Photo: Woman Arrested For Fraud

A self-styled travel agent, Christyn Avakane, has found herself in the grips of the police after she lodged a complaint of offensive conduct against one of her clients. The unexpected happened when the police arrested her instead of her client, after listening to both of them, making her the suspect rather, while her client became the complainant. Thirty-four-year-old Christyn had reported to the Adenta District Police that she suffered insults at the hands of a male client (name withheld). When the police began investigations into the matter, it turned out that Christyn, after duping the so-called client, made a u-turn to make a case against him, in order to scare him off. The Adenta Police Commander, DSP Stephen Kofi Ahiatafu said after his outfit received complaints of offensive behaviour from Christyn, he invited the suspect. During interrogation, it was noted that the suspect had for the past three months been looking for Christyn over a US visa issue. DSP Ahiatafu, in his narration, said Christyn came to the Adenta Station on June 8, 2011 and reported a case of offensive conduct against the suspect (who is now the complainant in the case) that he had been insulting her. When the suspect was invited, he told the police that he met the lady in question somewhere in March this year. Christyn, in their discussions, promised to secure him a US visa within two weeks at the cost of $5000, of which he made an upfront payment of $2000 and also handed over his passport to her, hoping he would get it back within the two-week period stipulated. She however failed to honour her promise, resulting in periodic confrontations between the two. When the difference of $3000 was ready, Christyn was nowhere to be found while all her six contact numbers were out of coverage area or switched off. The complainant was waiting to take his passport with the visa only to be invited by the police as a suspect in an offensive conduct case. After listening to both parties, Christyn was found culpable. She was therefore arrested and detained for two days, after which a surety came to bail her on condition of reporting periodically to the police. Christyn, according to the police boss, had since failed to keep the bail term and also not shown any commitment to refund the $2000 she took from the complainant. She was therefore charged with the offense and would be put before an Accra Circuit Court today. DSP Ahiatafu suspected that the lady might have defrauded several others under the same modus operandi. He therefore pleaded with members of the general public who might have fallen victim to the activities of Christyn to call at the Adenta Police Station to lodge complaints against her. Furthermore, he cautioned the public against such people who pretend to be genuine business persons but end up defrauding others, adding that people must do due diligence before parting with their hard-earned money to such tricksters.