Ghana and Nigeria: Top 10 clues to spot them and Top 3 habits to repel them

Sure, you know it’s a scam when you’ve never met your eHarmony match in person and he asks you to (a) send him money (b) cash a cheque or money order or (c) reship a package. Sure, you know it’s a scam if she mentions Ghana or Nigeria. However, at that point, you may have already invested days or weeks of your time communicating with your match. Avoid the sour disappointment, know the clues:

Top 10 clues for scammer-free online dating

Stories of sadness, robbery, death, medical emergency, bad luck and being stuck, and can you help?
He wants to send YOU money.
Her profile disappears from eHarmony — whether you receive eH’s warning letter or not.
He is unfamiliar with current events in his home town.
Top occupations: social worker, model, student, actor, construction, petroleum engineer, antique buyer.
He answers only a few of your questions, and always at the end of his message.
She mentions ‘fate’, ‘destiny’ or ‘God’s plan’, becomes amorous or uses pet names within two days.
He is highly educated but can’t put a sentence together. In fact, google these strange phrases or spellings to see if a previous victim has posted it.
She immediately wants to move from Open Communication to Yahoo IM, MSN or Skype.
Google his email address or IM handle as soon as you get it.

Top 3 habits for scammer-free online dating

Sure-fire way to see he isn’t a online scammer: Go out with him on a date.

In my opinion, we are vulnerable and susceptible to romance scams because the Internet has made it easy to create an online persona and to become too comfortable with it. Thus, we use email and instant messaging to avoid mortifying face-to-face confrontations. (Source: CNN) Remember, only with an online persona can a ‘relationship via email’ happen.

So the cure is simple: get out of the online persona.

1. Move from online communication to the phone right away.
2. Suggest a meeting right away.
3. Never send cash to someone you haven’t met.

Do the first two suggestions frighten you? Hmm, I have been matched with several people who freaked out when I suggested a meeting. Could they have been Ghanaian scammers all along? I neither know or care. What matters is that I know right away they are not ready for a real-life relationship. The question is, are you?

Next Installment

Next time I will talk about a few ideas that eHarmony needs to make itself safer for us.

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Comments 25

Comments: 1 2

Shar wrote:
Another giant clue is that at least 50% of them claim they are “Native American” .

I got my first two scammers this week.

One requested fast-track, and his first communication was a “Hello Pretty Angel” cut & paste e-mail. Report and Close.

The second was a match I received. Total WASP photos but claimed he was “Native American”. I googled a line from his “about me” and got hit after hit on various dating sites, with the exact same complete “about me” posted on each one of them. I sent an e-mail to matchconcerns@eharmony.com with a link to a couple of his other ads.
Posted 21 May 2008 at 9:13 am ¶
Shar wrote:
Got my 3rd scammer today!

This blue-eyed blond “native american” gentleman, who also happens to live in the “adirondak mountains”, which are now magically located in the Bronx (at least according to his profile they are).

Can’t these guys afford maps?

Must be something in the air.
Posted 22 May 2008 at 6:46 am ¶
Emily wrote:
I was contacted by a scammer on Wednesday May 28th
from Ghana. I found his true intention thru google.
What is Eharmony doing about these people that
invade this site and prey on unsuspecting people?
Not much I bet. All they care about is the $$$$$$
Posted 01 Jun 2008 at 9:48 am ¶
SingleGuyInNC wrote:
Add to the list:
“Interesting” capitalization in sentences tends to confirm when you see the other warning signs. People either tend to write in lowercase or do it properly. Most scammers I’ve seen will Capitalize odd Words in a sentence (like that, usually for emphasis).

They use what appear to be “stock photos”: they look like models and the pictures are thumbnail sized and there is only one picture of them.
Posted 01 Jun 2008 at 11:27 am ¶
Shar wrote:
“What is Eharmony doing about these people that invade this site and prey on unsuspecting people? Not much I bet. All they care about is the $$$$$$”

Emily,

Didn’t they remove the profile after you sent a link to their profile and a copy of their message to matchconcerns@eharmony.com ?

Or did you do nothing and expect eHarmony to psychically divine that a scammer had contacted you?

In my experience, they remove scammers from the site fairly quickly once they are alerted to the problem.
Posted 01 Jun 2008 at 2:57 pm ¶
J Edwards wrote:
Most of those have already happened to me and I have been on eharmony for one month.

Here is the scenario:

* Meet online.
* E-mail back and forth. He claims you are the one for him. In my case, a relationship with God is the most important thing to me so he used Bible scripture, prayers, etc. to lure me in deeper along with statements of love, destiny, fate and others.
* He was always traveling and didn’t use a national phone number. The numbers he used were very similar to numbers in Ghana, Africa.
* First his business was timber, then gold, and finally interior design.
* He was very adament about me seeing how much money his contract was with the government of Ghana.
* Both parents are dead and when I asked about relatives he never answered.
* I was never allowed to call him, only text — he’s married.
* When he finally sets up a date when he is flying to meet me, something terrible happens: beaten, robbed, hospitalized and so on.
* He had another man text me who was supposed to be a doctor who has a very heavy African accent.
* A call comes asking for money because “I have to get out of here … no cash … turn cash into travelers cheques but it was too late to cancel them (HA!) … have to get out here (STRUGGLES TALKING BECAUSE HE IS HURT) … hopes you will send him money … will fly straight to me and go to the bank first thing and give my money back to me …
* eharmony answer contained his good friends name, Emmanuel; that same name turned up when he said I couldn’t send the money to him, I had to send it to his driver, Emmanuel–coincidence, NO!!

I fell for all the lines but when it came to the “accident” and him asking me for money, I called it quits. All the little things that didn’t make sense to me while we were communicating all came together like a puzzle — HE’S A FRAUD!!!!!
Posted 10 Jul 2008 at 11:56 am ¶
Thinking Woman wrote:
One thing I have done is withhold posting a full length picture of myself. If a man starts out with send me more pictures of you full length without spending some time talking to me, I know that they are only interested in sex or just collecting a lot of pictures. If you are serious about devloping a friendship with someone, and of course, you like their face, and their conversation, and what it seems they stand for (at least in their introduction) that should be enough of an indication whether you want they to know you and, provide further pictures. So far, I have found this quickly weeds those who are serious out. If he wants to make an in person date, or travel to meet me, he has potential. If it falls apart after seeing me, ok. We all like who we like. Both of us move on…and a picture that I prize of myself is not floating around with some undeserving player.
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 8:27 pm ¶
gary dellow wrote:
I have just became horifyed, to many sexy photos at once, the girl is a year from finishing Uni and she has trouble writing a straight sentice, has a sick mum and wants me to send about $12,000 US via western Union
Posted 23 Oct 2008 at 3:24 pm ¶
Scammed wrote:
The details in J Edwards’ message fit my experience to a “T”. The guy’s “name” was Paul Cole Fitz from Sheffield, England. He was a charmer. This is what he told me about himself:
- project management consultant – major construction in Africa, China, Chile.
- very wealthy
- promised to marry me and buy me my own jewel business
- moved the relationship very fast with pet names: precious angel, royal highness, sexy
- very religious, his mother taught him to read the Bible every day
- both parents dead
- on the day he was to fly to meet me, he was hit by a car in New York
- he also dealt in gold
- he needed money to get out of Accra, Ghana and to pay the customs for the gold
- he sent a gold transfer form as “proof”
- he needed money for his son in Nova Scotia because the son’s wallet had been stolen
- he traveled a lot
- he asked for a copy of my ID
- he used Western Union
- foreign people called me on his behalf
- he promised to send me money and return it, even return my money ten-fold when we met
- his phone number was not from England
- he even staged a phone call while he was “stuck” at the Accra airport in customs and had someone in the background who sounded African tell him “I’m sorry; I cannot help you” etc.

This guy is sick! I can’t believe he can live with himself and with his conscience. While I foolishly believed his lies and lost some money, the most difficult challenge for me right now is trust and believing in others. It would have been easier to have been held up at gun point on the street than going through this experience. At least, the low-life on the street would have a higher level of integrity. Beware anyone named Paul Cole Fitz from Sheffield, England. He is evil, and if there is a Hell, his place there is already marked!
Posted 13 Nov 2008 at 1:53 pm ¶
cleveland miller wrote:
I met a woman from accra ghana, who was very attractive,said she was a nurse, finacially secure named mariyam ohaya yahaya.5’9″ 145lbs. she said she was ghanan/ austrialian mullatto (imagine how beautiful she was.) She spoke deeply in phrases that made you believe that she was very wise, and was very sure of herself. As the conversation progressed, she was a christian, looking for the right man(me) to make her life complete, because her ex-boyfriend was mean to her,and she wanted to come to america to get away.She also said that she felt the pressures of being bi-racial in an predominately black nation.Within 2 hrs, she was in love with me and could’nt wait toget here to be with me. I asked her to send me a picture of her,and she did,but she needed money to talk to mein person. So, I asked her how much money was she talking about? She said 65.00. Then she had the nerve to tell me that 100.00 would allow her to talk to me for 2 hrs.RIGHT! Judging from her photo, with manicured nails,and nice jewelry,coming down a wrought iron staircase,Girl you must be crazy! If you need money,look the part! Beware of her! After I stopped chatting with her,her”brother” calls and says that she was in the hospital with her grand mother who is very ill.(So why could’nt she call me and tell me that?) If this was’nt a scam grits aint grocery! And all I wanted was a christian woman who loved the Lord! They are everywhere! so please be careful who you talk to.
Posted 13 Nov 2008 at 5:41 pm ¶
Elijah wrote:
all your stories are true. I’m togolese, and we african alson are victims of these kind of behaviour.
Just take care and be clever.
May not that stop you from having a true love, the one from GOD, to your brothers and sisters, wherever they are from.
Thanks
Posted 06 Jan 2009 at 4:49 am ¶
tommy jones wrote:
i meet this girl from ghans-accra/tema the other day.she seems to be truthful but as i already heard about these scammers. now i,m wondering if she true or just wants money.
so is their anybody out there that has gotten a email with the name of Sandra_perllo.she goes by the name of sandra anders borg.has a friend name elskerlen agyei.
Posted 23 Jan 2009 at 3:36 pm ¶
Be Careful! wrote:
Watch out for Jepherson Asare Nana Jesmic. Another liar from Accra, Ghana. He claims to be royalty. He follows the same protocol as described in messages above. DO NOT SEND MONEY TO ANYONE YOU HAVE NEVER MET!! They will tell you the biggest sob stories you’ve ever hear; don’t be a sucker and don’t think your situation is different. Anyone asking for money under these circumstances is most likely a scammer. Don’t take a chance.
Posted 23 Mar 2009 at 4:09 pm ¶
Brian Carl wrote:
I tend to think some have used others images and faces to dupe people and innocent women and men .In my case I was contacted by someone unknown and was talking about my family as if he has known me for a very long time and claimed to be a Governor of a state in Nigeria and but knows my father at the time he was alive so I thought I had to consider it as a gesture to welcome him.He then sent me couples of photos of himself and family even though was a black man he was hidden behind someones image and if not by mere intervention of the FBI he would have taken all I have worked for over the years.I think this whole scam thing is a network of group of people and they always use prominent peoples name to do all the fake stuff and in my case when the so called governor was arrested in Lagos Nigeria when I have already sent him an amount of $ 2,300,it late turn to be someone else rather than the person in the photo which was sent to me therefore be mindful not to be taken for granted and some one the names given to you might just be someone who don’t even know anything about internet.

When he was arrested and prosecuted to court,it then came out that the said governor in Lagos does not even know how to use the computer properly and even has a personal secretary who does all those works for him therefore do not have any idea of what might have happened yet this bastard used his name thinking he was a big man as posed in mail sent to me.
Be ware and take note of this because most of the people are innocent yet their names are all over the place because some irresponsible men out there have used their names and don’t even have an idea of what is happening behind them.
Report such cases and you could see the reality of my submission.
Posted 26 Apr 2009 at 9:33 am ¶
concerned ghanaian wrote:
Hi,

I’ve been reading your post with regards to the scams that so called ghanains are involve with.

I must say as a proud ghanaian I’m really embarrassed to think that my fellow country men could do such dishonest things.

I do however believe that the majority of people who do these scams are Nigerians living in Ghana. I know that there has been an influx in recent years of nigerians in Ghana due to the fact that their economy and Goverment is failing then. As a result thousands of nigerians are invading my country.

You may not be aware of the differences in African accents but I can bet that 9/10 of those who are scamming are from nigeria.

Once again my deepest apologies to all those who have fallen victim to these scams as an african and ghanaian I am deeply embarrased.
Posted 14 Sep 2009 at 10:54 am ¶
lanny nelson wrote:
being scammed right now by a beautiful ghanian by the name ramatu abdullah……or also…seejulie.com….she is a great liar and has a son 7 and a mom and grandmother….i found her today as a scammer…..she quotes words like all women scammers do….i love u ….god chose u for me…etc etc she is also on tagged.com under many names…rebecca…devina……shamsudeen….now just trying to figure out what to do with her next…..balls in my court now
Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 7:13 am ¶
Jeff wrote:
—– Our chat on Tue, 10/27/09 6:06 PM —–
Jeff(5:55 PM): Hi, it’s Jeff from eHarmony.
Nana(5:56 PM): how are you doing today
Jeff(5:56 PM): I’m great. Never done the fast track before…
Nana(5:57 PM): hold on for me
(4 minutes to find my profile)
Nana(6:01 PM):
Nana(6:01 PM): hello are you there with me
Jeff(6:01 PM): Where were you when you had the beach pictures taken?
Nana(6:02 PM): im from west africa ghana and you
Jeff(6:02 PM): are you there now?
Nana(6:03 PM): yes and i just come back from USA and i wes there with my first boyfriend
Jeff(6:03 PM): what did you like about my profile?
Nana(6:04 PM): well i really like your pic and and what i see from your profile
Nana(6:04 PM): and i really like to get to know more about you
Nana(6:04 PM): and im nana and you
Jeff(6:05 PM): are ending this conversation.
Nana(6:05 PM): ok
Nana(6:05 PM): so tell me how long you have been on the site
Jeff(6:06 PM): bye

I informed eHarm immediately. They acknowledged me on Tuesday and said they would investigate. They just deleted the profile tonight. (Sunday) I think it took too long, and also wonder if they don’t silently condone this.
Posted 01 Nov 2009 at 8:30 pm ¶
Sincerelyethical wrote:
I have heard tons of these horror stories and that’s why I feel it’s vital to really ‘screen’ each profile. The commercials claiming that eharmony ‘pre-screens’ members is ridiculous. True screening involves taking the time and spending the money to have each profile’s text read by human eyes before entering the matching pool. This would greatly decrease the number of scammers who make it through and are received by us as matches. If eHarmony cared about its members more than its profits, they would take this measure to ensure our safety and a great online experience. It’s all about the money to them… but there are other places which care more about their members….
Posted 05 Jan 2010 at 10:12 am ¶
annoymous1 wrote:
Again, this also applies, to scammers or unsafe dates you meet in eHarmony. eHarmony selectively rejects customers who fails there personality questionnaire, and bumped customers without due process. None of this however, mean that the dates one meets are safe and compatible. There is no rhyme or reason to it except selective elitism.

“You understand that the Company makes no guarantees, either express or implied, regarding your ultimate compatibility with individuals you meet through
Posted 06 Jan 2010 at 12:11 pm ¶
Single woman wrote:
Has anyone had any contact with a Roland Wlson phone # 233543872229 He asks for expensive toys for his young son who is with him in Accura, Ghana. The child is having a bithday party and he has promised camcorders , play stations, and I Pods. He’s suppose to be buying diamonds and gold.
Posted 11 Jan 2010 at 9:46 pm ¶

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