Two men, who allegedly posed as officials of a financial firm, P-Bay, assigned to help customers of Gold Coast Securities to retrieve their locked-up funds from the company, have been arrested by the police in Ho.
The suspects, who were picked up from the Assemblies of God chapel at Ho-Ahoe on Friday, are Joseph Ayittey and Charles Nyame.
Assistant Superintendent of Police in-charge of the Ho Municipality, ASP Alex Adade Yeboah disclosed these to the Ghanaian Times in Ho yesterday.
He said that the scammers had assured the unsuspecting customers that they were specifically assigned by the national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Freddy Blay, to assist them to retrieve their monies before December 4.
ASP Yeboah said that the suspects also told the customers to vote against the NPP if they did not secure their locked-up funds before the General Election.
Subsequently, about 400 customers of the company flocked to the chapel in the hope of retrieving their funds, ASP Yeboah said.
However, he said that the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), upon intelligence reports sought assistance from the police to foil the scam.
Based on that, ASP Yeboah said that two police officers were dispatched to the chapel to arrest the scammers.
He told the Ghanaian Times that the suspects had told the customers to sign agreements to part with two per cent of their total deposits with Gold Coast Securities as a condition for the deal to go through.
Apart from that, the suspects also placed a bowl at a vantage point in the chapel for the customers to make contributions towards settling the electricity bills, which would be incurred during the procedure to retrieve the funds for them.
“So far, we have contacted the office of the NPP national chairman and found out from the office that the claim of the suspects is false,” ASP Yeboah said, adding that the church leaders would be invited to assist in investigations into the matter.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, HO
