The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has arrested four persons allegedly involved in a sophisticated mobile money and SIM swap fraud scheme.
They are Richmond Donkor, Cecilia Asabere, Salifu Eshun, and Daniel Asomani Baawuah.
According to EOCO, their activities have led to the loss of GH₵113,947.57 belonging to one of Ghana’s largest banks.
The four accused have been put before an Accra Circuit Court and charged with conspiracy to steal.
Richmond Donkor was also charged with altering forged documents.
The EOCO prosecutor, Mr Abu Issa, told the court that the four accused persons, with assistance from some individuals at Vodafone Ghana, Airtel Tigo (AT), and the said bank, swapped mobile phone numbers linked to some bank accounts without the knowledge of the account holders.
He said the SIM swap gave the accused persons access to the account holders’ mobile banking channels, allowing them to move funds to other banks and mobile money accounts.
Further investigations also revealed that Donkor and Asabere altered an ECOWAS Card in the name of one William Agyei Kwarteng.
They then used the altered ID card to swap the phone number attributed to the bank account belonging to William Agyei Kwarteng and transferred a total of GH₵33,850 from the said account to bank accounts belonging to Asabere.
The prosecutor said Asabere withdrew the funds immediately after the accounts were credited.
The other accused also stole some amounts of money from other accounts using the same procedure.
Mr Issa said that on February 14, 2024, the EOCO received complaints from the bank that an amount of GH₵113,947,57 had been stolen from six of its customers’ bank accounts.
He said the suspects were later arrested at Kasoa on March 2, 2024, following a tip-off.
Meanwhile, the court has remanded the accused persons based on the gravity of the offence.
They are to reappear before the court on March 27, 2024.