Police Issue Alert On Social Media Impersonators

The Ghana Police Service has warned the public to be wary of fraudsters impersonating high profile personalities, especially politicians and celebrities on social media.

A statement signed and issued by the Director General of the Police Public Affairs, ACP David Eklu, yesterday indicated that the duplicated accounts are created by fraudsters with the intent to dupe innocent persons of money and valuables, believing they are dealing with persons with influence.

“Fraudsters duplicate accounts or websites of these personalities and provide telephone numbers which they use to make direct contact with innocent persons; promising them goodies such as recruitment into the public services, auction sale of state vehicles, amongst others”, the statement read.

There has been instances where high profile personalities have had their social media accounts duplicated.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale North Constituency, Alhaji Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, is a victim to this menace as his Facebook account got duplicated last year.

Other personalities such as Hon. Adwoa Safo, Madjid Michel, Berla Mundi, Bisa K’dei have all got their Facebook accounts duplicated by fraudsters.

The Police is currently investigating a number of such reports, including a complaint lodged by the Director of Communications at the Office of the President, Eugene Arhin.

According to the statement, Eugene Arhin was impersonated with the imposter assuring his victims of several awards such as securing positions in government for them, once they part with varied sums of moneys.

The Police has therefore warned the public to “take precautionary measures such as verifying websites, social media accounts, telephone numbers, and the persons behind them before parting with money, and valuable information and properties.”

They also urged the public to promptly report any fraudulent actions related to social media to the nearest police station for investigation.

By: Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum/ thePublisher