Three persons including a woman are being held by the Commercial Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service for allegedly duping an unspecified number of people of more than GH¢160,000 in Kumasi and Accra.
The woman, identified as Araba Amoah, a trader, who uses several aliases such as Rosemary Amoah and Araba among others, allegedly posed as the wife of a Member of Parliament (MP) to dupe her victims.
Her accomplices, Victor Anum Ollenu, a guest house manager, and Joseph Abeiku Mensah Awotwe, a welder, allegedly posed as workers of Mrs Amoah, the wife of an MP.
The gang allegedly uses dud cheques to pay for items such as air conditioners and other electrical gadgets they collect from suppliers.
Another accomplice, identified as Obaa Yaa, who allegedly posed as a bank manager, is currently on the run.
Victims
Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Head of the Commercial Fraud Unit, Chief Superintendent of Police, Mr Felix Mawusi, said Amoah was wanted by the police in Kumasi for jumping bail after defrauding an airconditioner supplier of GH¢70,000.
Amoah is also on the wanted list of the Tesano Police and La Police in Accra where her victims claimed she had allegedly defrauded them of more than GH¢25,000.
The three suspects, Mr Mawusi said, were arrested after one of the victims (name withheld), an air conditioner dealer, who had been duped of GH¢66,000 reported the case to the police.
The victim, he said, told the police that on May 26, 2015, one of the accomplices, Awotwe, introduced himself as an employee of Araba Amoah’s, who needed some air conditioners for a project she was undertaking at Aburi.
Later, Awotwe, who claimed his employer wanted to have a look at a sample of the airconditioner, arranged a meeting in a house on the Spintex Road in Accra, which purportedly belonged to Amoah.
During the meeting, Araba Amoah negotiated for 30 air conditioners at a cost of GH¢66,000.
Dud cheques
According to the police, the complainant supplied 30 Galaxy air conditioners to Araba in the house on the Spintex Road.
After delivering the items, Amoah issued two cheques with the face value of GH¢33,000 each, but the complainant initially refused to accept them.
However, he changed his mind after Amoah called a woman who claimed she was the bank manager and assured the complainant that the cheques could be cashed.
The complainant then asked Awotwe to accompany him to the bank to cash the money but on reaching the Abossey Okai branch of United Bank Africa, Awotwe attempted to escape after the bank had found out that the cheques were dud.
Mr Mawusi said with the help of some good Samaritans, Awotwe was apprehended and when the complainant went back to the house where he had delivered the air conditioners, he realised he had been duped.
In the house, the police and the complainant met Ollenu who claimed the place was a guest house managed by him and that Araba and her friends had packed out a few minutes earlier.
He then reported the case to the police and handed over Awotwe who had been arrested at the bank to them.
During interrogation Awotwe told the police that Araba Amoah was the mastermind behind the plan to defraud the complainant.
About a month later, Amoah was arrested, but she denied the offence and claimed she did not even know Awotwe.
Following investigations, the police established that the manager of the guest house was also an accomplice and when he was arrested he confirmed that Amoah was the mastermind.
graphic.com.gh
