​Smartphones are very common in Ghana. Despite the constant complains of economic hardship by its citizens, finding a smartphone that supports Facebook is an easy task. However, there are young men (and sometimes women) spending a huge percentage of their 24 hours in internet cafés. They basically live there, day and night.

Conversations around spending so much time in internet cafés have mostly been linked to being on Facebook and ‘chatting’. Deep down the situation, it is the entry-level point of online scamming, a scheme popularly known in Ghana as Sakawa.

The Accra Regional police have apprehended four men for allegedly defrauding a white man of an amount of GHC1.3 million ($325,000) under the pretext of sell­ing him some gold bars.

The suspects are Mark Kojo Conry aka Alhassan Mark Conry, aged 42; Richard Obeng Osei aka Opuni, a 38-year-old con­sultant; Kofi Amehoun aka Ali Abu, 34, small scale miner and Aikins Ameho, 40, computer technician.

I was contacted by a woman in Ghana who goes by the name Grace Andoh. She sent me photos of herself and showed me videos which I have since found on the internet. 

A federal jury this week convicted Evans Appiah, 27, on charges of wire and mail fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identify theft related to what authorities described as an “Internet romance scheme” with at least seven men and women. 

In a six-day trial at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, prosecutors said Appiah looked through online dating websites to initiate the relationships, including with victims in Wisconsin, California and Florida.

Once he had their trust, prosecutors said, Appiah would ask for money.

Source: Daily Guide Ghana - Two Nigerians, who allegedly defrauded a German female engineer to the tune of £260,000 and $350,000 (GHC2.7 million) under the pretext of supplying her with gold, have been arraigned before court for fraud.