Police nab six for scamming people with bogus charity for ill people

The Social Welfare Department and the Legon Police have nabbed six people in Accra and Kumasi for collecting money illegally from the public by pretending to have sick relatives.

They operated in different places, such as Nyamekye Traffic Light, Barn Yard, Kwashieman, Madina Reece Junction, Pantang Junction, and McCarthy Junction. The first three arrests happened at Madina Reece Junction, where the culprits were caught red-handed.

Another group at Pantang Junction ran away when they saw the police, leaving behind their equipment and a broken car that they used to store them.

The police towed the car to the Legon Police Station, where they also took the three suspects.

Korankye Oduro, a Senior Development Officer at the Social Welfare Department, cautioned the public against giving money to street fundraisers for sick people, and advised them to report such cases to the Social Welfare Department.

At the Legon Police Station, one of the suspects, a woman, offered to lead the police to the leader of the gang, but he had already fled.

The police got some information from the local traders and arrested three more people involved in the same scam.

The District Commander, Superintendent Cecilia Appiah Ampofo, said that the suspects would be transferred to the Ministries Police Station for trial.

The six suspects are currently in police custody and will soon face the court. Some Ghanaians were outraged by the scam, saying that the fraudsters took advantage of people's kindness and empathy for the sick.