Crypto is not banned in Ghana, but almost every crypto “investment” that has been sold here by WhatsApp, Telegram or a Facebook advert has been a fraud. Ghana’s regulators have started naming them. This guide is about spotting the next one before it takes your money.

The ones regulators have named

  • YEPBIT Exchange and BonChat - the Securities and Exchange Commission warned in July 2026 that both were suspected fraudulent investment schemes, and that neither held an SEC licence.
  • “Daily Wealth Guide” - in September 2026 the Bank of Ghana and the SEC warned jointly about a crypto platform advertised with a fake video of President Mahama endorsing it. The regulators said that taking money from the public this way is unlicensed deposit-taking, and that they would seek the arrest of those behind it.

The list will grow. The SEC posts its warnings as public notices on sec.gov.gh, and the Bank of Ghana on bog.gov.gh. Search both for a platform’s name before you send it anything.

How the schemes work

  • A fixed return. “Earn 2% a day”, “double your money in 30 days”. No real investment can promise a fixed return, and crypto least of all.
  • An endorsement that never happened - the President, a minister, a pastor, a footballer, a TV presenter, usually as a video. Faked video and voice are now cheap and convincing. A real endorsement of a licensed product does not arrive as a sponsored post.
  • Early withdrawals that work. The first small withdrawal goes through, to make you deposit more and bring in friends. Then withdrawals stop, and there is a “fee” or “tax” to pay to release your money.
  • Paying people to recruit. Rewards for bringing in others are how a Ponzi scheme pays its early members with new members’ money.
  • A “mentor” or “account manager” who contacts you first, on WhatsApp or Telegram, and walks you through depositing.
  • Pressure. “The window closes tonight.” Anything that cannot wait a day for you to check it is not an investment.

The second scam: recovery

After a scheme collapses, its victims are contacted by people offering to get their money back - “crypto recovery agents”, “hackers”, fake lawyers or fake officers of the police or the Cyber Security Authority. They charge a fee up front. It is the same fraud, often by the same people, working from the list of victims.

Nobody can reverse a crypto transfer for a fee. The police and the regulators do not charge to take a complaint.

Before you put money anywhere

  1. Check the licence. Under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 crypto businesses serving the public must be licensed, and the Bank of Ghana and the SEC say they will list licensed operators on their sites. “Registered” is not “licensed”, and a company registration certificate is not either.
  2. Search the name with “scam” and “SEC Ghana”.
  3. Ask how the return is made. If the answer is “trading bots”, “arbitrage” or a secret, walk away.
  4. Never pay to unlock a withdrawal.

— Checking a financial firm is licensed — Crypto and the 2025 law

If you have already paid

  • Stop paying. Including “fees” to withdraw, and “recovery” services.
  • Keep everything: screenshots of the site and app, chats, wallet addresses, transaction IDs, MoMo and bank references.
  • Report it to the police - the CID’s cybercrime unit - and to the Cyber Security Authority, and send the details to the SEC. If you paid by MoMo or bank transfer, call the provider at once: money still in a Ghanaian account can sometimes be frozen.
  • Warn the people you recruited, if you did.

Getting money back from a crypto scheme is rare. Reporting is still what lets the regulators publish the next warning and the police trace the people running it.

— Online fraud, and the first hour — Keeping crypto safe