Judge recounts attempted MoMo scam after jailing scammer

Assin Fosu District Court Judge Mr Abdul Majid Iliasu recounted an attempted mobile-money (MoMo) scam that occurred immediately after he had jailed a scammer for a similar offence. The incident came to light while he was presiding over a kidnapping case involving four suspects accused of abducting Bismark Amoh, who was held in Kumasi from September 6 to September 11 for alleged MoMo fraud.

One of the suspects in the kidnapping case was also linked to another MoMo fraud allegation. According to Mr Iliasu, the attempted scam happened as he was leaving the court, when an unknown caller informed him that he had mistakenly transferred money into his account and requested its return. A text message purportedly from a telecommunications provider confirming the transfer then arrived.

Upon closer inspection, however, the judge recognized the message as fake and identified the approach as a common MoMo fraud tactic. The judge explained that the person had called him, claiming he had mistakenly sent money to his account. A message later arrived, appearing to be from the telecommunications service, supposedly confirming the transfer.

Upon further investigation, the judge determined that the message was a forgery and identified the offenders as fraudsters employing a well-known MoMo scam technique. The judge emphasized that the sentence he had imposed in the earlier MoMo case was intended to dissuade others from engaging in such activities. He also expressed concern over the increasing number of electronic-transaction crimes in the Assin Fosu area and called for the Ghana Police Service and cybersecurity authorities to intensify their efforts in identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators.