8 men arrested for brutally beating 21-year-old during initiation into fraud gang posing as Yemen soldiers

• Eight suspects were arrested in Ghana after allegedly beating a 21-year-old man during initiation into an internet fraud operation.

• Police say the group used photographs of foreign military personnel to pose as soldiers serving in Yemen and solicit money online.

• Investigators identified Nwachukwu King Augustine as the man who allegedly brought the suspects from Nigeria to Ghana.

Police in Ghana have arrested eight men accused of beating a 21-year-old during his initiation into internet fraud. The group is also accused of using fake military identities to solicit money from people online.

The case has exposed two aspects of the operation: the violent treatment of a prospective member and a scheme in which people were reportedly deceived into believing they were communicating with soldiers deployed to Yemen.

There is also an intriguing cross-border connection, with police saying the suspects were brought from Nigeria by a man they identified as their chairman.

Police identified the victim as Godstime Umukoro, who was found with multiple marks of assault at Kotokrom, in the Sunyani West Municipality of Ghana’s Bono Region, on October 4, 2026.

According to the Bono Regional Police Command, officers responded to a distress call at about 4:30 p.m. reporting that a group was attacking a man. The officers arrested eight suspects at the scene.

READ ALSO: 83-year-old grandma lands in prison again after being caught with meth and Colorado the second time

The suspects are Peter Mbam, 24; Godwin Moses, 26; Humble Oweifah, 18; Osas Ogbemudia, 30; Samuel Aisosa, 22; Ashile Godbess, 24; Alexander Uyuo, 30; and Patrick Romans, 25.

Investigators said the suspects told police that the beating was part of the process of admitting Umukoro into their internet fraud operation. They reportedly claimed that they had been subjected to similar treatment when they joined.

The police investigation has also pointed to a man identified as Nwachukwu King Augustine, whom the command described as the group's chairman. Preliminary findings indicated that he brought the suspects to Ghana, although the police statement did not clarify whether he had been arrested.

The alleged fraud scheme involved using photographs of foreign military personnel downloaded from the internet. 

According to police, members of the group posed as soldiers serving on the front lines in Yemen and used online conversations to persuade their targets to send money. Payments were allegedly channelled into an account belonging to their leader.

Police have not disclosed the number of alleged victims, the amount of money involved or whether the suspects have been formally charged.

READ ALSO: A 6-year-old boy shot his teacher, cursed at the police and admitted to stealing his mum’s gun

The case comes amid wider concerns about online fraud in Ghana. Recent data from the country’s Cyber Security Authority highlights the scale of the problem, with online fraud accounting for 47% of all cybercrime complaints received between January and July 2026.

The financial toll of these activities has also been significant. During an earlier nine-month period, between January and September 2025, the authority recorded GH¢12.87 million in losses specifically linked to online fraud. 

Total reported cybercrime losses for that same period exceeded GH¢19 million—an increase of about 17% compared with the first nine months of 2024, according to figures reported by News Ghana.

Those national figures do not establish the scale or financial impact of the specific operation allegedly run by the eight suspects.