicle, resulting in damages.
He said the scammers would then instruct the family member to send some money through a mobile number to be given to the police to avoid their relation being dragged to court.
According to the police administration, the new method adopted by the fraudsters is easy to outwit unsuspecting victims.
Fearing going through prosecution, the innocent relations would swiftly send the money through the given number only to reakize it was a scam.
According to the police spokesperson, when the potential victims demand to speak with the police, the fraudsters would hand over the phone to their collaborator who would threaten to take further action if the money was not sent to them early.
The unsuspecting victims would realize later after sending the money that the number used could not be traced again.
“They will just call a relative of anybody at all and say their family member has been arrested by the police after bumping into a police vehicle and ended up destroying either the tail light or any other part of the car. They would then ask them to send money to enable the police to free the victim. When they managed to convince the unsuspecting victim and collected the money through mobile money transfer, they would switch off the line,” he told this paper.
“Many individuals have fallen victim to this new scam and we think the public should be aware of this. We urge them to report anything of that sort to the police for investigations.’
According to the police spokesperson, this modus operandi is gaining credence considering the fact that people are now using mobile numbers which cannot be traced.
Citing an example, DSP Arthur narrated how the driver of a pure water truck who had left his company, managed to convince his former boss that a car was being sold at Asamankese in the Eastern Region but would require re-fixing of its tyres.
DSP Arthur said the driver then demanded an amount of ¢900 but, after purporting to have fixed the car, the owner of the car waited in vain for several hours.
DSP Arthur said the fraudsters subsequently called the woman, claiming they had been arrested by the police and that she should send extra money to be given to the police.
He said, convinced, she sent another ¢500 through mobile money transfer and the fraudsters went into hiding until she reported the case to the police.
Police said the fraudsters have also adopted strategies of hacking into the phone book and email accounts of innocent victims to pick sensitive information which they later use to blackmail them.
The police assured that, even though they are investigating a number of such hackers and occasionally arrest some, it becomes difficult in arresting them because, they discard the numbers after use, which makes it difficult to trace.
“The public is advised to be aware of the tricks. They should report it to us immediately when they suspect some foul play and we would manage to arrest them,” he said.
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