- TrustGH Flags Nearly 1,000 Suspicious Numbers Impersonating Papaye, KFC and Other Food Chains
Ghanaian consumers searching online for restaurants are increasingly being exposed to sophisticated digital impersonation scams, with nearly 1,000 suspicious mobile numbers identified in connection with fraudulent Google Business Profiles mimicking major food chains and restaurants, according to TrustGH.
The public scam-verification and reporting platform said its investigation focused on business listings appearing on Google Search and Google Maps, examining suspicious telephone numbers, duplicated profiles and other publicly available digital indicators.
Customers of Papaye, KFC and Pizzaman Chickenman were among the most heavily targeted, with close to 100 suspected fraudulent Google Business Profiles identified in connection with each of the three brands.
Other businesses identified during the investigation included Pinkberry, Marwako, 80/20 Burger, Pizza Inn, Eddy’s Pizza, Papa’s Pizza, Noble House, Starbite, Chicken Inn, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Frankie’s, Honeysuckle, Flicks & Licks, Chicken Republic and ChopShop. TrustGH stressed, however, that the identification of a suspicious profile or telephone number does not by itself constitute conclusive evidence that criminal activity has occurred.
The scam exploits an increasingly routine consumer behaviour: searching Google for a nearby restaurant, checking its location and opening hours, then calling the telephone number displayed on the business profile.
TrustGH said fraudulent profiles can carry legitimate-looking names, photographs, menus, addresses and opening hours copied from genuine restaurants, making them difficult for ordinary customers to distinguish from authentic listings.
The critical vulnerability is the contact number attached to the listing. A customer can call believing they are speaking directly with a restaurant, receive accurate information about menus, prices and branches, and subsequently be instructed to make payment through a mobile money number or payment link controlled by the suspected scammer.
From a cybersecurity perspective, the technique amounts to digital identity and brand impersonation because criminals are effectively borrowing the credibility of established businesses to reduce suspicion and induce payments.
Unlike conventional phishing messages that may contain obvious warning signs, a fraudulent business listing can appear within a trusted search or mapping platform and therefore benefit from the legitimacy users instinctively associate with that environment.
TrustGH said its findings were developed through open-source intelligence gathering and analysis of publicly accessible information rather than law-enforcement investigation.
The organisation examined anomalies surrounding business listings, including duplicated or suspicious profiles, telephone numbers and other observable indicators, while cautioning that individual cases still require proper verification.
That caveat is important because suspicious listings can change frequently as profiles are created, amended, suspended or removed. TrustGH’s findings therefore provide a risk picture of the digital environment rather than a definitive criminal finding against every number or profile identified.
The broader concern is that Google Search and Google Maps have become part of the commercial infrastructure through which consumers locate businesses. Customers frequently use these services instead of visiting an official company website, meaning a manipulated telephone number can effectively become the bridge between an apparently legitimate search and a fraudulent transaction.
The food-chain investigation forms part of a wider TrustGH database that has received reports involving nearly 5,000 suspicious telephone numbers. These reports span mobile money scams, fake online sellers, fraudulent investment and banking schemes, fake recruitment offers, impersonation, social-media scams, loan fraud, vehicle and property scams and phishing.
The scale of those reports points to a growing challenge for Ghana’s digital economy. As mobile money, online commerce and digital discovery platforms become more embedded in everyday transactions, fraudsters increasingly target the points where consumers move from information to payment, exploiting trust in brands, platforms and digital identities rather than relying solely on traditional deception.
For restaurants and other consumer-facing businesses, the problem also creates a direct brand risk. Customers defrauded through fake listings may initially blame the legitimate company whose name and identity were copied, even where the business had no involvement in the transaction, making active monitoring of digital profiles increasingly important.
TrustGH is therefore calling for stronger collaboration among Google, affected companies, the Cyber Security Authority and other relevant stakeholders to improve the identification, verification and removal of fraudulent listings.
The organisation argues that platform-level intervention must accompany consumer education because individual users cannot reasonably be expected to identify every sophisticated impersonation attempt themselves.
Consumers are nevertheless being urged to adopt a basic verification rule before transferring money. TrustGH recommends independently checking restaurant telephone numbers against an official website, verified social-media account or another trusted source rather than relying exclusively on contact details displayed in search results or on Google Maps.
The findings highlight a wider vulnerability in Ghana’s increasingly digital consumer economy: trust in online information is becoming as important as trust in the payment system itself.
As more transactions begin with a search result and end with a mobile money transfer, protecting consumers will require businesses, technology platforms, regulators and the public to treat digital identity verification as a core part of fraud prevention rather than an optional security step.
