Ghana's tech-savvy teens turn to fraud to survive

In the dusty alleys of Nima, a shanty town in the heart of Ghana's capital, a 17-year-old called “Ghost” reclines on a faded plastic chair inside a dimly lit internet cafe.

- WINIFRED LARTEY

Outside, barefoot children chase a punctured football. Inside, Ghost’s fingers dance across the keyboard, his eyes locked on WhatsApp as he engineers a phishing scam that could earn him thousands of cedis in just a few hours.

"I made GHC12,000 ($770, about 25,800 baht) last month," Ghost told AFP, his voice low and calculated, describing an online store he set up on Instagram.

"People bought phones and laptops. None of it existed."

Ghost, a pseudonym, is one of a growing number of Accra’s teenagers turning to cyber-crime to survive in a country mired in economic crisis, battling both youth unemployment and broken dreams.

From mobile money fraud to investment scams, a murky digital underworld is sucking in minors, many working from their bedrooms or small kiosks operating in plain sight — anywhere with a stable internet connection.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Nima's 441 neighbourhood is a tightly packed, working-class community of corrugated iron housing and open drains. Opportunities are scarce, but mobile phones are not.

Ghana's Cyber Security Authority (CSA) has raised the alarm over a surge in cyberfraud, with financial losses tallying $282,776 between January and March 2025, nearly doubling the $154,241 recorded during the same period in 2024.