Luck eluded 17-year-old Bright Agyemang, a dispatch rider, last Friday when a staff of VIP Jeon Transport Service apprehended him for seeking to fraudulently acquire a parcel service form at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange Bus Terminal.
The suspect had on Wednesday contacted a parcel officer, Ntoam Emmanuel Awaafba at the terminal to enquire about the form and promised him a reward.
Management of the company upon a tip-off from the parcel officer then alerted the police post on the premises, leading to the arrest of the suspect when he visited the premises on Friday to collect the form.
Meanwhile, footages of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) planted at the bus terminal, have as far back as March 25, 2021, captured the suspect taking videos and pictures of buses and signposts on the premises of the company.
Upon Interrogation by the police, it was discovered that the minor wanted to use the form to defraud unsuspecting persons who engaged in online purchasing of items.
If successful, he would have used the form as a lure to get victims outside the Greater Accra Region to electronically wire money to the suspect with the hope of receiving items that had been sent via VIP bus.
The suspect, a SHS student who worked as an unlicensed dispatch rider during vacation, indicated that he was motivated by an unfortunate experience where he lost about GH₵350 through a similar scheme.
The General Manager of the company, Adakabri Frimpong Manso, in an interview, said that the company had recorded incidences where victims with images of forms bearing their details go to their various terminals requesting to collect parcels that were never sent.
The company, he said, has zero-tolerance for such nefarious activities and would urge the public to be cautious while engaging in such online transactions.
“VIP does not offer anything for sale online. When you send any item through VIP parcel service, you are issued documentation to cover what you have brought to the parcel service. And when it is tracked to the end receiver to come for it, he or she would receive a text message or a phone call,” he said.
The company with the assistance of the police have since reached out to the family of the suspect to further assist in investigations.
By Issah Mohammed