The widely reported alleged kidnapping of a 30-year-old man, Bismark Amoh, a resident of Assin Fosu has taken a new turn following claims that the man at the centre of the incident was allegedly linked to a GH¢44,800 mobile money and bank fraud.

The new account, presented by Afia Adutwumwaa, whose sister, a teacher and victim of the fraudster’s act, is among persons currently in police custody, challenges the circumstances under which Bismark came to be in Kumasi, saying the incident was preceded by an alleged fraud in which GH¢44,800 was taken from her sister’s accounts.

According to media reports, Bismark was allegedly kidnapped on Sunday, September 6, 2026, with his alleged captors demanding GH¢45,000 for his release. He was later rescued by the police in the Ashanti Region, leading to the arrest of persons allegedly connected to his detention.

Afia, however, told journalists in Kumasi on Sunday, September 13, that the events leading to Bismark’s presence in Kumasi began three days earlier, on September 3, when her sister allegedly became the target of a sophisticated mobile money fraud.

She said her sister first received an anonymous call from a person claiming to have mistakenly transferred GH¢1,000 to her MoMo wallet. She ignored the caller and continued with her activities.

Later that day, another caller, a woman who identified herself as Emmanuella, allegedly claimed to be calling from MTN Ghana as part of a team monitoring mobile money activities.

According to Afia, the woman told her sister that an attempt had been detected to access her MoMo account and withdraw money from it. She allegedly assured her that the person involved would be blocked and subsequently called back to say the process had been completed.

The caller then allegedly instructed her sister to reset the OTP on her MoMo application and sent her another telephone number, asking her to forward messages received during the process.

Afia said her sister followed the instructions without examining the messages closely.

The caller allegedly went on to tell her that her MoMo account was linked to her Ecobank account and asked her to provide digits from her ATM card.

It was about two hours later, Afia said, that her sister realised that GH¢24,800 had been withdrawn from her MoMo wallet and another GH¢20,000 from her bank account.

The alleged loss totalled GH¢44,800.

The family subsequently sought assistance from persons with information technology expertise to trace the telephone numbers allegedly used in the transaction. According to Afia, one of the numbers was traced to Bismark.

She said a woman was subsequently used to establish contact with Bismark and lure him to Kumasi under the impression that he was coming to meet someone he had met online.

Upon his arrival, he was confronted over the alleged fraud and we recorded videos as proof of the confrontation and citizen arrest. Some of these videos were later posted online to shame the victim and raise public awareness.

Afia alleged that during the confrontation, Bismark admitted involvement in the transaction and promised to contact persons connected to him to arrange for the money to be returned.

She further alleged that Bismark mentioned several persons in connection with the operation, including a man identified as Chino, whom she said was believed to be the leader, as well as his wife, Ceci, and others identified as Naomi and Dawuda.

According to Afia, an initial GH¢5,000 was subsequently sent by persons connected to Bismark, followed by another GH¢14,500 the following day.

The total amount returned was GH¢19,500, leaving GH¢25,300 of the alleged GH¢44,800 loss outstanding.

She said the family eventually abandoned further efforts to recover the balance after he pleaded with them not to report the matter to the Police with an assurance of staying true to his words to refund the remainder of the money. “He was escorted to the Assin Fosu station, where he was given money to return.”

“For us, we gave up on the matter.” she said.

The account differs from the initial narrative surrounding the case, in which Bismark was presented as a kidnapping victim and persons involved in his detention were arrested following the police rescue operation.

According to media reports, Bismark’s family had reported that he was being held against his will and that GH¢45,000 was being demanded for his release. Reports also indicated that GH¢19,500 had been mobilised in connection with the alleged ransom.

Afia’s account is that the GH¢19,500 was instead money returned by Bismark’s relatives and associates as partial repayment of the GH¢44,800 allegedly lost in the September 3 transaction.

Relatives of the victims who have now been arrested and tagged as ‘kidnappers’ are therefore calling for the the alleged fraud, the telephone numbers used in the transactions, the movement of the money and the circumstances surrounding Bismark’s detention in Kumasi to be thoroughly investigated to unravel the truth as she has narrated.