The Accra Regional police are investigating the case of two prisoners at the Ankaful Prisons, who have allegedly defrauded a 45-year-old woman to the tune of GH¢8,300.
They are Joseph Addoa, 30 years old, serving 40 years in prison, and Yaw Bio Yakubu, 57, also serving 25 years for robbery.
Yakubu was initially sentenced to life imprisonment but it was later reduced to 25 years.
Joseph Addoa, according to police reports, persuaded   the victim that he is an importer and succeeded in collecting the aforementioned money through mobile money.
Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the victim, (name withheld), said sometime in August 2017, she received a call from Addoa, who introduced himself as an importer and through their subsequent telephone conversations, he proposed marriage to her.
She said a month later, Addoa demanded financial assistance from her to clear his car spare parts from the harbour.
According to the victim, Addoa furnished her with five mobile money numbers to deposit an amount of GH¢8,300 into them.
Addoa allegedly went ahead to tell the victim how much money should be paid into each of the mobile money accounts; and on October 10, 2017, the victim did as he had directed.
Later, the victim said Addoa was still demanding more money and it was at that point that it donned on her that Addoa might be a fraudster, and reported the matter to the Accra Regional Police Command.
DSP Savior Ahiamadi, the crime officer in-charge of operations, confirmed that since the victim did not know the identity of the said Addoa after reporting the matter, the police asked her to persuade the suspect to come down and act as a guarantor while she sold her parcel of land and any money that would accrue, she would give it to him to clear the goods.
The victim, following the advice of the police, persuaded Addoa in one of their telephone conversations to come down and act as a guarantor for her to sell her land but he immediately gave an excuse that he was busy attending to some important issues in Kumasi and that he would send his nephew to stand in as a guarantor for the land to be sold.
On December 27, Addoa sent one Kwame Mustapha to meet the victim to sign the land documents and was arrested by the police.
The victim again called Addoa to report that his nephew did not turn up and so the following day, Addoa sent one Stella Hadzah – a nursing mother he claimed was his sister – to sign the documents.
It was after Hadzah had been arrested that the police and the victim got to know that Addoa was a prisoner serving his jail term at the Ankaful Maximum Prisons.
Police investigations later revealed that he used Mustapha and Hadzah for his nefarious activity, but they were also innocent.
Mustapha, according to the police, was promised a contract by Addoa, after he (Addoa) had defrauded him of GH¢50.
The police said on January 2, 2018, Addoa was identified at the Ankaful Prison and he mentioned Yaw Bio as the master-mind behind the act and with the help of the prisons wardens, the mobile phone allegedly used for the nefarious activity was seized.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
(lindatenyah@gmail.com)