The confidence trickster who successfully defrauded a student to the tune of GHc3,000 at a Barclays Bank branch at Osu in Accra, reportedly posed as the Branch Manager of the Ashaiman branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB), where he was arrested last week.
The 54-year old fraudster, Emmanuel Kwaku Essong, was arrested trying to defraud an unsuspecting woman of GHc3,400 in the NIB banking hall.
[contextly_sidebar id=”K8X8uda7HayrY1ekQ9YzBX9le9vsEEIn”]According to the police, the trickster came very close to duping the woman because he managed to take hold of her GHc3,400, under the guise of depositing it for her.
The Police had been on the look out for him after citifmonline.com, published the CCTV footage of him, duping the school boy at the Osu Barclays Bank branch.
Suspect introduced himself as branch manager
Speaking to Citi News, the Tema Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Juliana Obeng, explained that Essong introduced himself to the woman as the branch manager of the bank and took her money to deposit on her behalf.
“When she got to the banking hall, it became a bit difficult trying to sort out the baby who was troubling her and also trying to deposit the money into her account. Mr. Essong studied her for a while and approached her and made her understand he is the branch Manager of the bank and so she could give the money to him.”
“She gave the money to Mr. Essong who later walked to one of the tellers and spoke with her. But just when Mr. Essong was walking from the teller’s end, she noticed he was walking in a certain manner and behaving in a certain manner that got her suspicious,” ASP Obeng recounted.
Security did not recognize suspect
After suspecting foul play, the nursing mother alerted the security men at the bank who did not recognize Essong as a staff of the bank and effected his arrest.
“She approached one of the security men and told them that this man approaching the exit of the banking hall says he is the bank’s branch manager for NIB and so he got me to give my money to him to deposit for me and so that is when the alarm blew.”
Suspect in custody of Osu police
ASP Juliana Tawiah added that, the suspect has been handed over to the Osu police to continue investigations into the matter.
She also cautioned customers to be vigilant and wary of fraudsters.
“We want to advice the banks to make sure that they are able to talk to their customers or educate members on who their staff members are. We also expect customers to be extra vigilant and look out for fraudsters like Mr Essong.”
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By: Zoe Abu-Baidoo/citifmonline.com/Ghana