A Cape Coast Circuit Court has sentenced a 22-year old man, Derrick Buckman to two years in prison for stealing an amount of GHc1,840 through a mobile money scam.

Buckman, who pleaded guilty, is to serve his sentence in hard labour.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector John Asare Bediako told the court presided over by Mrs Dorinda Arthur Smith that, the complainant Ms Deborah Boakoh, a baker and resident of Kokorba in Kumasi reported the case last Thursday.

According to the Chief Inspector, the complainant said she received a call from a supposed MTN merchant who claimed he had mistakenly transferred an amount of GHc170.00 unto her mobile money account.

He added that, the complainant checked her account and found that it was not credited with any said amount, but later received a message from the accused in the guise of MTN notification that her account has been blocked.

The Prosecution mentioned that, the complainant confronted the accused over her blocked account and after a heated argument, Buckman asked her to hold on while he consults an MTN official to unblock the account

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He said, the accused then posed as an MTN official and asked the complainant to follow some procedures to unblock her account after which she realized GHc 1,840 had been transferred from her account to a Vodafone number.

Chief Inspector Bediako noted that, the complainant reported the issue to her father, one Nana Adu II, who in turn reported the incident to a Vodafone Office in Tarkwa which then blocked the convict’s Vodafone number.

According to the inspector, the accused was later arrested when he visited one of the Vodafone offices in aims to unblock his SIM.