Three arrested over fake online accounts posing as top Ghana officials
By DL News
Published
1 min read
In a statement issued on Monday, 22 December, the Service said the operation was carried out by its Cyber Vetting and Enforcement Team
Ghana’s Police Service says it has arrested three people accused of running a sophisticated online fraud scheme built around fake social media accounts of high-profile public officials.
In a statement issued on Monday, 22 December, the Service said the operation was carried out by its Cyber Vetting and Enforcement Team following weeks of intelligence work in parts of the Volta Region, including Sogakope, Dabala, Dzodze and Penyi.
The suspects have been named as Gideon Awudi, 25, Edem Soku, 33, and 31-year-old Judith Soku.
According to investigators, the trio allegedly created and managed bogus social media profiles in the names of senior state figures such as the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, the Inspector-General of Police and other well-known personalities, with the aim of duping unsuspecting victims.
Police say the accounts were used to gain the trust of members of the public and induce them to make payments under false pretences.
A senior officer with the Cyber Vetting and Enforcement Team said the suspects “used sophisticated methods to impersonate high-profile individuals”, adding that several people had already fallen victim to the scheme.
Further checks suggest the alleged impersonation was only one strand of a wider web of cybercrime. The suspects are also believed to be linked to mobile money fraud, credit card scams, fraudulent airtime sales and schemes targeting users on online marketplaces across multiple platforms.
The three have been handed over to the Special Investigations Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters in Accra for further enquiries and are expected to be put before court in due course.
Police say investigations are ongoing to establish the full scale of the operation and to identify any additional accomplices.
Members of the public have been urged to exercise extreme caution when engaging with social media accounts claiming to belong to public officials, and to verify identities before making any financial commitments online.
