Three arraigned over $700,000 Sim box fraud at Sakumono
Three persons have been remanded by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly running a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) box and phone-farming fraud syndicate from an apartment at Sakumono in Tema.
The accused persons, Olanrewaju Adedeji Segun, Timileyin Fakunle and Olamide Roheemot are Nigerians.
They are accused of using electronic devices and unregistered SIM cards to interfere with victims’ communications, fraudulently obtain money through mobile money transactions, convert the money amounting to 700,000 US dollars into cryptocurrency and transfer it outside the country.
They were before the court, presided over by Mr Samuel Bright Acquah, last Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to commit crime, operating electronic communication services without a license from the National Communications Authority (NCA), possession of unregistered SIM cards and obstruction of communication.
The court remanded the accused persons into lawful custody to reappear on June 4, 2026, after Chief Inspector Wisdom Alorwu, who led the prosecution, prayed the court to keep them in custody pending investigations.
Brief facts
The prosecutor, C/Insp Alorwu, told the court that the complainants in the case are officers from the Operations Unit of the Regional Criminal Investigations Department in Accra.
He said the accused persons, all residents of Sakumono, came under police surveillance after intelligence reached the Accra Regional Police Command on January 20, 2026, about suspicious electronic devices installed at House Number BE 57 on Celebrity Hills Avenue.
Police suspected the devices were being used for SIM box fraud activities.
He added that two days later, personnel from the Regional CID Operations Unit, armed with a search warrant issued by the Adabraka District Court, went to the premises and searched three apartments occupied by the accused persons.
During the operation, officers reportedly retrieved 52 SIM boxes, 26 desktop computers, 1,040 assorted mobile phones, many unregistered SIM cards, six internet routers and other electronic equipment allegedly linked to the fraudulent activities.
The prosecution identified other accused persons, Adebowole Pelumi and Michael Taiwo, who are currently at large, as members of the operation.
The accused persons also allegedly mentioned one Tommy, a Chinese believed to be in Singapore, as the person supervising the activities and giving them instructions.
The prosecutor told the court that the Adabraka District Court granted an Order of Retention and Examination to the Cyber Security Authority to analyse the seized devices.
According to the prosecution, the Cyber Security Authority concluded, based on the equipment setup and operational patterns, that the accused persons and their accomplices were allegedly operating a phone-farming scam centre.
Investigators also claimed the syndicate obstructed victims’ communications, collected money through fraudulent mobile money transactions and converted the proceeds into cryptocurrency before transferring them abroad.
Further investigations, according to the prosecution, showed that the group moved 700,000 US dollars into cryptocurrency within seven months.
