A two-story structure being used by Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime members as the office of the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana has been shut down, a report by Jennifer Froetschel, DS Public Affairs indicates.

The criminal activities, which  is believed to have gone for a decade, was halted after the  Diplomatic Security agents in the Regional Security Office (RSO) at U.S. Embassy Ghana launched an investigation dubbed “Operation Spartan Vanguard" initiative. "

According to the State Department, the Ghanaian and Turkish organized crime members operated the “embassy” three days-Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, 7:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m-a week.

Their two-story structure  flew an American flag outside and Inside hung a photo of President Barack Obama, and signs indicated that you were in the U.S. Embassy in Ghana.

The fake embassy was shut down in the past summer by the cooperation of the assistant regional security officer investigator (ARSO-I) at the real U.S. Embassy in Accra and  the Ghana Police Force, Ghana Detectives Bureau, and other international partners.

According to the information, officials at the legitimate U.S. Embassy were tipped off to the faker — and a similar operation pretending to be a Dutch embassy — as part of a different fraud investigation in the area and were able to shut the play embassy.

The fraud had   gone  unstoppable for so many years because the scammers paid off certain authorities to turn a blind eye, and because they didn’t find their customers locally.

Instead of allowing walk-in visits to the not-an-embassy, the fakers would find their customers out in more remote regions of Ghana, advertising on billboards and through flyers. Customers would then be shuttled into Accra and put up at a nearby hotel.

Exterior of the legitimate U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana (U.S. Department of State photo)
Exterior of the legitimate U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana (U.S. Department of State photo)

After the operation was complete, both Interpol and the Bureau of Consular Affairs were sent the information collected to enter into their databases.

At the request of the Ghana Police, DS Computer Forensic Lab will be assisting with forensic evaluation of the computer equipment seized in the operation.

seized_evidence_625_1

By:Fiifi Abdul Malik @fiifialmaestro on twitter