In Ghana there is a word, ‘sakawa’, that means ‘fake’ or ‘fraud.’ It’s the Ghanaian equivalent to the Nigerian 419 internet scam. Young Ghanaian men (and rarely women) use the Internet to defraud foreigners, often Americans, by convincing them to send large sums of money to bank accounts or wire services abroad. The victims usually think they are enabling a pretty, young woman to come for a visit. Here’s an example from a news report this month:
A 19- year-old man, Adnan Abdul Ralph, believed to be a cyber fraudster (known in local parlance as 'sakawa' or 'pen pal' boy), is aiding the Agona Swedru Divisional Police Command in its investigations into his alleged defraud of an American to the tune of $6,420.
Ralph, described by the police as a school dropout, and jobless, reportedly used a feminine voice under the name Grace Rockson to defraud [American] Simone Layfield Duke through the Internet.
According to the crime officer, Duke sent down a message to the police complaining about the suspicious demeanour of Ralph who had duped him (Duke) on several occasions (through the use of a female voice) claiming to be called Grace Rockson, thereby making him fall in love with 'her'.
As a result, in December 2009 Mr Duke sent down $1,300 for Grace to visit him in the US as a tourist, adding that an additional $2,000 was sent, since tourists to the US were required to have that much on them.
However, the purported lady never arrived in the US, only for Ralph to send a letter telling Duke that his sister (Grace) who was to have visited Duke had been arrested at the airport by the airport security for carrying two bags of gold just when she was about to enplane to join him (Duke) in the US.
Ralph was also quoted as having said in the letter that he needed $2,000 from Duke to enable him to free Grace from that trouble.
"And it began to dawn on Duke that it was a scam," the officer noted, adding, "Then, again the boy communicated with Duke, saying that he (Ralph) had managed to get his sister out of jail but that their mother had had a heart attack with, the likelihood of dying if she did not have immediate surgery."
"Meanwhile (Ralph) had sent a letter on a fake police letterhead signed by Major Courage Quashigah (retd), now deceased, together with a fake medical report from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, purportedly signed by Dr Emmanuel Smith, allegedly coming from Miss Grace Smith with a request for $1,500 from Duke to enable Miss Rockson to get medical treatment for her mother," he added.
The officer stated that the American smelt a rat and informed the Agona Swedru Police that he suspected that he was being duped by Ralph and his sister.
"Duke added that he was going to inform Ralph that he had sent some money through a bank in Swedru so he should go for it. And just as Ralph was about to withdraw the said amount from the bank, we swooped in on him," he added.
The Ghanaian attitude towards sakawa is usually critical, but there are a number of people here who tolerate, and even applaud, such scams. Here is a representative sampling of comments posted to the website that hosted this sakawa story:
| This white people came into our country without invitations, and took us as slaves, stole our golds, why britain is our pricesing gols but we don't get gold in britain? now this is the only way we can pay them back and now this Ghana police who have no job to do will spent their time to investigate this, when spiritual killings are in Ghana, you can't investigate, we have Bawku issue, we have Techiman issue and so many, Ghana police its time you respect Ghanaians and stop yr foolish act of respecting the white people, |
| Arrest them all.Ghana's future is at risk if this is all the youth will be indulging in.Swedru is the heartbeat of this sakawa deal.Quick money,extravagant life style n corruption on the part of the security agencies are what have promoted this tax-free trade to date. |
| please leave the boy alone and forget about that dam american because the boy didn't steal from government .Many have stolen from government but are walking freely . leave the boy ooooo. shameless police dsp |
| THE MIRROR CAN GO TO HELL.THERE IS NOTHING WRONG TO TAKE THAT WHITE MAN'S MONEY . |
| FIRING SQUAD, SIMPLE AS THAT. GHANAs NAME IS AMONGST THE WORSE IN THIS KINDS OF SCAMS. WHY SHOULD GHANA BE KNOWN FOR THIS , WHY ? |
| Okay, I don't wish to encourage criminal activity, but seriously, how do you fall in love with a woman you have never met, let alone send so much money to the said lady? Aren't there women in America? This Duke fellow is obviously not too smart. I don't see any Ghanaian falling for this nonsense. It seems like living the soft life in America erodes people of their street smarts. At this rate even I am tempted to try this sakawa nonsense...just kidding! LOL |
| This boys and girls are a disgrace to this nation.They hate hard work and they want cheap money.So if this free money does not come then they go into stealing.They sit in the cafes from morning to evening or day break.What future do this children have? This are the future leaders. |
| he should be pardoned cuz the white man also should have been matured enough to have viewed the so-called woman in a cam.he has lost. |
| let him go he didnt steal or even kill,did he? |
| For me, if all the facts presented in the case is the truth, then set the boy free. this is because the so called American could not read dep into a third world country sense, he had suc a big hole in his mind to be outwitted by a scholl dropout. |
| I find this story laughable and Stu...d, especially trying to understand this. I have heard several of such escapedee by US Citizens and poor African guys and I sometimes wonder if the OLD Man upstairs had given us a similar enviroment that these guys have in US, we would even come to the US and buy their White House. I just cant believe these hollow stories. |
| this is no criminal offense........ in fact what even makes it one... ah...... |
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2 comments:
Lots of discussion possibilities here, most of which are bigger than the story. For example, is crime relative to its environment? And what criteria should be used to establish appropriate punishment?
More specific to Ghana, is there still massive resentment toward "white people", and if so, how does this get resolved constructively? Is this addressed in education, politics, media coverage?
When I was in Ghana, I definitely felt conspicuous as a white person, but I never felt resented. I simply learned what it was like to be a minority and stereotyped, or labeled, and I was conscious of how I represented other white people or Americans.
I can't imagine that a reasonable citizen of Ghana would condone criminal behavior as a means of revenge for a history of slavery; that seems to be a downward spiral which we see played out in the US every day. Maybe that's a necessary learning curve?
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