A 25-year-old National Service person (NSS), Jesper Kobina Mensah, has been remanded into police custody by an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing GH¢303,950 through unauthorised electronic transfers and converting the funds into cryptocurrency (USDT).
According to reports, Mensah is accused of moving the money from a bank customer’s account into his mobile money wallets, later channelling part of the cash into Binance crypto trades.
He faces one count of stealing under Section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29), and Section 107 of the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772).
He pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance before Judge Sedinam Awo Kwadam.
The court denied his bail application after DSP Emmanuel Nyamekye, the prosecutor, requested more time to complete investigations.
How the GH¢303k crypto fraud was uncovered
Court documents revealed that the case began after a bank customer living in South Africa noticed suspicious unauthorised transfers from his account on July 15, 2025. Investigations showed the stolen funds were distributed across several mobile money wallets.
The first arrest was made on July 28, 2025, when police picked up a man identified as a Binance merchant who admitted receiving part of the funds but claimed he only acted as a middleman in crypto transactions.
A second suspect was later arrested in Nungua, Accra, on August 28, 2025. A police search uncovered items linked to digital fraud, including:
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9 mobile phones
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2 laptops
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108 registered SIM cards
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Dozens of unused starter packs
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Other electronic equipment
Chinese Link to the Crypto Scam
In his caution statement, Mensah allegedly confessed to using two phone numbers for the fraudulent transfers.
He further claimed he was acting under the instructions of Chinese nationals, who directed him to convert the stolen funds into USDT (Tether cryptocurrency) and remit them through the Binance platform.
Detective Sergeant James Kwesi Turkson, the case investigator, confirmed that efforts are underway to trace the alleged international accomplices. Mensah is scheduled to reappear before the Accra Circuit Court at a later date.
