Police in Accra have arrested five Nigerian nationals suspected to be text message fraudsters.

The suspects are Chukwuka Okida, 25, a foot­baller; Ojiefo Jude, 25, a trader; Emmanuel Uka, 39, a trader; Chidebere Uka, 28, a businessman and Chibuzor Anadumanaka, 35, a trader.

Briefing the media in Accra yesterday, DCOP Christian Tetteh Yohuno, Accra Regional Police Commander, said "a telecom service provider reported to the police that for some time now, they have received complaints from their numerous subscribers that a group of fraudsters have been sending text messages that they have won cash prices rang­ing from GHÈ»5,000 to GHÈ»45,000."

He said through police intelligence work, the suspects were all arrested. Mobile phones and several SIM cards were retrieved from them.

According to DCOP Yohuno, Police investigation revealed that the suspects have succeeded in defrauding their victims by collecting recharge cards and mobile money transfers from subscribers in Kosoa, Buduburam Camp and their environs.

Modus Operandi

Explaining how the suspected fraudsters oper­ate, DCOP Yohuno said the fraudsters would send congratulatory messages to peoples' phones informing them of an amount of money they have won.

He said a recipient of the text message is immediately requested to call a certain phone number to redeem his or her prize, stating that the text message is often accompanied with a fake pin number, which are all attempts to obtain the recipient's cooperation.

"The moment you call, the receiver, purporting to be working with a telecommunication network, will ask you to confirm the pin number, purchase and scratch a credit card for them to begin the processing of your prize. You are also promised a refund of the credit when the pro­cessing is over.

"The moment you send them the scratch card digits, you are to visit the nearest customer office for your money or prize," DCOP Yohuno said.

However, he said there would usually be no prize to pick up when the person visits the nearest customer office.

DCOP Yohuno said in 2014 alone MTN (who reported the case) recorded 10,600 of such cases, and from the beginning of 2015 to date the network company has recorded 1,400 cases and still counting.

"Out of this, over 50 percent of the recipients fall for the scam," he added.

Police Advice

"A lot of people have been swindled under this type of falsehood and the general public is cautioned to be mindful of such activities," DCOP Yohuno said.

He advised the general public to be wary of such criminals and avoid falling to their dirty schemes, cautioning that "Once you suspect a spam message on your phone, delete immediately and do not entertain them any further".

MTN Cautions

Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Services Executive, MTN, in her remarks advised customers to beware of SMS fraudsters.

However, she commended the police for intervening to arrest some of the suspects, stating that "this breakthrough gives us at MTN reassurance that fraudsters who attempt to take advantage of unsuspecting victims will ultimately be brought to book".

To help reduce the risk of customers being defrauded, she said MTN does not charge any money or its equivalent before prizes are redeemed when there is a promotion.

She noted that any request for money, recharge cards or airtime before a prize is redeemed is fraudulent.

Mrs Lumor said calls originating from MTN are made from the official line 0244300000; hence any text messages or phone calls purporting to be from MTN that are made from any number other than 0244300000 must be totally disregarded as they do not originate from MTN.

She said all promotions from MTN Ghana could be authenticated on the official MTN website, adding that MTN regularly publishes the names of winners of MTN promotions on the MTN Ghana website.