In the past several months, there has been an increase in issues posted to the Ghana forums regarding Ghanaian “friends” who were met over the internet, or who are cyber dating through internet dating websites. You can scroll through the issues for more information. Many questions and issues have to do with the sincerity or veracity of the “friend” from Ghana, who urgently needs either money or the shipment of goods to him or her here in Ghana. In the vast majority of cases, all of these poor innocents were being scammed or conned by the Ghanaian friend, whether male or female, it mattered little.
Stories, and that is really all they are, that have been posted tell of a Ghanaian who needed $400 for a new cell phone which was stolen, though you can buy a new activated cell phone here for as little as $35. Someone else needed work boots and other items sent to him, shipment of which would cost $400 from the States (truly very very expensive to ship to Ghana), yet all those items are easily obtained here in Ghana. Someone else needed $300 because her father was having eye surgery; the cost of a normal doctor visit is less than $5, surgery may run about $100-$140, if that. Someone else needed $3,500 for their mother’s funeral… funerals in Ghana are not like funerals in the USA, and are long drawn out eleborate affairs; “donations” by mourners at the end of the funeral period usually more than cover the cost of the funeral outlay. The pattern is plain: Gimme, gimme, gimme.
For those individuals who are looking for a little more "proof" of the romance or dating scams in Ghana, follow this Ghanaweb news link... http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage...
There are several websites that now have information about cyber-dating scams, and they are listed below.
Overseas Security Advisory Council
Blog: Studies in Romance Scamming
Delphifaq: Dating Scammer in Accra
Nigeriaworld: The new faces of internet dating
Mate1 Internet Dating Fraud Warning
Lookstogoodtobetrue fraud website
You can also google internet romance scams and see how many hundreds of hits you get. It is becoming a huge problem. But, here are some common sense tips that may help you sort through it:
Google their “name” and see if you get any hits. Sometimes, the scammers actually do use their real name.
If the scammer is saying that they are white, and are claiming that they are American or British citizens or Europeans who somehow got “stranded” in Ghana, don’t believe it. Their Embassy would help them in some way, shape or form.
Even if they send you a picture, it may be one that they downloaded from the internet. If you want to know what they really look like, insist that they go to a cyber café that has web cam and IM you at the same time; all the big internet cafes here in Accra have it, BusyInternet, SmartNet, etc. It is not expensive to do that, maybe like $2.
If the issue is an unpaid doctor or hospital bill, tell them you will send money only to the hospital. Go to Ghanaweb.com and check the directory/phone book for a listing, don’t believe what they tell you. You may even have a "doctor" or "hospital administrator" who will call you and tell you that money is urgently needed. Don't believe it, even here in Ghana, doctor's don't have time for that. Tell them you absolutely won’t send them any money, see how fast they drop you.
Another red flag should be poor English skills; most of these scammers only got as far as junior high school, if that.
Made up names is another thing the scammer might try. Someone who normally goes through life is Kwame is suddently Sean Michaels (or as he might spell it, Shorn Michaels).
If someone claims they're from Arizona, you can verify that. Here's a link to a good website that can provide this service. Just have their IP address, which you can find on an email using full headers, and copy and paste it to the IP locator.
The bottom line is, don’t lose your heart, your head and your wallet over an internet romance. Tread cautiously. and trust your gut instincts.
