Two QNet associates in Ghana have been arrested following a hostage recruitment state of affairs.
Pafio Agordo and Knowledge Korda lured a college contact to Koforidua in jap Ghana.
The sufferer, a laborer, was advised he could be given a place in a fictional import firm.
When he arrived Agordo and Korda took the sufferer to a rented condo. They then confiscated his telephone and what cash he had on him.
Agordo and Korda held the sufferer hostage till he agreed to contact his mom and grandmother.
In an interview with GhanaWeb, the sufferer recalled;
They compelled me to deceive my grandmother for cash however my grandmother determined to return and see me in particular person.
They demanded ID automobiles from my grandmother with made her upset and she or he left.
Additionally they compelled me to deceide my mom to go for a mortgage of GH900 and despatched it to me, which they took all the cash.
Equally, (they) compelled me to deceive my Pastor who additionally despatched GH350.
These funds are then funneled into QNet.
GhanaWeb later interviewed the sufferer’s uncle, who claimed the hostage recruitment scheme was generally being utilized by QNet associates.
They pressed him below duress and requested him to name household and pals.
They took his telephone, went by the contact record, requested him who is that this, who’s that. Then they sat on his neck to name them and demand cash from them.
Sadly for the boy, he doesn’t know anyone right here till we got here in.
This sort of enterprise is illegally being operated, it’s a fraud, it’s a rip-off.
We’re calling on the federal government to as shortly as presumably and urgently dissolve this QNet enterprise.
Whenever you go to the place they function actually it’s an eyesore. Then youngsters don’t have meals to eat, they don’t enable them to go to their relations.
The(y) police them like prisoners.
Authorities in Ghana have had a tough time policing QNet recruitment.
In 2019 authorities deported fifty-two QNet associates, who had illegally entered to advertise the pyramid scheme.
Luring unsuspecting victims on the premise of false jobs has been occurring for some time. Earlier this yr we reported the observe was nonetheless widespread throughout Ghana.
Some victims are compelled or inspired to take lout loans they will’t afford. One such QNet sufferer took his personal life in July.
Formally QNet is protected in Ghana by the Ministry of Enterprise Growth. In March 2021 Joe Tackie, Chief Director of the Ministry, said it was ‘glad to have QNET in Ghana for the lengthy haul.’
With the federal government unwilling to close QNet down, Ghanaian authorities have needed to petition the Excessive Courtroom to dissolve QNet as a enterprise.
The Legal professional-Basic … in July this yr filed a petition on the Accra Excessive Courtroom in search of an order to win up (dissolve) QNet firm.
Within the petition … filed final Monday, the A-G accuses the corporate of participating in dishonest, unlawful, and fraudulent enterprise actions.
“Investigations by the Nationwide Safety Council Secretariat disclosed that QNet operates in a way akin to a Ponzi scheme, by luring purchasers to make deposits and investments with them which they ultimately lose,” the petition stated.
Whether or not something comes of the AG’s petition stays to be seen.
Replace 4th November 2022 – Following a regulatory enforcement motion towards the corporate, QNet has been ordered to get out of Ghana.