A self-styled Evangelist has been beaten and stripped naked by angry residents of Koforidua – Asokore in the Eastern Region.
The incident occurred Tuesday, December 15, 2020, at about 5:00am.
The Evangelist identified as Yaw Boateng who claims is a resident of Srodae in New Juaben was wanted by residents for duping many residents.
The Evangelist who has been preaching in the area reportedly reveals doom prophecies about their victims to put fear in them which he then takes undue advantage to extort monies from them under the pretense of performing spiritual direction to cancel any bad omen that could befall them.
He is alleged to have succeeded in taken monies ranging between Ghc100 to Ghc500 from his victims.
The residents, having noticed the modus operandi of the Evangelist, laid ambush Tuesday morning and attacked him while taking Gh100 from a lady using the same modus.
He was beaten by the mob and stripped naked. But for the swift intervention of Police Personnel from Effiduase District Police, the victim escaped being lynched.
Mybrytfmonline.com reported in October this year an increasing phenomenon of fake men of God duping many residents in Koforidua through street evangelism.
It was established that a fake Prophet pretended to be preaching the gospel on the streets have duped dozens of residents in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional Capital
The 50 years old unidentified Prophet operated with a group of accomplices including a pregnant woman.
Their modus operandi is that they obtain information about their victims and under the guise of prophesying about their lives, escape with their monies and other valuables including mobile phones.
At night they pull a knife on their victims to rob them through deceitful evangelism.
On Thursday, October 22, 2020, at Adweso – Achika at about 7:00am a woman who owns a provision store lost Ghc2000 and a mobile phone to these criminals.
The woman narrated that “this morning I went for health screening while returning around Achika area I met a man who asked for direction to the Latter Day Saint Church which I showed him, but he started telling me God has revealed to him that I have some problems and went ahead to give me Bible quotations and asked me to fast and pray with it”.
She added “then he went on to tell me, I have money in my bag that the money is mine which I was surprised because it was true. He told me to go to the house to bring a Bible and salt so he performs some spiritual direction for me. Upon my return, he had crossed to the other side of the road with a pregnant woman standing by him”
“He was making the same revelation about the woman. He told us to buy pure water for the direction in which we complied. He told the pregnant woman to hand over her bag to me so he walks around and prays for some minutes without turning back. When she returned, the fake Prophet told me to also give my bag to the pregnant woman so I also walk around and pray for 10 minutes but I should not turn back. To my surprise, when I turned back after the ten minutes, the two had absconded with my bag which contained about ghc2000, my store key, and mobile phone”. The distraught woman narrated.
Another victim, woman who gave her name as Ama, told mybrytfmonline.com that she was pursued by the suspects after the close of work and under the guise of preaching to her and making revelations about her; they absconded with his handbag which contained a mobile phone and monies.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com /Obed Ansah
