The High Court in Accra has detained five young men, including a juvenile, into lawful custody for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting Ghanaians using the names of high-profile personalities on TikTok, including Lordina Mahama, and receiving over GHc500k from their victims.
Other high profile personalities they are alleged to have falsely represented include Ibrahim Mahama, John Dumelo, Asamoah Gyan, and Twum Barima, by creating and operating multiple fake social media accounts in their names.
Four of the five – Ahmed Mensah, 24, Ebenezer Ato Mensah, 25, Bernard Mensah, 30, and Blessed Sam, 22, (second to fifth accused persons), respectively, have been remanded into police custody to reappear on April 14 after pleading not guilty to their respective charges.
The first accused person, said to be a juvenile (name withheld), has also been detained at a Juvenile Detention Centre to reappear on the same day.
Their modus operandi was that they lured their victims into believing that, by downloading an application known as ‘Trust Wallet’, any amount paid would result in the person receiving larger sums of money credited to their wallet, including foreign currencies such as dollars, an act that was false.
The juvenile (name withheld) and – Ahmed, Ebenezer, and Bernard pleaded not guilty to the charge of defrauding by false pretense contrary to Section 131 of the Criminal Offence Act, 1960, Act 29.
While, Blessed Sam, denied the charge of obtaining electronic payment medium falsely, contrary to Section 119 of the Electronic Transaction Act, 2008 (Act 772).
Their lawyers had prayed for them to be granted bail but prosecution opposed to the request and the Court presided over by Justice Halimah El-Alawa Abdul-Basit remanded them.
Brief facts
Per the brief facts of the case, the complainant is the Chana Police Service while the first accused person,18, (name withheld), because the Court was unsure of his age.
The second to fifth Accused persons are – Ahmed Mensah, (A2), Ebenezer Ato Mensah, (A3),, Bernard Mensah, (A4), and Blessed Sam (A5)- are all unemployed persons residing at Ayensudo in the Central Region of Ghana.
The Prosecution said, investigations revealed that since, 2024, the accused persons, acting in concert and with a common purpose, engaged in a fraudulent scheme on ‘TikTok’ and other electronic platforms.
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Through this action, they deliberately and falsely personated high-profile Ghanaian personalities, including Lordina Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, John Dumelo, Asamoah Gyan, and Hon. Twum Barima, by creating and operating multiple fake social media accounts.
Some of these accounts are – @ibrahimmahama094, @mr.twum.barima02, @asamoah.gyan091, @lordina.mahama78, @ibrahimmahama880, @lordinamahama60, @johndumelo93, @ibrahimmrmahamas, and @asamoahgyan 720, among others.
The Prosecution said, furtherance to their criminal enterprise, the accused persons created and used fraudulent email accounts including twumbarimapaulapreku@gmail.com, btwum228@gmail.com, lordinamahall@gmail.com, and mrmahamaibrahim@gmail.com, to enhance the credibility of their impersonation and facilitate communication with unsuspecting victims.
It said, the accused persons, through these false representations, lured members of the public with promises of lucrative financial rewards and deceitfully induced them to download an application known as Trust Wallet, under the pretext that funds in foreign currency (United States Dollars) would be credited to them.
“The victims were further instructed to pay various sums of money to the accused persons in order to receive activation codes or access to the purported funds.
“Investigations established that the accused persons successfully defrauded several victims of an amount exceeding Five Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC500,000.00), which monies were transferred into mobile money accounts under their control,” the brief facts stated.
The accused persons subsequently dishonestly appropriated the proceeds of their criminal activities for personal gain, including the construction of a house, and the purchase of a motor vehicle, a motorbike, and several mobile phones.
On March 31, 2026, the accused persons were arrested and in their respective cautioned statements, they admitted to creating the said fraudulent accounts and collecting monies from unsuspecting members of the public under false pretences. Investigation still on going.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
