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Crime & Punishment of Monday, 5 August 2013

Source: Daily Guide

Conman grabbed

A con man who is suspected to have duped a number of women with the promise of helping them secure financial assistance from the Canadian Development Fund and the UN has been arrested by the police.

The man who uses several names, such as Dr Alvin Owusu, Dr Alvin Annan, Dr Fiifi Owusu, Dr Collins Amoah and Dr Alvin Mensah posed as a UN Consultant or the director of the Canadian Development Fund, which offers grants to Small and Medium Enterprises.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Christian Tetteh Yohuno, disclosed that his real name was Faith Mensah Tekpor who had even jumped bail on three occasions.

Wearing a polo shirt of different shades of blue, the alleged con man had his head bowed when he was lined up with a number of other suspects during a press briefing in Accra.

The suspect according to the Police Commander targets gullible women who were mostly business women and after duping them embarrassed them of being in an amorous relationship with him.

“Currently, he has over seven pending cases,” said DCOP Yohuno who related that, in one of the cases, he was arrested in January this year for duping the owners of popular wineries to the tune of GH¢50,000.

“He has also dubbed a young banker to the tune of GH¢5, 260,” he said adding that “he also duped another business woman of $30,000.”

When some of his victims approached him to claim their money, the police learnt that he issued a dud cheque of GH¢600.00 and another GH¢4000.00 to cover for the payment of rent and cloths from a boutique.

The police indicated that investigations had been concluded and that he would be put before court today.

Some women who were victim to his schemes also sat among the media practitioners and other police officer at the press briefing.

One of the women who spoke to DAILY GUIDE and pleaded anonymity stated that she believes close to 100 women have also fallen victim to the suspect.

She said in her case, the suspect, who was her client as he frequented her shop for pedicure and manicure services told her about four months ago that he had won a government bid for a project, but he did not have enough capital to execute the project.

The suspect, she narrated, therefore, asked her to give him $28,000 and also sent some women who she suspect are also victims to collect cloths from her boutique as well as provide hair dressing services to the tune of GH¢2,000 with a promise to pay back later.

“But when he failed to pay the debt, I started calling him on phone after a while to ask for my money and was either hanging up on me or refusing to answer his phone,” said the worried woman.

She urged other women who had been defrauded to come forward and report to the Accra police for the necessary action to be taken.

“I know there are many women out there. They should not be ashamed of being victimized. How can anyone tell that such a man had bad intentions,” she said.