The National Lottery Authority has announced the arrest of some 35 people for allegedly duping members of the general public under the pretext of providing them with winnable lotto numbers.

Activities of these suspected fraudsters have become rampant in recent times, with several people lodging complaints with the Authority and the police of having received phone calls requesting them to make payments in return for lotto numbers.

The modus operandi of these fraudsters is feigning or impersonating staff of the Lottery Authority and luring some members of the public into sending them monies through the various mobile money transaction platforms.

NLA said these activities were reported to the Signals unit of the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) and investigations were launched and ended with the 35 arrested who are currently awaiting trial.

Speaking to Citi News, Head of Public Relations at the NLA, Goodfellow Ofei said the activities of these fraudsters are immensely hindering the work of the Authority, and so they are working tirelessly to clamp those fraudulent activities down.

“What we have done is that, we have had the Signals Bureau of the National Investigation Bureau (NIB) to assist us because this is a cyber matter and currently, they have helped us arrest close to about 35 people who are presently facing trial.”

The PRO said the investigations swiftly yielded the needed results because the fraudsters were tracked down using the mobile phone numbers they used in perpetuating their fraudulent activities.

NLA is currently undergoing restructuring as it announced a 20 percent commission last week that got the National Lotto Writers Association agitated and embarked on a strike.

The Lotto Writers wanted the current 30 percent commission either maintained or increased to 40 percent which the Lottery Authority kicked against and said it doesn’t have any relationship with the Lotto Writers but rather, the Private Lotto Operators Association.