The Cybercrime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department has brought three suspects before a court in Accra following allegations of identity theft and cyber-squatting. According to a report by Modern Ghana, the individuals are accused of creating numerous fake social media profiles that mirrored the identities of high-ranking government ministers and public officials.
Intelligence gathered by the Ghana Police Service suggests that the suspects used these fraudulent accounts to interact with citizens and offer false promises of recruitment into security agencies or the awarding of lucrative government contracts. The prosecution stated that the suspects demanded various sums of money from their victims to facilitate these non-existent opportunities.
During the court proceedings, official statements from the Cybercrime Unit indicated that the arrests followed a period of digital surveillance and collaboration with telecommunication service providers. While the names of the specific ministers affected were not initially published in full by the reporting outlets, the Ghana Police Service confirmed that multiple public offices were targeted in the scheme.
Legal representatives for the accused have yet to provide a public statement regarding the charges of impersonation and electronic fraud. The presiding judge has remanded the suspects into custody or granted bail under specific conditions as reported by available court updates. The investigation remains ongoing as police work to identify any additional accomplices involved in the digital fraud ring.