The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) is on a manhunt for some four fraudsters alleged to be involved in sim swap fraud.
According to EOCO, in early part of 2022, it received intelligence that there was a syndicate of fraudsters targeting the local banks in the country and stealing funds from their customers’ accounts.
in a communique issued by EOCO, it said "The modus operandi of the fraudsters is via fraudulent swap of the mobile numbers of the customers of the banks"
"This fraudulent swap causes the customers mobile numbers to be inactive whiles the same numbers are activated on the fraudsters’ sim cards enabling them to access and control the customers’ bank account and steal funds in the account"
EOCO added that another modus operandi of these fraudsters is to act as Bank officials and social engineer customers to divulge their phone numbers, password, pin code and One Time Password (OTP).
It added that after having access to the information, these fraudsters take over the mobile banking application of the customers’ thereby enabling them to fraudulently withdraw funds from the accounts.
In April 2022, EOCO in collaboration with Ghana Association of Bankers and the Ghana Police Service identified and arrested some of the perpetrators, who were mostly based in Assin Fosu.
Amongst those arrested, two (2) have been convicted at the High Court and are serving their sentence at Nsawam Prison.
"Others identified to be part of the syndicate are still at large, thus Derrick Obeng aka Chilling, Nicholas Gyekye aka Payges, Ezekiel Otoo and Frederick Anzi Quainoo, alias Kakra"
The above perpetrators are estimated to have stolen a total of over GH¢2,000,000.00 from the accounts of various customers of the banks.
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith
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