The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), a state institute mandated to lead the fight against the increasing challenges of economic and organized crime has warned members of the general public against two new online illegal investment schemes being perpetrated by some unknown fraudsters.
In a press statement which is signed by its head of public affairs unit, Ms Faustina Lartey on behalf of the Executive Director, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Mrs Maame Yaa Tiwa Addo-Danquah, EOCO urged the public to refrain from investing and patronizing the two online investments, Royal Gardens Network and Hubtel Mobile Lending, describing them as fraudsters.
The press statement further noted that two online investments have not been registered to operate as online investment companies in the country hence the need for the public to desist from investing with them.
Portion of the statement read “The companies are neither registered by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) nor the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They are also not registered with the Registrar General’s Department.”
It added that EOCO had been monitoring the activities of the two online investment schemes over a period and came to realize that two online investment companies only exist in the virtual space ostensibly to defraud unsuspecting victims who make the mistake of investing with them.
The statement revealed that the two investment companies’ modus of operandi is to entice their victims to invest in the companies by promising them high returns. According to the statement the companies do that per the use of mobile money and WhatsApp platform channels. It continued that once they have defrauded their victims, they immediately close and delete the WhatsApp group and then go ahead to subsequently create a new WhatsApp group with new members.
According to EOCO the companies have been found to operate a Ponzi or pyramid scheme with a view to defraud their targets, mostly unsuspecting members of the general public.
The statement went ahead to state that EOCO in line with its mandate to prevent and detect organised crime would continue to monitor online investments with the view to ensuring that citizens were protected from scammers and fraudsters.
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