The Ngleshie Amanfro District Police Command has rescued 16 West Africans who were illegally brought into the country by an individual under the guise of QNET, purportedly for employment.

The rescue mission that took place on July 23 through an intelligence-led operation occurred at a private residence in Peace Town, a suburb of Ngleshie Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.

District Crime Officer of Ngleshie Amanfro, ASP Justice Bright Amanfo is reported to have said that some of the victims had been in the country for over a year while engaging in fraudulent activities.

The rescued individuals, who spoke in French, have been handed over to the appropriate authorities after the police screened them. The police are currently in search of the individual who housed the victims.

A group of two hundred and two (202) Ghanaians who were lured with fake promises such as lucrative job opportunities in foreign countries by a human trafficking and scam syndicate, Q-Net (QuestNet International), operating in Nigeria have been rescued and repatriated, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

He made these revelations on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday, July 23, while he was addressing lawmakers during a session focused on Ghana’s diplomatic and security efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly the operations of the Q-Net syndicate in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.

“Our mission in Nigeria, Mr Speaker, has recently rescued and repatriated 202 Ghanaians, 78 through the Abuja Mission and 124 through the Lagos Mission. The traffickers lure unsuspecting compatriots under the pretext of facilitating their travel to France or other European countries for lucrative job opportunities,” he said.

He said 78 individuals were repatriated through the Abuja Mission, and 124 individuals returned via the Lagos Mission. In his update, he disclosed that the victims fell for the lies and fraudulent operations allegedly spearheaded by the syndicate group, a notorious recruitment and trafficking network. Victims are mostly committed to countries like Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire in the name of making transits, and cooked-up stories such as visa processing in the aforementioned countries are relatively faster than they are in Ghana.

The North Tongu Member of Parliament also added that approximately five hundred (500) Ghanaian nationals are reportedly being kept hostage against their will in Côte d’Ivoire. Diplomatic efforts are currently underway to identify and safely bring them back home.

“According to the Ghana Embassy in Abidjan, the clandestine nature of the operations of the scammers and the silent arrival of victims in Côte d’Ivoire make it challenging to determine the number of Ghanaians being held hostage. The Mission estimates that there are over 500 Ghanaians currently held in secluded locations. Efforts are being made to bring them home,” he continued.

These victims, the minister said, paid huge sums of money to secure promised jobs and travel opportunities. He disclosed that “These individuals were lured with promises of overseas travel opportunities and paid between GH¢18,000 and GH¢40,000 to scammers purporting to facilitate travel documents and transit to destinations such as France, Canada, Belgium, and Qatar.”

In a shocking revelation, Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa announced that the leaders of the trafficking syndicate being operated in Côte d’Ivoire are reportedly Ghanaians, some of whom were victims of the scheme. Instead of fighting the system to save others from falling prey, they have joined the syndicate and are scamming others to recover their losses.

“Investigations have revealed that some of the ringleaders behind the Q-Net operations in Côte d’Ivoire are themselves Ghanaians—former victims of the same scam—who are now exploiting others in a desperate attempt to recover their personal losses,” he revealed.

Despite the significant rescues made so far, Mr Ablakwa assured Parliament that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with national and international security agencies, is intensifying efforts to dismantle the trafficking networks and implement lasting solutions to what he described as a “deeply troubling trend.”

He said his outfit will launch an awareness and sensitization campaign in the next two months to educate the public to be vigilant when such schemes are presented to them. "Beginning in September, the Ministry will roll out a nationwide sensitization campaign in collaboration with the NCCE to educate the public on the dangers of QNET-related scams”, the sector minister said, calling on all Members of Parliament to also educate their constituents to save them from becoming the next victims.

“I urge Honourable Members of Parliament to educate their constituents and help raise awareness to prevent more Ghanaians from falling victim to such deceptive recruitment schemes.”

In June this year, Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor, in a press briefing, revealed that 76 Ghanaian victims had been rescued in Nigeria between May 19 and June 27, 2025, in collaboration with Interpol and Nigerian authorities.

During the rescue missions, seven Ghanaian suspects were arrested and were in custody in Nigeria at that time. She reiterated that some of the victims were promised football contracts and later kept in overcrowded, unhygienic camps with their phones and documents confiscated. Following their being kept hostage, some were forced to reach their relatives and make demands for ransoms in exchange for their freedom under false pretences.

DCOP Donkor described the Q-Net scheme as “highly deceptive and exploitative,” targeting youth and professionals alike. She warned that anyone involved in recruiting or harbouring victims would face prosecution under Ghana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Act.

Reacting to the growing links of fraud and human trafficking to their company, QNET’s Global CEO Malou Caluza publicly stated that their company was a transparent, legitimate direct-selling company, emphasising that “some bad apples" had misused the brand in response to scam allegations.

In her statement, she said, “We are very transparent as a company. Everything you want to know about QNET is available on our website and our social media pages.” She also highlighted QNET’s commitment to education and awareness, noting that the company uses social media campaigns, stakeholder engagement, PR programs, seminars, and training to help people understand the difference between legitimate direct selling and illegal pyramid schemes.

This was after wide reportage and tagging that their company hid behind “e-marketing” to exploit people. Fast forward, QNET officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on Tuesday, July 15, during a press conference in Accra. The MoU aims to combat fraud, human trafficking, and brand impersonation and includes joint efforts in public education, intelligence sharing, and enforcement support.

In May, two Ghanaian women, identified as Anastasia Badoo Atta and Serwaa Konadu, were lured through Facebook by individuals posing as white suitors offering marriage. What began as a virtual courtship turned into a nightmare after the women traveled to Nigeria, where they were abducted.

Their harrowing experience gained national attention after a disturbing video emerged, showing the women stripped naked, tied up, and assaulted with cutlasses by their captors. The kidnappers also threatened to kill them and covered their heads with black polythene bags before sending the footage to their families while demanding a ransom of GHS500,000 per victim.

In a collaborative effort between the Ghana Police Service, the National Signals Bureau (NSB), and the Nigeria Police Force, a coordinated operation led to the arrest of eight suspects across both countries. The main suspect, Peter Okoye, along with two accomplices, allegedly held the women captive from April 22, 2025. Despite the kidnappers' high ransom demands, only GHS18,000 was sent by the victims’ families to various mobile money numbers traced to the suspects.

DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor, Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), while engaging the media, revealed that the two Ghanaian women had been rescued from kidnappers in Nigeria and brought back to Ghana.

Ghana’s Anti-Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694), is a comprehensive law aimed at preventing, punishing, and reducing human trafficking, while also protecting and rehabilitating victims.