3 Tonaton Fraudsters Busted At Tesano

Three suspected fraudsters who often allegedly use an advertising website, known as tonaton.com, to defraud unsuspecting victims in various sums of money have been apprehended by the Tesano police in Accra.

The suspects are Stephen Asamoah aka Joe aka Ken, a driver; Daniel Quartey aka Nii Kwartei and Solomon Agyiri.

The trio, according to police reports, had advertised their telephone numbers as estate agents; and individuals who contact them to assist them get accommodation were often defrauded.

The suspects, according to the police, had used this modus operandi to defraud three victims to the tune of GH¢67,200 at Kuntunse, Achimota and Tesano.

They are now assisting the police to investigate the matter.

Briefing DAILY GUIDE, Chief Superintendent Lydia Donkor, Tesano Divisional Police Commander, said in December 2014, one Freda Effah, an event planner residing at Dansoman and her mother, Ramatu Bawa Effah, needed an accommodation through tonaton.com and they contacted Stephen Asamoah.

Asamoah, upon meeting the complainants took them to Achimota Kingsby area to inspect a four-bedroom house being offered for rent.

The complainants after the inspection expressed interest and so the suspect led them to Kuntunse to meet one Asiamah who acted as the landlord with the name Bimpong.

An amount of GH¢12,000 was paid to the supposed landlord.

Asiamah, now at large, then pleaded with the complainants to give him some few days to carry out plumbing works in the house and that he  would hand over the keys  to Asamoah, the agent, to be given to them which they agreed.

Efforts to trace the estate agent and the supposed land lord by the complainants later proved futile.

The complainants later visited the house and discovered that they were dealing with fraudsters and reported the matter to the police.

On September 8, 2016 another complainant who is the chief security officer of Forewin Ghana Limited at North Kaneshie, Joseph Akouko, also contacted Asamoah through tonaton.com for accommodation for some company workers.

Suspect took the complainant to Tesano west where he showed him a two-bedroom apartment for rent.

The chief security man showed interest but asked the agent to bring the landlord to his office for the transaction to be finalized.

The following morning, Asamoah took Daniel Quartey, an alleged accomplice, to the office of Forewin Ghana to act as the landlord.

Quartey agreed to rent the place to the company for a period of two years at a cost of GH¢36,000.

The chief security man further investigated and detected that both agent and landlord were fraudsters and caused their arrest.

At the police station, the first complainants who were defrauded GH¢12,000 identified Stephen Asamoah as the person who defrauded her in 2014.

In the course of police investigations, Asamoah mentioned Asiamah aka Bimpong as his accomplice but failed to lead the police to apprehend him.

The third suspect, Solomon Agyire, also used the same mode of operation to defraud one Charles Boateng an amount of GH¢19,200.

Efforts are being made to apprehend Ampong.
By Linda Tenyah-Ayettey
( [email protected] )