EOCO arrests four persons over GH¢113,947 MoMo fraud

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has arrested and prosecuted four persons at a Circuit Court in Accra for their alleged involvement in money and SIM card swap fraud scheme.

The activities of the four; Richmond Donkor alias Chino, Celicia Asabere, Salifu Eshun, and Daniel Asomani Baawiah, according to court documents has led to the loss of GH¢113,947.57 belonging to an unnamed bank but described as one of Ghana’s largest.

Court document indicates that the accused, who were suspected of running the mobile money and SIM card exchange fraud, were arrested by the police in Kasoa on March 2, 2024, following a tip off.

It said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects operated in such a way that, with the assistance of some unscrupulous individuals within Vodafone, AT (Airtel Tigo), and the bank in question, mobile phone numbers associated with specific bank accounts were swapped without the knowledge of the actual account holders.

Their illegal venture also included the forgery of ECOWAS identity cards which they used in their fraudulent activities.

The four have been charged with conspiracy to steal while Donkor and Eshun have been separately charged for stealing and altering forged documents (ECOWAS Identity Card).

Eshun and Asabere are also facing additional charge of abetment of stealing.

They all pleaded guilty with explanation to the charges levelled against them but His Honour Isaac Addo, the presiding judge, after listening to their explanations entered a plea of not guilty for them, meaning the prosecution would have to prove their guilt.

Abu Issa, an official of EOCO who led the prosecution, prayed the court to remand the accused persons to enable the anti-graft body complete its investigation.

He said EOCO is still chasing Derrick Obeng, who is the mastermind of the whole scheme, and remanding the accused persons would aid in his arrest as it will prevent them from interfering with investigations.

Effah Carrey, counsel for Donkor, prayed the court to grant the accused persons bail as the charges against him are all bailable offences.

He said the accused is gainfully employed and had a fixed place of abode.

The trial judge, after listening to both parties, decided to remand the accused persons on the basis of the gravity of the charges against them and to prevent them from interfering with investigations.

They are to reappear on March 27, 2024.
Facts
The prosecution's brief fact states that on February 14, 2024, EOCO received complaints from a bank that an amount of GH¢113,947.57 had been stolen from six of its customers’ bank accounts through a sophisticated mobile money and SIM swap fraud scheme.

It said the individuals suspected of running the mobile money and SIM exchange fraud were arrested by police in Kasoa on March 2, 2024, following a tip off.

The facts said the swapping allowed the accused persons to take control of the account holders’ banking channels – mobile application and USSD, allowing them to move funds from the victims’ accounts to various bank accounts and mobile money accounts.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Donkor and Asabere altered the same EOCWAS ID Card GHA-001091841-0 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 number 2030200665017 belonging to William Agyei Kwarteng and transferred a total of GH¢33,850 from the said account to bank account numbers 2030438618518 and 2100438618512 belonging to Asabere.

Court documents indicate that Asabere withdrew the funds immediately after the accounts were credited.

The documents said Donkor and Eshun also sent GH¢5,000 to Vodafone cash number 050933002, which belonged to Eshun’s brother, Razak Salifu.

The prosecution said the bank account numbers, 140017171276519 and 2030171276510 belonging to one Comfort Asamoah-Adu were also taken over, resulting in a total transfer of GH¢10,341.2 from those accounts to MTN mobile number 0535385917 belonging to Eshun.

It further states that a bank account number 2030171273319 belonging to one Patrick Kwadwo Yeboah was also taken over and an amount of GH¢10,000 was transferred to mobile phone number 0535385917 belonging to Eshun.

It added that the prosecution said preliminary investigations indicated that in an elaborate social engineering scheme, Bawiah attempted to steal an unspecified amount of money belonging to one Muhibatu Abdul-Bassit through her AT (Airtel Tigo) cash number 0267029019.

-DGN online