Imposter arrested for duping Vietnamese

A 38-year-old man is in the custody of the Osu District Police for allegedly posing as a secretary to the President’s Chief of Staff, Mr Julius Debrah, and duping a Vietnamese investor into giving him $105,740.

The suspect, Denise Ndukwu, with the help of some accomplices currently on the run, is said to have also used the name and picture of the Finance Minister, Mr Seth Terkper, to swindle the victim.

While the police gave the name of one of the accomplices as Robert Amuzu, a Ghanaian, the names of the other accomplices were not readily available.

Internet 

Briefing the Daily Graphic, the Crime Officer of the Osu District Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police Richard Daplah, said Ndukwu and his accomplices contacted the victim, Peter Wong Tung-Shung, through the Internet after they had conducted series of research into the background of the investor.

He said Ndukwu and his accomplices, through their search, had found that the investor was the next of kin of another investor, identified as Le Van Khiem, who had invested in a bank in Ghana but had died in an earthquake in Vietnam.

Mr Daplah said Ndukwu and his accomplices sent a message using the letterhead of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General to the victim, Tung–Shung and informed him that they could help transfer the inheritance payment of $8,500 through the Bank of Ghana to his local bank account.

He said investigations revealed that Ndukwu and his accomplices then demanded some documents and money from the victim to enable them to facilitate the transfer of the funds.

He said the suspects, after obtaining the bank details of the victim, used it to withdraw an amount of $100,000 from his account.

More money

The local bank in Ghana, Mr Daplah said, became suspicious of the transaction and blocked the accounts after which the suspects demanded $4,740 from the victim.

They are said to have told the victim that all arrangements had been made to transfer the money into his account but the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper, would have to sign the final document but he was proving difficult.

Mr Daplah said the suspects, therefore, demanded $1,500 from the victim to facilitate the process, so the victim sent them $1,000 but they claimed that was not enough.

He said the victim, after receiving numerous calls from the suspects who were asking him to send the $500, contacted a Ghanaian investor and discussed the issue with him only to find out that the persons he had been dealing with were fraudsters.

Mr Daplah said Ndukwu, during interrogation, admitted that he was not a secretary to Mr Debrah but claimed he was acting on the instruction of his accomplice, Robert Amuzu. 

He has since been charged with impersonation and forgery of document.   

Writer’s email: emelia.ennin@graphic.com.gh