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In October 2025, Clement Osei-Wusu, a travel and tour agent, allegedly promised to secure jobs in the security services for a civil servant (name withheld) and his relatives. He collected GH¢107,000, equivalent to slightly more than $9,000, from the complainant for jobs that did not exist.
According to the police, the complainant met Osei-Wusu through a WhatsApp group called “Limited Job Opportunities”, which the accused allegedly operated. Osei-Wusu is accused of luring prospective victims by advertising recruitment opportunities in the security services.
By the time the complainant realised he had been duped, he had already made several payments to the accused. He was left hoping that legal action would help him recover his money.
His experience reflects that of many Ghanaians who have fallen victim to job scams on WhatsApp and other online platforms, a problem the Ghana Cyber Security Authority has flagged as a concern.
The fraudsters typically use a simple modus operandi. They send messages to unsuspecting members of the public via SMS, email and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.
“The scammers pose as recruiters and advertise remote or part-time, high-paying jobs that require applicants to perform digital tasks, such as liking social media posts and referring friends,” the authority said.
“Interested individuals are directed to interact with the recruiters on WhatsApp or Telegram via a link embedded in the unsolicited message.”
In the first six months of 2026, for instance, the authority recorded 352 cases, resulting in total financial losses of GH¢3,429,447.
The prevalence of these scams may be linked to the widespread use of WhatsApp among Ghanaians, although usage figures alone do not establish a direct causal relationship. Statista reported that, in 2025, 98.4 per cent of internet users in Ghana used WhatsApp to communicate.
The scale of WhatsApp use in Ghana makes it an important space for public awareness and scam prevention. Beyond identifying the problem, Ghanaian authorities need accessible procedures that let citizens authenticate suspicious messages, report fraudulent claims, and access accurate information. Singapore offers an example of how government intervention can create a safe space for users to verify potential scams at any time.
The Singapore example
Singapore has also reported cases of WhatsApp scams. However, the government has introduced initiatives to help the public identify and respond to scams through dedicated channels and tools.
A joint initiative involving Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs, the Singapore Police Force, the National Crime Prevention Council and Open Government Products has produced ScamShield, a platform designed to help people protect themselves against scams. Its services include a mobile app, a 24-hour helpline, official alert channels and a central website.
Screenshot of ScamShield Mobile App | Photo Credit: Ekow Boakye
ScamShield is available on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. After installation and setup, the app can automatically block incoming calls from numbers identified as scam-related by the Singapore Police Force and the National Crime Prevention Council. This reduces the burden on users to screen known scam calls and helps limit their exposure to fraudsters.
The app can also filter potential scam SMS messages into designated folders, such as “Junk Messages” or “Unknown & Spam”, depending on the user’s device settings.
Users can upload screenshots of messages received via SMS, WhatsApp or Telegram for assessment to determine whether they may be malicious.
If implemented in Ghana, WhatsApp group members could benefit by submitting suspicious messages for assessment and sharing the findings with other members. As of now, Scam Shield has built its data primarily concerning Singapore, and so users in Ghana will face limitations due to local differences in scam messaging. A well-curated Ghanaian service like Scam Shield could help WhatsApp groups verify potentially fraudulent messages rather than relying solely on information from members regarded as experts. Individuals could also submit suspicious messages for assessment before deciding how to respond.
ScamShield users can report new scams and suspicious contacts directly through the app, helping authorities gather information about emerging threats and protect the wider community.
The Singapore government also provides a 24-hour anti-scam helpline for people seeking assistance or suspecting they have fallen victim to a scam. The official ScamShield website provides advisories and updates to help users stay informed about emerging scams.
Does Ghana have the capacity?
Ghana has an established Cyber Security Authority, separate from the Ghana Police Service, which also has a Cyber Security Unit. Working with the National Intelligence Bureau and the National Information Technology Agency, these institutions could explore developing a similar anti-scam app.
Such an initiative may be feasible, given Ghana’s existing systems for linking mobile phone numbers to subscribers’ identities. The National Communications Authority has the mandate to assign short codes, which could support a dedicated anti-scam helpline or reporting service around the clock, should Ghana decide to pursue the initiative.
Fact-Checking on WhatsApp
Another challenge is identifying, challenging, and correcting misleading recruitment claims circulating in private chats and WhatsApp groups before more people fall victim to them.
DUBAWA Ghana and FactSpace West Africa have deployed WhatsApp chatbots that allow users to submit questionable information for verification.
Screenshots of DUBAWA’s Chatbot.
For DUBAWA, the WhatsApp chatbot functions as a remote fact-checking service for WhatsApp users.
When a user encounters a questionable link or audio recording in a private group, they can forward the content directly to the chatbot.
The bot acknowledges receipt of the submission, categorises the claim and forwards it to newsroom researchers. If the claim meets the organisation’s fact-checking criteria, researchers investigate and verify it before sending the findings back to the user. The user can then share the fact-check report with the person or group that originated the claim.
Members of WhatsApp communities who encounter suspicious messages could use such chatbots to submit them to fact-checking organisations for verification.
WhatsApp-based fact-checking allows members of the public, including journalists, to submit questionable claims for verification. However, GhanaFact’s experience suggests that developing a verification tool is only part of the challenge. Encouraging people to use it, responding to submissions and ensuring that corrections reach affected audiences are equally important.
Alfa Shaban, an editor at GhanaFact, explains how the organisation’s WhatsApp chatbot works, how it supports journalists and the challenges limiting its reach.
The chatbot serves two main purposes. Where GhanaFact has already published a fact-check on a claim or a related subject, the platform can automatically share the relevant information with the person enquiring. Where no such report exists, the submission is referred to the team for assessment and possible investigation.
This gives journalists an additional channel to access fact-checking support on WhatsApp. For journalists working under tight deadlines, an existing fact-check can help establish whether a claim has already been investigated before it is included in a news report.
Despite its potential, getting people to use the tool remains a challenge. Shaban says engagement has fallen short of the organisation’s expectations. He estimates that the chatbot receives about five interactions a week, compared with an internal target of at least 20.
He adds that not every submission qualifies for fact-checking. The team must first assess whether a claim meets its criteria before committing resources to an investigation.
“If we expect that in a week we should get at least 20 people interacting with the chatbot, we could go a week with maybe five,” he acknowledges.
To raise awareness of the chatbot, GhanaFact introduced it during training programmes and sought to promote it on radio. However, Shaban says limited resources and competing demands have made it difficult for the organisation to sustain these efforts.
“For every report that we publish from the chatbot, we publish on all our platforms, our website, our social media platforms, and we do a TikTok video of the report. So it goes directly to the one who asked for it, but it also goes onto all our platforms.”
The experience highlights a challenge for digital fact-checking initiatives: making a verification service available does not necessarily mean that people will use it. For a tool designed to help people scrutinise information circulating in private messaging networks, public awareness and engagement are essential to expanding its reach.
Another question is what happens after a claim has been verified. Shaban says GhanaFact shares its findings with the person who submitted the material and publishes the reports on its website and social media platforms.
This approach allows fact-checking findings to reach audiences beyond the person who initially sought verification.
Giving people access to fact-checking
Some WhatsApp group administrators have become informal gatekeepers, scrutinising suspicious claims and sharing them with professional fact-checkers before circulating the findings among other group members.
“The information there [in the groups] is sometimes very interesting. I push it on my office [newsroom] platform to be fact-checked and give feedback to my group,” says Khadija Iddi, a journalist who administers several WhatsApp groups.
Her approach illustrates how individual group administrators can help limit the spread of misinformation. However, not every group has a journalist or a member with the skills and resources to verify suspicious claims. Without such interventions, fraudulent recruitment advertisements can circulate unchecked, potentially exposing more Ghanaians to scams.
Khadija’s approach offers a practical way to flag questionable claims before they spread further. However, it depends on individual initiative, access to newsroom verification and the willingness of group members to accept corrections. Without these conditions, a group may have no reliable way of distinguishing verified information from a convincing falsehood.
In one of her groups, ‘LEGAL KNOWLEDGE SHARING’, members are often sceptical of job and travel opportunities posted by other members. This has, perhaps unintentionally, created an informal community-based verification system. When someone shares an opportunity, members with relevant expertise assess its authenticity before others decide whether to act.
The way forward
For fact-checking and scam-prevention initiatives to become dependable parts of Ghana’s information ecosystem, they must be accessible, timely and trusted. The bigger challenge, however, is ensuring that these interventions consistently turn individual efforts to verify information into corrections that reach audiences beyond those who actively seek them.
Community-led verification, as demonstrated by Khadija’s approach, alongside the WhatsApp chatbots operated by DUBAWA and GhanaFact, offers two complementary ways of bringing fact-checking closer to where misleading claims circulate. Group members and individual recipients can flag suspicious messages and share verified findings, while chatbots provide channels for submitting questionable claims to professional fact-checking organisations.
Ultimately, a dedicated anti-scam service such as Singapore’s ScamShield, supported by government and operated in the public interest, could bring these measures together as part of a coordinated effort to combat fraudulent activities exploiting WhatsApp and other messaging platforms.
Pursuing this approach could help ensure that fact-checks and scam alerts reach the same WhatsApp users and groups targeted by those spreading misleading information.
