Pastor Swindles Teenagers

A Nigerian who claimed to be a pastor has been arrested for swindling a 19-year-old girl. Police said he tricked the teenager to hand over her parent’s jewellery and money to prevent the premature death of 12 members of her family. The young lady at the centre of the scam whose name was being withheld for security reasons was made to part with jewellery worth GH¢5,000 and a total cash amount of GH¢2,750. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Stephen Kofi Ahiataku, Adentan District Police Commander informed DAILY GUIDE that at about 10:00am on February 1, 2013, a stranger approached the young lady for assistance to pay for his transportation cost. “The young lady who had pity on the stranger gave him GH¢5. But he told her that he was not a Ghanaian and that he would need help to sell some goods he had brought to Ghana.” The stranger who reportedly gave his name as Patrick said his goods included laptops and phones but when the young girl accompanied him to Labone junction for the said goods, they were met by another young man with brown envelops which he claimed could be transformed into money. After demonstrating how the brown envelop could be changed into money by simply rubbing it in the arms, the young lady protested that she was only there to help sell laptops and phones and not to change paper into money. The two gentlemen later took GH¢20 from the young lady and asked her to accompany them to Achimota, a suburb of Accra to meet another man who would give them money to pay her back. On arrival, they met one Pastor David Sunday, 48, who started telling the young lady about her encounter with the young men but unknown to the teenager, he was the lead trickster. The alleged kingpin then informed the young lady that 12 of her family members would die prematurely if he did not pray for her. He convinced the lady to first give him whatever money she had, “So she went to the bank and withdrew GH¢130 for them,” said the Commander. After the prayers, the pastor ordered her to go home and bring some more money and all the jewelleries in the house since they had been contaminated by bad spirits “and that she was not to mention it to anybody or risk losing her life instantly”. According to the Adenta Commander, the lady obliged and returned with an amount of GH¢2600 which belonged to her parents and all the family jewellery including gold ornaments which she handed over to the pastor in a hotel. The pastor asked the teenager to wait for him in the room whilst he went to a different room to pray over the items and the money. However, the man bolted with his booty. After waiting for a while and calling his phone several times to no avail, the teenager called the first stranger who told her she had been scammed. The case was then reported to the Adenta Police but while investigations where still ongoing the teenager, on May 13, at about 1:00pm met Pastor David Sunday and raised the alarm. With the help of some drivers and conductors at a lorry station the pastor was grabbed and handed over to the Adenta Police Station. In his statement to the police, the pastor initially denied but later confirmed the young lady’s story. The pastor told the police he arrived in Ghana in 2010 and lived at Nsakina, near Ablekuma where he worshiped with a local church. DSP Ahiataku advised the public to be wary of tricksters. Source: Daily Guide