The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has dismantled a cross-border cryptocurrency fraud network involving Chinese and Malaysian nationals, recovering more than $15 million in digital assets, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Dominic Ayine has disclosed.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series on Thursday, December 18, Ayine said the syndicate targeted Ghanaians and British nationals through a locally registered company that operated under the guise of online trading and marketing. Although the company was incorporated in Ghana in 2019, investigators traced its crypto wallets to the Seychelles-based exchange platform OKX.
According to Ayine, victims were drawn in through e-commerce platforms that required registration fees before offering investment packages priced between GH¢770 and GH¢9,240. The packages were promoted through branded fliers and tiered into multiple classes, with promises of high returns from online trading and digital storefront operations. Participants were also encouraged to recruit others through referral networks, while payments were made via mobile money, cash, or cryptocurrency wallets.
EOCO’s investigations, supported by OKX’s internal findings, revealed that the transactions were not legitimate. More than 1,000 transactions were traced to a single IP address and location, indicating centralized control rather than independent investors. Know-Your-Customer checks further identified the wallet holder as a Chinese national legally resident in Ghana and employed by the company used to run the scheme.
Ayine said EOCO acted quickly to shut down the company and seize its operations to prevent further losses. “On November 19, 2025, ZODIAC successfully converted the cryptocurrency assets of the criminal enterprise and transferred $15,191,730 into the EOCO exhibit account,” he stated, describing the recovery as a major step in protecting the public from digital financial crimes.
