The counterfeit US dollars
A new breed of confidence tricksters and scammers have entered the Zongo space across the country, their targets being Muslims who speak Hausa.
Victims of the scammers have narrated their ordeals at the hands of the crooks who present themselves as Islamic clerics with the ability to recite portions of the Holy Quran.
One of the victims, a lady resident in one of the Zongos in Kumasi, was in the course of her encounter with the crooks told to buy a ram for some spiritual interventions.
The crooks had called her through her mobile phone.
She was asked to send the money through electronic transfer, which she did, having lured her with wads of US dollars which turned out to be fake anyway.
She discovered in the end that she had been duped.
Another victim was told through a phone call that he showed kindness to someone who wanted to reciprocate the kindness through the invocation of Allah’s blessings.
Orphans, he was told, were going to do the recitation.
After sometime he was told to send some money for the orphans who were engaged for the spiritual exercise, which is a standard practice.
He was told to go to a location in Kumasi and pick a parcel.
The victim, whose identity will not be disclosed, said, “when I picked the parcel it contained wads of US dollars which I suspected were fake. After some days they called me and said I should send some money for another round of Quranic recitation, which I obliged. Three persons were involved in the fraud, one a lady whose name they said was Amina, Ali Alhassan and another whose name was not given.
“The man whose name was not given asked me to go and drop the parcel in a stream. I did following there was a request for the purchase of a cow and this was when I discovered that a syndicate was active using a complex means of extorting money from unsuspecting persons. I refused to oblige and that was the end of the contact.
“When I called two of their numbers they were off, but an alternative number to Amina Ali’s had a male voice, and I told him that it was surprising how they could use the Holy Quran to dupe people knowing the repercussions of their dirty deals on their persons.”
The numbers involved in the fraud, he said, are 0505464793, the registered name being Ali Alhassan, this man also has another number which is 0555337189. “One of the members of the syndicate has this number 0539062390 as his contact. Amina Ali has two registered numbers, but one of them had a male picked the call, but after being told that they had been exposed and would soon be arrested he remained silent. The numbers are 0542632922 and 0536871885,” he added.
By A.R. Gomda