Ghana scam

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Hi everyone

A friend of a friend (seriously!) is desperately in love with a man she "met" on a dating site - they've never met in person. My friend has tried to warn her that there are too many red flags on this one, but she is dismissive and swears he's the real thing.

Some background:
The guy (named Dennis) says he's originally from Belgium and that his family was killed in a car crash many years ago. He was married to a woman who, what a coincidence, died in a car crash a few years ago. He has a young son. (During one phone call, he put this child on the phone.)

He claims to live in Lexington, North Carolina, and is a gold importer. He was going on a business trip to London, but that he was coming to see Ms Victim (won't put her real name here) when he returned. Well, then he suddenly had to go to Ghana for a gold deal and is there now.

He hasn't asked for any money yet, but seriously, this has got "scammer" written all over it, doesn't it? They've only been in communication for a couple of months now, have never met in person, but she says she is desperately in love and he wants to marry her! And she's fallen for it bigtime.

He sent Ms Victim 3 photos - one of him with his wife (before she died, of course), one of him at some business thing shaking hands with another man (and he looks about 10-15 years younger than in the photo with wife), and one of his "child" (about 7-9 years old, no one else in photo, and the child is in a hospital room). I did a tineye.com search to see if any of those photos appeared anywhere else on the web, but no luck. I also have his email address, but as it's a gmail one, I'm not able to look up his IP address, am I? Is there anything I can do with this email address to find out further information?

My friend has TRIED talking to/warning Ms Victim, but she's having none of it and is getting ticked off that no one believes she's found true love. Really sad. Apologies for the long post, but I really want to prove that this is too good to be true! Thanks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Hi fed_up and welcome to Eater. Very Happy

Yes, it definitely sounds as if your friend is being scammed. Good for you for recognizing the classic red flags. Thumbs up

If you can get a name, email address, profile etc on this person, members here can do research for you that you can share with your friend.

Also, please visit our sister site, www.Scamwarners.com, and post as much information as you have on the scammer. You can privately give a moderator there her information so a warning to her can be arranged. A warning coming from that group, rather than you, and may help convince her.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Thanks for the quick reply. His profile from eharmony is below.

Dennis (Lexington, North Carolina) and his full name and email is:

Dennis Rockson [email protected]

Personality Profile

Occupation: Business Owner

Age: 50

Height: 6' 2"

Ethnicity: White, non-Hispanic

Match Delivered: July 21, 2008

Match Prefers: Guided Communication

Religion: Christian

Want Kids: Maybe

Drinks: A few times a year

Smokes: Never

Dennis initiated communication

The "About Me" information below will help you learn more about Dennis.

The one thing Dennis is most passionate about:

walking and holding hands at the beach,public display of affection,kissing.

The three things which Dennis is most thankful for:

Life

Kid

Business

The most influential person in Dennis's life has been:

Late Partner she was there for me when i needed her most.

Dennis's friends describe him as:

Respectful
Hard Working
Caring
Romantic

Three of Dennis's best life-skills are:

Creating romance in a relationship
Creating a peaceful, beautiful home environment
Being a good friend and companion

The most important thing Dennis is looking for in a person is:

Love and Care.

The first thing you'll probably notice about Dennis when you meet him:

Understanding

The one thing Dennis wishes MORE people would notice about him is:

People dont notice right away that am very kind.

Dennis typically spends his leisure time:

Reading,hunting and swimming.

The things Dennis can't live without are:

God
Good health
Partner
Happiness
Fun

The last book Dennis read and enjoyed:

Accross the Capricon.It shows that the world is just a place and no matter how hard you try to understand how it is all will be to no avail.Because God knows Best.

One thing that only Dennis's best friends know is:

Understanding

Some additional information Dennis wanted you to know is:

I'm very open,understanding and here looking for a partner that i will call mine and mine alone.A partner who we will both love eachother so much.

Thanks again for your help and I've also sent this info to scamwarners.

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:03 am

Quote:

then he suddenly had to go to Ghana

That is biggest give away along with the car accident and just about everything else.
100% scammer. I hope the girl can be made to see some sense.
The question of money won't be far away. He or his son will get sick in Ghana or loose their passport or need a new visa. If you warn her that he will be asking for money very soon she might twig when the request comes.
Good luck.

Elite Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2007 Posts: 1979

Quote:

I'm very open,understanding and here looking for a partner that i will call mine and mine alone.A partner who we will both love eachother so much.

Pure lad grammar. I think I still have a profile on Eharmony. I'll drop him a line. If he responds, there's your proof.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Thanks, harrya and OldBagLady.

My friend and I are also waiting to hear back from scamwarners, so I'll keep you posted.

SO glad sites/forums like this exist (although I wish there wasn't a need for them).

Elite Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2007 Posts: 1979

We've made contact. He's asked me to tell him a bit about myself. I did. I'll keep you posted.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Thanks for the update! He called Ms Victim today and told her he'll be back in the States by the end of the week and they can finally meet, so I'm guessing the request for help/$ is coming very soon.

He also put his "son" Mickey on the phone again and there were a lot of children's voices in the background - he said it was because there were lots of kids at the hotel.

(I find it sick that there are children involved - unless it's an adult playing a child. Still sick, though.)

Elite Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2007 Posts: 1979

You just jogged my memory, I baited a lad named Dennis last year. He claimed he ran an orphanage and he often had kids in the background when he called me. Then when Wayne and Weasel got him on the blog talk radio show and publicly humiliated him, he put his children on the phone who swore and cursed at Dan in broken English. Little kids using the F* bomb! They're like that.

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:50 pm

Quote:

He claims to live in Lexington, North Carolina, and is a gold importer. He was going on a business trip to London, but that he was coming to see Ms Victim (won't put her real name here) when he returned. Well, then he suddenly had to go to Ghana for a gold deal and is there now. <snip> I also have his email address, but as it's a gmail one, I'm not able to look up his IP address, am I?

Your lad is probably in Ghana. I sent a random email to him using readnotify (readnotify.com).

readnotify wrote:

Location: Accra Ghana (86% likelihood)

I'm guessing he's never been anywhere near North Carolina.

Edit: added quote

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Thanks, luckey.

Ms Victim said he gave her his NC address (in a "See? He's not lying!" kind of way), which we later looked up. While the street he named in Lexington DOES exist, the numbering doesn't match up, i.e. there is no 806 (or whatever he claimed it was) on that street. Plus, judging by google streetview, if you're a Belgian gold importer, you'd probably be able to afford a better house on a better street in a much better neighborhood. I'm an NC native and I can tell you, Lexington ain't all that.

We haven't heard yet if he's contacted her again. We think because my friend and her boyfriend gently confronted her about it and told her to be careful, and she's accused them of ganging up on her, that she's not going to reveal any more info.

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:03 am

Hi Fed up,

I just had a look for your post at Scamwarners and didn't see anything, could you post a link to your post here and I will make sure that one of the warners tends to it for you.

If you haven't already done so, provide as much information as you can, email address, name, phone numbers and i understand it is a stretch but any of the early emails will also be a help in finding information.

As suggested, PMing a Mod with those details and an email address or phone number will also be helpfull.

WIth the details you provide we can do some searches which you could then show your friend, some good searches to try are;
Email address With and without the domain
Phone number
Name
User ID from any known dating profiles
Parts of the scripted emails
Address if given
or the western union payment details

You could also direct your friend to This Section at ScamWarners which is where love scammers are listed, many of the stories will be similiar to what your friend has recieved.

OBL by the sound of it will soon have proof that he at a minimum is a 2 timer but of course we all know allready he is much more than that

My best guess is that he will find himself in trouble enroute to America, it could be visa problems or he may be detained at the airport but I can guarentee that he will not be travelling.

@OBL, once you have him hooked you could try telling him that for some reason his Gmail emails are not displaying properly on your computer and request that he send you future emails using another email providor such as Yahoo.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

Hi Murry

My friend (not Ms Victim) sent scamwarners an email - from the Contact Us link - with all of that information, instead of posting it on their forum. I've just emailed to ask her if she's had a reply yet and am waiting to hear back from her.

I haven't seen any of the actual emails he's sent, and my friend's only seen one of them - she said that it had some crap - paraphrasing here, but you get the gist - about counting all the stars with all the ways he loves her or all the wonderful things about her, but having to stop because he ran out of stars. PUKE.

Your best guess about this little scumbag not going anywhere is mine too.

Thanks again to all you wonderful baiters and advice-givers!

Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:47 pm

We do have problems with the contact us link every so often, if you would like to PM or email Ralph, you will find him at scamwarners without too much looking and I will ask him to look into it for you.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

My friend just phoned to say - surprise, surprise!! - there's been a problem and Dennis (who's supposed to be coming back to the States tomorrow) needs $1000 from Ms Victim. And, apparently, he's faxed her some papers (not sure what these are and my friend said Ms Victim was too upset for her to ask).

She's very upset right now, but we're afraid he's now going to bombard her with phone calls. Although maybe that will prove to her that he just wants money.

Murry - my friend also said she's sorry she hasn't forwarded the email to me that she sent to scamwarners as she's been swamped at work, but that it was basically everything I said in my first post here, plus Dennis's eharmony profile. She did not give Ms Victim's name in that email, because she wanted to see what scamwarners said first.

Elite Baiter Joined: 11 Jul 2007 Posts: 1979

Other than asking me to tell him about myself, that's all he's written. He either smelled a bait - this one's been had before, or he's preoccupied with a maga (your friend) that he thinks is a sure thing. When she dumps him, my guess is he'll come around to me. I'm a black widow spider just waiting patiently for the juicy fat fly to lite on my web. Twisted Evil

If your friend is game, ask her to 'go out of town for a sudden emergency' and tell him she won't be back for 30 days. My web will look more enticing to him then.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Posts: 8

I'm thinking she will be game, OBL - she's apparently asked some business friends to have a look at the papers and they've all screamed "100% SCAM! STAY AWAY!"

Bonus! Ms Victim's sent them to my friend and she's forwarded them to me. 3 pdfs: a purchase agreement, a receipt, and a Change of Ownership form - all to complete his $3million+ gold deal with her $1000. I've tried to post them here, but I'm not very techy. Happy to forward them, if it would help.

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:23 am

It is starting to look more promising Fed Up, you can also suggest Mrs Vic ask at Scamwarners about it, if we can get her talking to us we can be very persuasive when we start to show the proof.