The Ghanian police have arrested at least 10 Nigerian nationals for suspected cyber fraud.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) at Madina Divisional Police Command Charles Domanban told Ghana News Agency that the suspects were captured from Ashongman, a suburb of capital Accra.

The suspects have been identified as Osas Igbo 21, Duru Wisdom 22, David Okondu 23, Benson Romeo 20, Randy Samuel 25, Ohis David 25, Diamond Andy 22, Kelvin Agho 23, Uyi Ighodaro and Praise Onyekwena.

According to ACP Domanban, Kwabenya Police Patrol team followed a taxicab on March 21 at 2:00 am suspecting its occupants to be criminals.

The taxi entered in a 4-bedroom house in Oforikrom, a neighbourhood of Ashongman. The suspects tried to escape but were all held quickly, he said.

The police team also seized nine laptops, six internet modems, five smartphones, and 54 SIM cards from the posession of suspected criminals.

“The suspects are often not seen during the day and often move out at night every day to have fun with friends,” said James Aseidu, District Commander of Kwabenya Police Station, who led the operation.

“Police also discovered that the suspects do not work but lead lavish lifestyles in the area. This prompted the police to raid the said house to arrest the suspects,” he added.

The police team also seized nine laptops, six internet modems, five smartphones, and 54 SIM cards from the possession of suspected criminals

The case has been handed over to Cyber Crime Unit of Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Kwabenya Police Headquarters for further investigation.

Cybercrimes in Ghana have significantly increased over the past few years.

According to Serianu Limited, a Kenya-based IT firm, Ghana’s economy suffered a loss of $50 million from cyber-crime in 2016, and information security experts have warned the government that the country will lose out more $100 billion in 2018 if effective countermeasures are not put in place.

Cybersecurity firm Delta 3 International, in collaboration with the Ghana Ministry of Communications, has been holding a series of cybersecurity awareness workshops in Accra, aimed at training country’s IT and non-IT people to protect themselves and their organizations from security risks and potential cyber-attacks.