The Ashanti Regional Police Command has arrested a 29-year-old Cameroonian national, Bella Merie, and forty-three (43) of her compatriots in connection with a fraudulent recruitment scheme believed to be linked to the notorious Q-NET scam.
The arrest took place on Monday, April 7, 2025, at around 9:00 a.m. at a residence in Kenyasi Abrem, a suburb of the Ashanti Region.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Bella Merie had allegedly collected a total of four million, five hundred thousand CFA francs (CFA 4,500,000) from her victims—thirty-two (32) men and eleven (11) women—under the false promise of securing them legitimate employment opportunities in Ghana.
Further probes indicated that the suspect used the Q-NET scheme, a known internet-based scam that falsely offers lucrative jobs and travel opportunities to unsuspecting victims, often across borders.
The victims, aged between 22 and 38, are believed to have been trafficked or misled into relocating to Ghana under deceptive circumstances.
All forty-four individuals—both the suspect and victims—have since been handed over to the Ghana Immigration Service at the Regional Headquarters for immigration processing and repatriation to Cameroon.
In a statement, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Godwin Ahianyo, Head of the Public Affairs Unit of the Ashanti Regional Police Command, reiterated the Ghana Police Service’s dedication to clamping down on fraud and safeguarding both citizens and foreign nationals within the country.
“The Ghana Police Service remains resolute in the fight against fraudulent schemes and will continue to collaborate with relevant agencies to protect the public from criminal deception,” DSP Ahianyo stated.