The Foreign Affairs Ministry says fake online job offers are being used to traffic Ghanaians into forced scam work abroad.
Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told citizens to treat job offers from Zambia with care, after six Ghanaians were caught up in a police raid on a suspected cybercrime operation in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the arrests happened on August 23, 2026, during a joint operation by the Zambia Police Service, the country's Drug Enforcement Commission and its Department of Immigration.
What happened in Lusaka
According to the Ministry, security agencies moved on a facility they suspected was being used for organised cybercrime. In total, 79 people were arrested. Ten were Zambians and 69 were foreign nationals. Six of the foreigners were Ghanaians.
The Ghana High Commission in Lusaka — Ghana's diplomatic mission in Zambia — received reports that several of those arrested had not gone there to commit crime. They had answered what looked like normal job adverts, including online data entry roles.
The Ministry said some of them were allegedly forced into running online scams after their employers seized their passports. Without travel documents, a worker cannot easily leave the country or go to the authorities, which is a common control method in trafficking cases.
The warning to job seekers
The Ministry framed the case as an example of how trafficking networks now operate. Instead of open force, they advertise clean-looking jobs, pay for the flight, and only reveal the real work after the person has landed in a foreign country with no money and no documents.
Its advice to Ghanaians is practical: before you travel, verify the job offer, the recruitment agency and the employer. Check that the company actually exists and that the recruiter is registered.
Ghanaians already living in Zambia were also urged to be careful with online job offers and to stay in touch with the High Commission in Lusaka, which can provide consular help if something goes wrong.
"The government remains committed to protecting the welfare and interests of Ghanaians travelling to or living outside the country," the Ministry said.
Why this matters beyond Zambia
For families in Ghana and relatives in the United States who often help fund travel for work abroad, the case is a reminder that the risk is no longer limited to the well-known routes through North Africa or the Gulf. Scam-farm recruitment is now showing up within Africa itself.
The basic checks are the same wherever the offer comes from. A genuine employer does not ask to hold your passport. A genuine recruiter can be traced to a physical office and a registration number. And an offer that pays well for vague "online data entry" work, with travel arranged for you, deserves hard questions before anyone boards a plane.
The Ministry has not said what charges, if any, the six Ghanaians face in Zambia, or what consular support they are currently receiving.
