Media asked to protect public from scammers

By A.B. Kafui Kanyi, GNA
Hohoe (V/R), Aug. 10, GNA - Mr Bernard Otabil, Director of Communications, Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Tuesday challenged the media to help protect the public from scammers by exposing their illegal financial activities.

He said activities of unlicensed financial networks and institutions border on criminality than banking and called on the media to do due diligence before advertising their activities as demanded by ethical standards.

At a news briefing in Hohoe on concerns over illegal deposit takers, Mr Otabil said society relies 'heavily' on journalists and media practitioners for accurate information and education.

He said it is therefore incumbent on the media to protect the people by providing 'honest, transparent, fair and accurate reports'.

'Kindly note that by the ethical standards in advertising, you are to ensure that companies that come to seek for any kind of promotion on your networks are properly authorised to engage in the products and services they offer,' he stated.

This year, a number of financial networks in the Volta Region and other parts of the country, under the guise of engaging in 'microfinance' activity succeeded in swindling investors of their deposits.

Victims of the scammers in the region held street protests and threatened to boycott the December 7 polls should government fail to assist them to retrieve their monies.

Mr Otabil said the BoG is liaising with law enforcement agencies to identify owners of such schemes to face the law.

He urged the public to be cautious when dealing with companies offering abnormally high interest on deposits.

He said any savings interest rate abnormally higher than Government Treasury Bill rates should be a signal of a potentially high risk.

He said it is not difficult to find credible microfinance institutions, which display license of authorisation in the banking halls, which could be verified by anyone at the central bank.

GNA