Keypoints:
- Victims were lured with fake football and job promises
- Phones seized and families coerced to send money
- Seven suspects arrested; repatriation underway
SEVENTY-SIX Ghanaians trafficked to Nigeria under a fraudulent recruitment scheme have been rescued, Ghana’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) announced on Tuesday.
The victims, mostly young men, were duped with promises of football contracts, foreign jobs, and visa assistance. On arrival in Nigeria, their phones and travel documents were confiscated. They were confined to overcrowded housing in substandard conditions, CID head Lydia Yaako Donkor revealed in a press briefing.
The Ghana Police Service conducted the cross-border rescue operation in collaboration with Interpol and Nigerian law enforcement agencies, according to a report by the BBC.
Held in squalid camps, families exploited
Victims were forced to call relatives and demand around $1,000 under the guise of training or facilitation fees. In some cases, their contacts were exploited for online scams targeting family and friends.
Police say the victims were rescued between May 19 and June 27 from various Nigerian states. They remain in temporary care and are yet to be reunited with their families in Ghana.
According to Donkor, the trafficked Ghanaians were taken to ‘holding camps’ where as many as 40 people were crammed into a single room. Many were coerced into recruiting others into the same fraudulent schemes.
‘The psychological and economic harm caused to these victims and their families is devastating,’ she said, adding that some are ‘so malnourished and psychologically affected’ that returning to normal life will be difficult.
Company banned, arrests made
Police have arrested seven Ghanaian suspects linked to the scam. A company allegedly involved, QNET, has been banned from operating in Ghana since 2022 after being accused of running a Ponzi scheme. QNET denies involvement in any illegal activities.
The scam’s operation is consistent with a pattern in West Africa, where vulnerable individuals are lured with false job promises and coerced into fraudulent schemes once abroad.
‘We urge families to verify opportunities before committing to overseas jobs or scholarships,’ said Donkor. She warned that victims are often asked to travel by road to unfamiliar destinations, making it difficult to trace them.
Efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining members of the trafficking network, police said.
