A 419 police recruitment syndicate in Ghana has smiled its way to the bank with hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of Ghana Cedis, leaving the Administration of the Ghana Police Service red-faced with embarrassment.
The scam came to light last Saturday when hundreds of potential police recruits besieged the five police training depots in Ghana with their luggage to begin training to be policemen and women
Most of them university graduates, the victims of the scam had reported at the Kumasi, Koforidua, Pwalugu, Accra and Ho Police depots with their recruitment letters before they were informed that the letters were fake and the purported recruitment nothing but a scam.
They had been hit between GHc2,000 and GHc3,500 each (N150000 – N200,000). No wonder the Ghana Police had a hectic time convincing them that they had been 419ed
Meanwhile, the police have mounted an intensive search for the arrest of persons who are behind the recruitment scam.
The GPS Director-General (Press and Public Affairs), Deputy Commissioner of Police Rev David Nenyi Ampah-Benin, said the scam had been so well organised that all the victims were given appointment letters purported to have been written by the police.
He said all the victims of the scam reported at the same time at the various depots with their luggage to start training.
He disclosed that the Criminal Investigations Department of the service had launched full-scale investigations into the scam to establish the masterminds of the crime.
DCOP Ampah-Benin said the victims were said to have paid money ranging from GH¢2,000 to GH¢3,500 to the fraudsters.
DCOP Ampah-Benin said recruitment into the Ghana Police Service was free and that the police were not currently embarking on any recruitment exercise.
He, therefore, called on members of the public to be wary of fraudsters, adding that the police did not contract people to recruit on their behalf.
“Anytime the police are ready to recruit, a publication will be made in the media to enable interested persons to apply,” he said.
The Director General also called on anybody who had fallen victim to the activities of recruitment fraudsters to report to the nearest police station or the CID.
He indicated that since 2012, the Police Service had not done any recruitment because those who were recruited then were trained in batches which ended in 2014, adding that the police were yet to determine whether or not to carry out any recruitment exercise.