The Attorney-General, Dominic Ayine has revealed that the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has tracked down and dismantled a sophisticated crypto fraud operation conducted by Chinese and Malaysians that targeted Ghanaians and British nationals, leading to the recovery of more than US$15 million in cryptocurrency assets.
Speaking at the government accountability series on Thursday, December 18, the Attorney-General revealed that EOCO investigators established that the crypto wallets were linked to a crypto exchange platform called OKX which was based in Seychelles.
However, the criminal enterprise established a company in Ghana in 2019 with the company’s principal business described as general trading and online trading and marketing.
Mode of operation
The victims were permitted to purchase products online from the company’s e-commerce websites by paying a registration fee. Once signed on, the victims were encouraged to purchase investment packages which ranged from GHC770 to GHC9240.
The criminals developed attractive fliers to promote fraudulent investment and categorized the investment into classes. They had VIP 1, VIP 2, VIP 3, VIP 4 to VIP 5, price increases depending on the package.
Victims were informed that they would make impressive earnings by operating trading accounts as well as owing an online shop and trading in the company’s goods on its online platforms.
Victims were encouraged to embark on recruiting other victims through networking and referral systems. These investment packages could also be purchased via virtual currencies. The payments to the company in Ghana were either made by mobile money, cash or via a crypto wallet.
EOCO’s investigations and findings
The Attorney-General explained that OKX’s internal investigations confirmed EOCO’s suspicions, establishing that the criminal cluster which EOCO was pursuing had been found to be fraudulent.
According to the findings, more than 1,000 transactions originated from a single computer IP address and a specific location, pointing to the activities of one individual rather than multiple independent users.
Further investigations, including Know Your Customer (KYC) verification obtained by EOCO, identified the wallet owner as a Chinese national working in Ghana under a resident permit.
The suspect was also found to be an employee of the company allegedly used to defraud several Ghanaian and British citizens.
Mr Ayine said EOCO moved swiftly to shut down the company involved in the scam and seize its operations as part of efforts to prevent further losses to the public.
“In the course of the investigation, the company used to defraud Ghanaians was shut down, and its operations were seized. On November 19, 2025, ZODIAC successfully converted the cryptocurrency assets of the criminal enterprise and transferred the amount of USD 15,191,730 to the EOCO exhibit account,” he added.
