The police have arrested a 21-year-old man suspected to be the leader of a police recruitment scam.
The suspect, Frank Fenuku Junior, was arrested at Zongo Junction, an area at Adentan in Accra, on September 27, 2021.
Earlier on September 14, 2021, three persons said to be his accomplices were arrested over a fraudulent Facebook publication purported to have been created by the Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mr Edward Oduro Kwateng, seeking to assist potential applicants to be enlisted into the Ghana Police Service.
Admission
A statement signed by the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Volta Regional Police Command, Inspector Prince Dogbatse, said Fenuku allegedly admitted to being the mastermind behind the false Facebook account aimed at defrauding interested applicants.
The three accomplices — Bernard Amenyah, 18; Godsway Adzikah, 23, and Godson Wemegah — are on trial at the Ho Circuit Court.
Fenuku, the statement said, gave further details about how he conspired with others to swindle unsuspecting victims of their money, under the pretext of allocating protocol slots for them in the ongoing Police Service recruitment.
Police investigations into the matter reportedly revealed that the SIM card with number 0557918534 contained in the Facebook account and which aided their nefarious operations was found in Fenuku’s possession.
Fenuku, who is in police custody, is expected to be put before the Ho Circuit Court on Monday, October 4, 2021.
Meanwhile, the Volta Regional Police Command has said it will continue to deal with all persons involved in recruitment fraud in the region.
Warning
The issue about scammers taking to social media to dupe people over possible recruitment into the security services, such as the Ghana Immigration Service, the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service, has been quite persistent and becomes worse during recruitment exercises.
Ahead of the recruitment exercise for the police this year, the Police Administration issued a stern warning to fraudsters who target job seekers to stay off its upcoming recruitment process.
“Any fraudster who wants to take advantage of the publication of the Ghana Police Service 2021 recruitment process to swindle people will be dealt with ruthlessly according to the law,” the acting Director-General of the Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Mr Kwesi Ofori, had said in an interview last Monday.
He advised people seeking to join the Ghana Police Service to be vigilant and report any scammer who used illegitimate means and social media platforms in an attempt to swindle unsuspecting people.
“The public must be wary of advertisers or persons requesting an upfront fee for processing your applications. A genuine advertiser or employer will not ask you for money.
“The fraudsters also request for money transfer. Nobody should part with money through any middleman to facilitate his or her recruitment into the Police Service,” ACP Ofori said.
He said the public must also take note of scammers who requested for non-work-related personal information, such as “your appearance or marital status. A recruiter should only need to meet the general requirements specified in the publication”.
He said the Police Administration had not contracted any middleman for the recruitment process.
“Any person who claims to be selling recruitment forms should be ignored. We are not selling any recruitment forms for the process,” he cautioned.
The Police Administration, ACP Ofori said, was not using any social media platform for the recruitment
Clearance for recruitment
The government recently gave clearance for the recruitment of personnel. The Ghana Police Service was cleared to employ about 5,000 people into the service.
Source: Graphic
