Football stars warned to be wary of fraudsters
The Director of the Commercial Crimes Unit (CCU) at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent of Police Mr Felix Koku Mawusi, has cautioned football fans wishing to go to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup to be wary of fraudsters who will capitalise on the excitement and the travel opportunity to deceive and defraud people.
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He, therefore, advised those who intended to go to Brazil to support the Black Stars to deal with only credible and accredited companies.
False pretext
According to him, around this period, people collected various sums from others on the pretext of arranging travel packages, consisting of a passport, a visa, an air ticket and stadium tickets for sports fans.
He warned that scammers would also put up false representations, especially about free tickets or how to purchase tickets online for the final match, saying scammers would send e-mails giving information on sports lottery and winning of grand prizes and incredible compensations.
Exercise great care
“People must exercise great care if they do not know the senders of the
e-mails during this period. Avoid clicking on links and also opening of attachments which can lead to an attack on computer systems,” he warned.
Mr Mawusi said in 2006 when the Black Stars participated in the World Cup in Germany, 12 people reported to the CCU that they had been defrauded by people on the pretext of sending them to the games.
He said seven persons were arrested and prosecuted.
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According to him, in 2010 when the Black Stars went to the World Cup in South Africa, eight people reported after the games that they had been defrauded in deals to take them to the tournament.
He said six persons were arrested and prosecuted and stressed that there had been similar complaints in the regions and the districts too.
Difficult retrieving money
In all those cases, he said the complainants paid amounts ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 to the suspects.
“One thing people need to know is that it is very difficult and sometimes impossible to get your money back from fraudsters, so awareness and prevention of fraud must be taken seriously by the public,” Mr Mawusi said.