Ghana must intensify fight against romance scams and money laundering – Fraud Examiner

A US-based Ghanaian certified fraud examiner, Isaac Obour, has warned that individuals involved in romance scams, wire fraud and money laundering in Ghana often operate with the support of influential people within the system.

According to Obour, young people engaged in such criminal activities do not work alone but rely on connections with powerful individuals, including some persons whose responsibility is to detect and combat financial crimes.

Speaking on As It Is In Ghana on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM in Ghana and 92.4FM in the UK, he said Ghana’s financial sector has relatively strong monitoring mechanisms and compliance systems capable of identifying suspicious transactions, but some officials allegedly undermine these efforts through collusion.

He explained that such cooperation is often motivated by financial benefits received from individuals suspected of engaging in fraudulent activities.

Obour noted that there are cases where some individuals receive huge sums of money that do not match their known sources of income, describing such situations as red flags that should trigger further scrutiny from financial institutions.

He urged banks and other financial institutions to strengthen their due diligence procedures and investigate large foreign inflows to determine whether they are legitimate earnings or proceeds from criminal activities.

Although he acknowledged that banks are making efforts to improve their monitoring systems, he insisted that more needs to be done to ensure they remain vigilant against emerging forms of financial fraud.

The fraud examiner also called on Ghana’s security agencies to intensify their efforts in tackling financial crimes, particularly through lifestyle audits aimed at persons displaying unexplained wealth.

He argued that Ghana should have been able to address such criminal networks before international agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), became involved in cases involving the extradition of Ghanaian nationals accused of fraud-related offences.

Obour said the involvement of foreign law enforcement agencies sends a negative signal about Ghana’s ability to deal with financial crimes internally.

“The recent extradition of Ghanaians over romance scam and wire fraud is unfortunate. It is not a good picture in the international world. It destroys our reputation in the international world and undermines investor confidence,” he said.

He added that repeated cases of fraud and scams weaken trust in Ghana’s economy and called for stronger systems to prevent a few individuals from damaging the country’s global image.

“We’ve not pronounced anyone guilty, but we cannot also watch on while these few individuals destroy Ghana’s reputation,” he stated.

Obour further urged law enforcement agencies to take decisive action against suspected fraudsters to protect Ghana’s reputation and maintain confidence in the country’s financial system.

Prince Antwi

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