A 22-year-old trader, who allegedly defrauded a woman of GH¢300,000, appeared before an Accra Circuit Court.
Prince Agboglah Selorm, accused, collected the money from victim, under the pretext of securing her VVIP National Lottery Authority (NLA) winning lotto numbers, but failed to honour his promise.
Prince Selorm, charged with defrauding by false pretences, pleaded not guilty.
Accused allegedly promised to help the victim, Comfort Yankey, win lotto to the tune of GH¢2.8 million and facilitate the collection of the money.
Prince Selorm is also among nine other persons, who advertised on social media platforms, including Facebook and WhatsApp and used subtle craft to deceive the public by giving them winning lotto numbers of the NLA.
They are Wise Akagboa, 25, unemployed, Hallow Winfred, 21, unemployed, Akli Gershon, 19, store attendant, Peter Sappeya, 24, student, Mantey Dzidzinyo, 19, student, Oscar Amevor, 19, student, Azilah Elijah, 19, Store Attendant, and Samuel Kuditsa, 19, student.
Selorm and the eight others have been jointly charged with charlatanic advertisement.
They have denied the charges and the court presided over by Mr Emmanuel Essandoh admitted them to GH¢ 300,000 bail each with two sureties.
They are to reappear on April 4.
When the case was called Tuesday, in court, prosecution, Inspector Frederick Sarpong, said investigations were underway and prayed for an adjournment.
According to prosecution, the complainants in the case are the management of the NLA, Accra.
Insp Sarpong said in January, this year, management of NLA received complaints from the public that some individuals have used the NLA symbol, photographs and the names of NLA staff to create various social media accounts and advertised to give winning lotto numbers to the public for a fee.
Prosecution said the individuals used the same strategy to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, and NLA management reported the case to the police and the victims were invited for interrogation.
Insp Sarpong said accused were arrested with the aid of the phone lines they used to perpetuate the crime.
Prosecution said a search conducted on each of the accused led to the discovery of the mobile phones containing various SIM cards used by them to defraud their victims.
Insp Sarpong said Ms Yankey mentioned Selorm’s phone number, which he used in defrauding her of GHC300,000 under the pretext of giving her NLA winning lotto numbers to enable win GHC2,860,000 and also to facilitate collection of the money.
Prosecution said accused used three different mobile phone numbers to receive the money (mobile money) from the victim. -GNA
