Woman wanted for fraud

Page 47: April 21, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Nima Divisional Police Command has mounted a search for a 37-year-old woman for allegedly defrauding business enterprises on the pretext of purchasing items from them.
Benedicta Gyamerah escaped arrest when she jumped the wall of her apartment at Sakaman in Accra when policemen swooped on her.
The police, however, retrieved 403 plastic chairs, 83 aluminium chairs and 31 rims of printing paper from her residence.
The modus operandi of the woman is to enter a shop and request to purchase some of the items being sold.
After negotiating the price, she requests that the owner of the shop or the sales person follow her to the bank to enable her to withdraw some money to effect payment.
Before going to the bank with her victim, she arranges for a vehicle to cart the items to a destination.
At the place, Benedicta makes arrangements with a new vehicle to cart the items to another place and thus succeeds in deceiving the first driver of the final destination of the goods he has carted.
On the way, however, she sneaks away, leaving the victim stranded.
The Nima Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent A. Awuni, told the Daily Graphic that Benedicta had a number of such cases pending before the courts.
He said in the most recent case, Benedicta approached the proprietor of a shop at Kokomlemle in Accra and requested to buy GH¢140,000 worth of printing paper.
He said after loading the items onto a vehicle, Benedicta asked the owner of the shop, Mr Michael Ekena, to go with her to the bank to withdraw money for payment.
Chief Supt Awuni said Benedicta often explained to the shop owners that she did not use cheque books, hence the need to go to the bank to pay them because the amounts involved were often huge.
He said Mr Ekena asked a brother of his to go with Benedicta to the bank to collect the money.
According to him, on the way, Benedicta allegedly informed her companion that she needed to settle a debt at the Mallam Atta Market and, therefore, asked him to wait for her at a nearby shop.
Chief Supt Awuni said that was the last time the young man saw her.
He said Mr Ekena, therefore, decided to lodge a complaint.
He explained that an informant led the police to Benedicta’s residence at Sakaman but she quickly jumped over the wall on seeing the police.