A teacher, Mavis Badu, and three others are in police custody over the alleged kidnapping of a man suspected of defrauding her of GH¢44,800.
The suspects are accused of abducting 30-year-old Bismark Amoh, a resident of Assin Fosu, in an attempt to recover the money allegedly stolen from Badu’s mobile money and bank accounts.
According to Badu’s sister, Afia Adutwumwaa, the incident began on September 3 when Badu was allegedly deceived by a caller posing as an MTN Ghana official.
She was reportedly instructed to reset her MoMo OTP and provide information from her bank card.
About two hours later, GH¢24,800 had allegedly been withdrawn from her MoMo wallet and GH¢20,000 from her Ecobank account.
The family later traced one of the telephone numbers allegedly used in the fraud to Bismark.
Afia said a friend of her sister subsequently posed as a woman interested in Bismark and lured him from Assin Fosu to Kumasi, where he was allegedly seized and held for about three days.
His relatives were reportedly asked to pay GH¢45,000 for his release and partially paid after receiving pictures of him tied with ropes.
Afia said GH¢19,500 was eventually recovered from persons linked to Bismark, leaving GH¢25,300 outstanding.
She said the family later abandoned efforts to recover the balance after Bismark pleaded with them not to involve the police and promised to refund the money.
Bismark was subsequently escorted to the Assin Fosu Police Station and allowed to return home, while the four suspects were arrested by police in the Ashanti Region.
Relatives of the suspects are calling for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged fraud and kidnapping.
