Custody
By Hillary Thompson, Accra
Police have arrested 12 suspects and are pursuing over 25 others for their involvement in cyber-related crimes following a sustained cyber-intelligence operation.
The suspects are accused of impersonating and or hacking into the social media accounts of prominent persons including ministers of state, members of parliament, heads of government institutions and corporate entities.
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Their modus operandi, according to the Police, is to defraud unsuspecting victims of various sums of money by promising them jobs, scholarships, publication of fake promotional advertisements and sale of products among others.
In a Police statement announcing the arrests, they said as part of the operation, 973 fake social media accounts created by the suspects in the names of these prominent persons and corporate entities have been pulled down.
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“785 of the fake accounts were in the names of MPs, 62 in the names of security officials, 136 for Ministers of State, Ambassadors and some heads of institutions,” it added.
The Police also recovered 32 mobile phones, three laptops and 54 SIM cards used by the suspects to commit their crimes.
“The operation to clamp down on cyber-related crimes has been institutionalised and we would like to urge anyone who has fallen victim to any of the above-mentioned crimes to contact 0249850601 for further Police action. This is a dedicated number solely for this exercise,” it urged.
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The 12 suspects, 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 are currently assisting Police investigation and will be put before court to face justice.
