Recruitment scam hits Krobo area
A 32-year-old self-styled medical doctor resident at Kpong in the Manya Krobo municipality in the Eastern Region, Michael Hope Amunu, has been arrested for allegedly defrauding some unsuspecting youth in the Krobo area in a well-orchestrated recruitment scam.
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Angry residents, largely made up of youth who paid various sums ranging from GH¢750 to GH¢2,000 to the suspect, last Friday besieged the Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court when news went viral about the arrest and prosecution of the suspect and his accomplices.
So far, 58 residents, including artisans and students, are said to have paid in excess of GH¢60,000 to the suspect in anticipation of their enlistment into the security services, including the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Background
On Sunday, June 19, 2016, Patience Tetteh, a 31-year-old resident of Nuaso, reported Amunu to the Korletsom Police for allegedly defrauding her and 57 others to the tune of GH¢60,180, with the assurance of enlisting them into the security services.
According to her, she first met Amunu in November last year and they struck an acquaintance, which was to metamorphose into marriage, as proposed by Amunu.
She stated that in the course of their friendship and preliminary discussions on the way forward for the proposed marriage, she informed Amunu, who had posed as a medical doctor, with the name Dr Dickson stationed at the VRA Hospital, Akosombo, about her failed attempts and frustration at enlisting into the GIS.
Amunu then offered to assist her through his father, Lieutenant Tamakloe Tsikata, a military officer stationed at the Flagstaff House.
Excited about the prospect of getting enlisted through Amunu, she informed two other friends with similar ambitions, Ayer Devine and Collins Mensah, who paid GH¢1,000 each in December last year to facilitate the process, while Patience herself parted with GH¢400.
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The number of victims kept rising as news went viral over the new found “Messiah”, Amunu.
Sixty people subsequently paid between amounts ranging from GH¢750 to GH¢2,000 through a designated 0543... mobile money account (registered under the name Tettey Kwame Bright), ignorantly assisted by Patience.
Two of the victims, however, opted out later for reasons yet to be established.
Further tricks
By January last year, measurements were taken of all the victims for their uniforms and they were assigned their protocol recruitment codes, including ER/001/001 and ER/003/411, as sighted by the Daily Graphic.
They were also assigned their respective training centres where they were to report on a later date to be confirmed by Amunu.
A breakdown of the payment, as narrated by some of the victims, included cost of recruitment forms of GH¢50, medical examination fee of GH¢150, uniform fee of GHc100, as well as fee for tools which was pegged at GH¢150.
Others were cost for verification of certificates, GH¢20; general knowledge test, GH¢50; ID cards, GH¢30, among several others.
When, in February this year, the road to their enlistment became hazy, laced with suspicion, the victims, including Patience, started demanding a refund of their money, amid incessant threats on Patience, who had assisted others throughout the process.
Amunu became evasive from that point and would not pick his calls. He could not be traced at his residence at Kpong quarters either.
Report and arrest
Out of frustration and constant harassment from the others, Patience, on Sunday, June 19, 2016, lodged a complaint with the Korletsom police, who tracked and arrested Amunu at his hideout at the residence of his wife, whose name was given only as Sarah, at Nuaso (Kasimu Lane) around 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 14, 2016.
Amunu pointed to an accomplice, Theophilus Tetteh, 29, an auto sprayer, who was also arrested at his residence at Nuaso Larteh.
On Friday, July 15, 2016, the two were arraigned and remanded in police custody by the Odumase-Krobo Circuit Court to reappear on Friday, July 29, 2016 because they could not fulfil the bail conditions granted on the plea of their counsel.
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The court, however, could not sit last Friday when they made their second appearance because the presiding judge was said to be on an official duty outside of the jurisdiction.
Investigations by police
In an interview, the Korletsom District Police Commander, ASP Harry Selormey, confirmed the arrest and the narrative, indicating that investigations were still underway.
He stated that although Amunu posed as a medical doctor to the victims, he told the police in his statement that he was a teacher but fell short of stating the school where he taught.
During a search conducted by the police at Amunu’s residence a number of forms of the various services, mainly the military, filled and endorsed by some of the victims, were found.
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The case has since been adjourned to Friday, August 12, 2016.