Three men accused of using Tonaton (an online trading platform) to defraud an unspecified number of people of various amount of money have been arrested.
Though they were arrested separately, the Tesano Police which had received a number of complaints against the suspects said they used the same modus operandi to defraud people.
Three of their victims claimed they had been defrauded of a total amount of GH¢67,200 at Kuntunse, Achimota and Tesano.
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The Tesano Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent of Police Ms Lydia Donkor, said the suspects advertised as estate agents on Tonaton and displayed their mobile phone contacts but individuals who contacted them for accommodation were often defrauded.
In the case against Asamoah, she said in December 2014, a young woman, an event planner, and her mother found Asamoah’s contact on Tonaton.com and they called him to assist them to find accommodation.
The victims, Ms Donkor said, then scheduled a meeting with Asamoah who took them to Achimota Kingsby in Accra to inspect a four-bedroom house for rent.
After inspecting the house and expressing interest in it, the victims were led by Asamoah to meet a man, identified only as Bimpong, who allegedly posed as the owner of the house.
The victims are said to have paid GH¢12,000 to Bimpong who asked for three days to complete plumbing works in the house before handing over the keys to Asamoah to be given to the victims.
After days of waiting in vain, the victims tried to call Asamoah through his mobile contact but that proved futile.
When the victims visited the house, they discovered that they had been dealing with fraudsters, leading to the filing of a complaint with the Tesano Police.
2nd case
According to Ms Donkor, on September 8, 2016, the chief security officer of Forewin Ghana Limited, North Kaneshie, also told the police that he contacted Asamoah through Tonaton for accommodation for some workers of the company.
Asamoah is said to have taken the chief security officer to Tesano West where he showed him a two-bedroom apartment for rent.
The chief security officer then asked Asamoah (who claimed he was an agent) to come with the landlord to Forewin Ghana Limited office for the transaction to be finalised.
Asamoah is said to have introduced Quartey as the landlord at the Forewin Ghana office where they agreed to rent the place to the company for a period of two years at a cost of GH¢36,000.
After the money had been paid, the chief security officer checked the background of the two persons and detected that they were fraudsters and caused their arrest.
At the police station, the event planner and her mother identified Asamoah as the person who defrauded them of GH¢12,000 in 2014.
In the course of police investigations, Asamoah mentioned the name of his accomplice as Asiamah, the man who had posed as a landlord, but failed to lead the police to apprehend him.
Another victim
The third suspect, Agyire, also defrauded a man of an amount of GH¢19,200 after he had contacted him for accommodation.
After meeting the victim at Kata Hotel, near Lapaz, in Accra, Agyire is said to have taken him to the Pentecost University area at Sowutuom.
At Sowutuom, a man who identified himself as Ampong posed as the landlord of a house and collected the money.
Later, the complainant is said to have gone to the house to prepare the place before moving in only to find out that the house did not belong to the said landlord.
Investigations later led to the arrest of Agyiri and an amount of GH¢1,000 was retrieved from him.
