Asesewa Police arrest man, 60, for fraud

A 60-year-old man has been arrested by the Asesewa Police in the Upper Manya District in the  Eastern Region for defrauding people on the pretext of sending them to South Africa for further studies.

The suspect, Mark Kwadzo Dzamasi (aka Mark Fay Akkers), claimed he is a former teacher who now works for the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), a non-governmental organisation.

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Asesewa District Police Commander, Superintendent Stephen Ahiatafu, said in December last year, the suspect, armed with forged introductory letters from the University of Ghana, Legon, PPAG and the French Embassy in Accra, introduced himself to the District Chief Executive for Upper Manya as a doctoral student undertaking research in systematic counselling in the district who needed assistance.

He said unfortunately, the letters were not cross-checked to ascertain their authenticity and he was subsequently  introduced to various organisations, as well as churches in the district.

Facts 

According to him, between December last year and May this year, the suspect had trained about 40 members of the churches on counselling techniques and how to collect data for his thesis.

"During the training the suspect very often told the participants that his project work was being sponsored by the PPAG and the French Embassy and that interested participants would be sent to South Africa for further training, after which they would be recruited as field officers for PPAG.’’ 

He was, therefore, able to lure interested participants to pay for their biometric passports, medical examination and other travelling documentation processes whose cost ranged from GH¢100 to GH¢2,000," he added.

Superintendent Ahiafatu said after defrauding the people, the suspect went into hiding and intelligence report revealed that he was hiding and operating around Ho and Dzolokpuita in the Volta Region.

With the help of the police at Dzolokpuita ,the suspect was arrested at his hideout having in his possession forged letters introducing him as a member of the Lordina Mahama Foundation and a staff (member) of the PPAG.

He called on individuals and organisations who had fallen prey to the modus operandi of the suspect to volunteer information to the police for an indepth investigation.