The police have detained 12 people for using false identities on social media, including those of state ministers, members of parliament, heads of governmental agencies, and corporate companies. More than 25 other people are being sought by police for their alleged involvement in the same illegal act.
The suspects namely, Gideon Kove alias Billions, Felicia Nanewortor, Carl Kristal, Safari Zatey, Eric Acquah alias “Cent Mona”,Richard Agbadzi, Isaac Dortsue alias “Barajah”, Samuel Gadre, Moses Otchie alias “Razak”, Yonnah Boso, Sterling Kwame Doe and Wisdom Tornyie were currently assisting the Police investigation and would be arraigned to face justice.
According to a police news release, an investigation found that the criminal organization’s strategy was to impersonate or hack into the social media accounts of well-known individuals, such as ministers of state, members of parliament, and heads of governmental institutions, in order to defraud unwary victims of various sums of money by promising them jobs, scholarships, the publication of false promotional advertisements, and the sale of goods, among other things.It said that 973 phony social media accounts made by the suspects using the identities of these well-known people and companies had been taken down as part of the operation.
According to the brief, 785 of the fictitious accounts were in MPs’ names, 62 were in security officers’ names, and 136 were in the names of ministers of state, ambassadors, and some heads of institutions. According to the report, the Police also found three laptops, 54 SIM cards, and 32 mobile phones that the suspects had used to carry out their crimes.
The brief advised anyone who had been a victim of any of the aforementioned offenses to contact 0249850601 for additional Police action and stated that the operation to crack down on cyber-related crimes had been institutionalized. This number has been set aside specifically for this experiment, it said.
