IGP, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare
Yesterday, one of our columnists raised the issue of the menace of scammers in our public space.
We consider the activities of these miscreants to be a threat to our economy, hence our decision to support such a crusade to break their front. We are doing this because it is generally accepted that for public opinion to be effective, it ought to be sustained.
Fellow Ghanaians, we extend a hand of collaboration to you to join the crusade to expose these Yahoo Yahoo boys who have given digitisation a bad name.
All over the world, a section of the society uses the internet for the wrong reasons, but the force and impact of digitalisation cannot be diminished by any unscrupulous persons. Since yesterday, the reactions of the public to what our columnist raised about the machinations of the scammers are clear signals that people are suffering in silence.
The activities of the scammers now go beyond mere petty thievery, a pandemic that threatens the progressive mobile money interoperability.
Meanwhile, the smart intelligence officer cannot claim to be oblivious of the marauding activities of these hackers, loitering around various neighbourhoods or driving dangerously on the roads in their unregistered vehicles, plotting their next targets.
We believe that if our security agencies, especially the police who have become more visible on the roads now, conduct random searches on these characters, they would come by very incriminating evidences.
The police would either find weed, that intoxicates the scammers or certain gadgets that may be tools for Yahoo Yahoo “games.” We believe the Dampare boys on night patrols and those on motorbikes are not part of the syndicate bent on inflicting pain on their victims. We say so because the media space is full of information about some public officers who, after been offered the opportunity to serve, rather use it as a means to riches.
We recall with pain the interdiction of some police officers on night patrol a few years ago for allegedly defrauding some motorists who they marched to the ATM to withdraw several thousands of cedis for these security personnel.
These days, some of the police officers, instead of processing road traffic offenders for court would rather give them their mobile money numbers to send them what is called some “coins” to avoid the long arm of the law.
There are too many wolves these days masquerading as sheep but who have become thorns in the flesh of law abiding citizens. Ironically, the institutions and systems are in place to promote peace, law and order but the wolves in sheep’s skin are bent on derailing the national security architecture.
Fellow citizens, “See Something, Say Something” before these fraudsters destroy our livelihoods with the force of tsunami.
Sometimes with the press of a button, people’s lifetime savings are wiped away. Presently, a fraudster can be found in most homes, but parents, family and friends goad them on instead of subjecting them to the strict societal values.
We think the activities of the Yahoo Yahoo boys have gone beyond child’s play to be treated with kid’s gloves.
Their nefarious actions are a threat to our collective good, especially when some of our compatriots think there is no need to apply the brakes because these hackers have found the means to recover the millions looted by the people who colonised us. Remember that when these hackers have no foreigners to dupe, they would turn their attention to the people living in the country.
We cannot pretend that the danger posed by the scammers even if held before our eyes, we would be like the proverbial monkey who “sees nothing, hears nothing or smells nothing”. If the mindset of the national security architecture does not care about this seeming danger, then we are all at risk of being swindled by the Yahoo Yahoo boys.