The National Lottery Authority (NLA) in collaboration with the Volta Regional Police Command has successfully arrested four lotto fraudsters in the Volta Region.
The four lotto fraudsters are Godwin Agbenyefia alias Demon, 19, Reuben Abusah alias Last Burial, 20, Kelvin Kwame Abouzi alias Kartel, 20, and Kingsley Adelekey, 21.
The accused persons were operating from Akatsi and Ho.
The Circuit Court in Ho presided over by His Honor Felix Datsomor has remanded the suspects in police custody to re-appear on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.
The lotto fraudsters have created several Facebook accounts, Whatsapp platforms and other social media platforms using the logo and pictures of the staff of the Authority and sometimes pictures of other people to defraud the unsuspecting public.
These lotto fraudsters are able to convince people who want to be rich overnight to make mobile money transfers to them in exchange for fake winning lotto numbers.
The lotto fraudsters receive various sums of money from their victims in order to stake lotto numbers for them.
After the official draw of the lotto numbers by NLA, these lotto fraudsters send photographs of FAKE Winning Coupons (Prize) to their victims suggesting that they have won.
They then demand 20-40% of the amount of money they claim the victims had won before NLA would pay their winning tickets.
Subsequently, after the victims pay the lotto fraudsters with the percentage of the fake winning prize, the fraudsters then quickly block the phone calls of their victims and vanish.
Sometimes, the lotto fraudsters manage to convince their victims to send money for registration to qualify for the leaked winning numbers.
NLA stated categorically that it has not designed any registration forms for the public to register for winning lotto numbers.
The outcome of lotto draws, it insists, is conducted in an open and transparent manner and the draw is open to the general public for witnessing daily, except Sundays and public holidays.
“It is absolutely false that people and staff of the Authority have access to winning lotto numbers.
“The National Lottery Authority (NLA) would like to commend the Volta Regional Police Headquarters for a successful operation. The Authority shall continue to collaborate with the Police and other relevant security agencies to arrest the Lotto Fraudsters across the Country.”
It said, however, that it is the responsibility of the public to be more vigilant and discontinue engaging the services of the lotto fraudsters.
“Lotto is a game of chance and it is impossible to foretell winning numbers before draws.”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana