The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) has successfully recovered $15,191,730.13 from cryptocurrency wallets linked to a criminal enterprise that defrauded Ghanaian and British citizens through fake e-commerce websites and Ponzi investment schemes.
Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine announced the recovery at the government accountability series press conference on Thursday.
The criminal network, comprising mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals, targeted victims since 2019 using fraudulent online investment schemes with packages ranging from GH₵770 to GH₵9,240.
“The criminals developed attractive flyers to promote fraudulent investment and categorized the investment into classes. So they had VIP1, VIP2, VIP3, VIP4 to VIP5. And depending on the package, the price would enhance or increase,” Ayine explained.
Victims were told they would make fantastic earnings by operating trading accounts, owning online shops, and trading on the company’s platform. Following typical Ponzi scheme patterns, victims were encouraged to recruit others through networking and referral systems.
The AG said payments were made through mobile money, cash, or crypto wallets, with the criminals producing instructional videos demonstrating how to pay using virtual currencies.
EOCO investigators used sophisticated tools including Chain Analysis Reactor software to trace cryptocurrency transactions and identified transfers into crypto wallets held on OKX, an exchange platform located offshore Seychelles.
“OKX’s own internal investigations suggested that the criminal cluster which EOCO was pursuing had been found to be fraudulent. Their suspicion of fraud stemmed from the fact that over a thousand transactions from this cluster originated from a particular computer IP address and from a particular location,” the AG stated.
EOCO obtained Know Your Customer information from OKX showing the wallet owner was a Chinese national who worked in Ghana under a residence permit and worked for the company used to defraud victims.
The office froze the tainted wallets and set freezing orders on OKX. When suspects sent emissaries to inquire about the frozen wallets, EOCO invited them to Ghana for investigation, but the company closed down and operations “disappeared into thin air.”
Faced with lack of cooperation from Malaysian authorities after requesting mutual legal assistance, EOCO turned to the UK’s National Crime Agency and enlisted Comply Crypto Depository to facilitate transfer of virtual assets from the four seized wallets to Zodiac Custody.
EOCO obtained a High Court order on May 27, 2025, directing OKX to transfer all crypto assets to Zodiac Custody for realization into fiat currency and payment into EOCO’s Exhibit account.
“Through this approach, EOCO successfully used our local laws to freeze and recover virtual assets hidden in foreign jurisdictions,” Ayine said.
On November 19, 2025, Zodiac Custody successfully converted the crypto assets and paid the amount to EOCO’s Exhibit account.
The AG said the criminal enterprise laundered proceeds into Bitcoin, USDT, and Ethereum in an attempt to hide funds from Ghanaian law enforcement.
“With this recovery, millions of funds which were looted out of the country have been successfully returned to our motherland,” he stated.
EOCO will enter a second phase involving screening Ghanaian and British victims for restitution.
The AG praised EOCO Executive Director Raymond Archer and his team for their dedication, and thanked the UK National Crime Agency, Zodiac Custody UK, Chain Analysis UK, OKX Exchange UK, and Justice Gwendolyn Millicent Owusu of the High Court Economic and Financial Crime Division for their support.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
