A teacher, Mavis Badu, and three others are under investigation for allegedly kidnapping a suspected mobile money (MoMo) fraudster in an attempt to recover money lost to fraud.
The teacher is reported to have lost a total of GH¢44,800 from her mobile money wallet and bank account after allegedly falling victim to a sophisticated fraud scheme.
According to her sister, Afia Adutwumwaa, the incident began on September 3 when Mavis received a call from someone claiming that GH¢1,000 had mistakenly been transferred to her MoMo wallet.
She reportedly ignored the call but later received another call from a woman who identified herself as Emmanuella and claimed to be working with MTN Ghana.
The caller allegedly told Mavis that an attempt had been detected to access her MoMo account and assured her that the suspected fraudster would be blocked.
She subsequently instructed Mavis to reset the OTP on her MoMo application and forward messages received during the process to another telephone number.
According to Afia, the caller later claimed that Mavis’ MoMo account was linked to her Ecobank account and asked her to provide digits from her ATM card.
About two hours later, Mavis allegedly realised that GH¢24,800 had been withdrawn from her MoMo wallet and another GH¢20,000 from her bank account, bringing her total loss to GH¢44,800.
The family then sought help from persons with information technology expertise to trace the telephone numbers allegedly used in the transaction.
One of the numbers was reportedly traced to 30-year-old Bismark Amoh, a resident of Assin Fosu.
In an attempt to recover the money, a friend of Mavis allegedly posed as a woman interested in a romantic relationship with Bismark and lured him to Kumasi.
According to Afia, Bismark travelled from Assin Fosu to meet the woman, only to be confronted and allegedly held by the four suspects.
“A friend of my sister posed as someone who wanted to have a relationship with the guy, so he travelled from Assin Fosu to meet the lady. They then held him and demanded the money,” she explained.
Bismark was reportedly held for about three days, with his alleged kidnappers demanding GH¢45,000 for his release.
His relatives reportedly made a partial payment after receiving pictures of him allegedly tied with ropes.
Afia said videos were recorded during the confrontation and later posted online as evidence of what the suspects described as a citizen’s arrest.
She further alleged that Bismark admitted involvement in the transaction and mentioned several people he claimed were connected to the operation.
Among those named were a man identified as Chino, who was allegedly described as the leader, as well as his wife, Ceci, and others identified as Naomi and Dawuda.
According to Afia, persons connected to Bismark subsequently sent GH¢5,000, followed by another GH¢14,500, bringing the total amount recovered to GH¢19,500.
This left an outstanding balance of GH¢25,300.
She said the family eventually stopped pursuing the remaining amount after Bismark pleaded with them not to report the matter to the police and promised to refund the balance.
“He was escorted to the Assin Foso Police Station, where he was given money to return home,” she said.
“For us, we gave up on the matter,” Afia added.
However, Bismark was subsequently arrested along with the four suspects after the matter came to the attention of the police in the Ashanti Region.
Mavis Badu is currently in police custody, while the circumstances surrounding the alleged kidnapping and the original fraud are being investigated.
Relatives of those in custody are calling for a thorough investigation to establish what happened and bring finality to the case.
Source: Wesleyannews.com
Do you have a story to share? Send it to our editorial team at editor@wesleyannews.com