Teacher accused of $44,400 fraud in property and business scam

A 47-year-old teacher, Ernestina Koranteng, has been arraigned before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing $11,000 and defrauding a Ghanaian resident in the United States of $33,400 between 2020 and 2021.

According to prosecutors, Koranteng received various sums of money from the complainant under the pretense of constructing a house in Ablekuma-Joma, Accra, and setting up a pharmacy. However, she failed to deliver on both projects.

Instead, she reportedly took the complainant to a rented property in Dansoman, falsely claiming she had purchased it on her behalf. Additionally, she alleged that the house she built had been demolished, a claim that investigations later disproved.

Koranteng, who faces charges of stealing and defrauding by false pretenses, pleaded not guilty. The court, presided over by Mr. Isaac Addo, granted her bail set at one million Ghana cedis, with three sureties required to be within the jurisdiction. The prosecution, led by Chief Inspector Daniel Ofori-Appiah, was instructed to comply with disclosure regulations. The case has been adjourned to April 9, 2025.

Further investigations revealed that in 2020, the complainant shipped two unregistered vehicles—a Chevrolet Sonic valued at $5,500 and a VW Passat worth $6,000—to Ghana, entrusting them to Koranteng. She allegedly sold the cars and claimed the proceeds were used to develop land she had supposedly acquired for the complainant. Over time, the complainant sent additional funds amounting to $18,400 for the supposed project.

In 2024, Koranteng convinced the complainant to send her an extra $15,000 to establish a pharmacy. However, when the complainant returned to Ghana in December 2024 and requested to see both the house and pharmacy, Koranteng took her to a house in Dansoman with GPS number GA-507-7636, falsely presenting it as her property. When asked to enter, she claimed the caretaker was unavailable.

Upon further questioning, she admitted the pharmacy did not exist. Alarmed by the deception, the complainant reported the matter to the police on January 22, 2025, leading to Koranteng’s arrest the following day.

Investigators later discovered that the Dansoman house was actually a rental property, frequently leased for short stays. Additionally, when Koranteng led authorities to a plot of land at Ablekuma-Joma, claiming a house she built had been demolished, police confirmed that no such structure had ever existed.