Ghana Scams

One of the most active hotspots in the world right now for scams is Africa—specifically Ghana. The online web is full of "offers" originating from African cities and other countries, so make sure your email inbox is clean and secure. Ghana has become a hotbed for dating scams and large-scale money scams involving gold and diamonds. Through our investigations, we have found that in the U.S., there are several instances where a middleman becomes the victim of these scams. These scammers are highly intelligent and well-versed in their tactics. They often operate multiple scams simultaneously—it’s how they run their business. Several documents on internet fraud, dating scams, inheritance scams, and other types of scams originating in Ghana are available online. Around 25 government-based and educational websites report cases on the different scams occurring in Ghana.

Ghana scams, also known as "419 scams" or "advance-fee fraud," involve deceptive practices where scammers based in Ghana—or claiming to be from Ghana—engage individuals or businesses in fraudulent schemes. These scams often take various forms, including romance scams, lottery or inheritance scams, and business investment fraud. In romance scams, perpetrators create fake online identities and build emotional connections with victims before inventing elaborate stories to request money. Lottery or inheritance scams falsely promise large sums of money, requiring victims to pay upfront fees or provide personal information to claim supposed winnings. Business scams may present seemingly lucrative investment opportunities, only to disappear once funds are transferred.

To protect against Ghana scams, individuals should exercise caution in online relationships, never send money to unknown parties, verify the legitimacy of financial opportunities, and be skeptical of unsolicited offers that seem too good to be true.

• Nigerian/Ghana Emergency Scam
  This type of scam has been most noted for decades in online dating. The majority of scammers involved in this process are natives of Nigeria and Ghana; hence, it is specifically referred to as Ghana scams and Ghana scammers.

  Plane Ticket & Visa Scam
  The plane ticket and visa scam is another common type of scam found in online dating. Fraudsters lure victims with the promise of meeting in person and then ask them to deposit money into a bank account to cover travel or visa expenses. However, once the money is deposited, the fraudsters disappear, leaving no clue for the victim to recover the lost funds.

  Medical Emergency Scam
  The medical emergency scam is usually carried out on online dating websites. The scammer first develops a bond with the target and tries to get to know them personally. After a period of interaction, the scammer plays on the victim's sympathy and asks for money to deal with a sudden medical emergency, promising to repay it. Once the money is received, the scammer vanishes without a trace.

  Nigerian 419 Scam
  The Nigerian 419 scam has existed worldwide for a very long time and is commonly known as advance-fee fraud. It is also popularly referred to as the "Nigerian money offer" or the "Spanish prisoner" scam.




• Fake Police Scam
  The fake police scam is one of the most vicious frauds in Ghana. The first thing most scam victims do is contact the police in the hope of recovering their lost belongings by catching the person who duped them. Scammers exploit this trust by impersonating police officers and misleading victims further.

  Cashing Money Order Scam
  This scam involves scammers sending victims fake money orders, asking them to cash them and send a portion back. Victims often lose the money they forwarded once the bank flags the original money order as fraudulent.

  Lottery Scams
  The lottery scam is one of the most popular Ghana scams, ranking at the top for the number of victims it affects. This scam spreads rapidly, with fake lottery claims reaching as many as one in three people, tempting them with the promise of large, non-existent winnings.

  Phony Inheritance Scam
  This type of scam is highly deceptive. Scammers, using fake identities, claim that you are entitled to a large inheritance from a relative you never knew. The real aim is to convince innocent people to pay various fees to "unlock" the inheritance.

  Disaster Relief Scam
  In times of disasters like tsunamis, tornadoes, or earthquakes, people are eager to help victims through donations. Scammers exploit this goodwill by setting up fake charity institutions to steal money from those wanting to contribute.

  Business Investment Scam
  This is one of the most common Ghana scams. Scammers promise guaranteed high returns on fake business investment opportunities. People, seeking to grow their hard-earned money, are drawn in—only to lose it to these fraudsters.

  Ghana Romance Scam
  Scammers engage in various deceitful actions targeting potential victims by first building trust through online romance. Eventually, they manipulate the victim into sending large sums of money, exploiting emotional connections for financial gain.

Although most African singles looking for a date online are legitimate, it cannot be denied that numerous online dating scams originate in African nations such as Nigeria, Ghana, or Ivory Coast. This is largely due to low per capita income, high unemployment rates, widespread corruption, and poor law enforcement in these regions. The money extracted from victims in North America, Europe, and Australia translates into enormous fortunes for the scammers, who are often willing to invest weeks or even months to secure a large payout. Both men and women are targeted. Many scammers are fairly educated and merciless in their approach. To help protect you from such scammers, we are providing the Spam Checker Tool for your convenience. Here, you can enter the email or contact number that you suspect may be linked to a scam. This tool checks the input against our spam database and informs you whether the email or phone number is genuine or bogus.

Another type of scam that is trending in the list of Ghana scams is the "job scam." In a Ghana job scam, fraudsters approach victims with job offers that perfectly match their profiles. The victims are asked to send their resumes along with their bank information. Urgent job seekers often fall prey to these kinds of offers and end up compromising their personal and financial details. Most of these fake job offers claim to be from petroleum and oil & gas companies and often insist that you pay an advance fee for some seemingly legitimate reason.

Scammers from Ghana are very proficient in online classifieds scams. This has become another common method used to persuade users to click on malicious links and influence them to enter personal information.

Online classifieds are alert messages sent through various platforms promoting a product, service, or offer along with a URL. Out of curiosity, users tend to click on these links and provide their personal information. Scammers then use this information to steal bank details, passwords, and even identities.

Ghana scammers adopt clever and deceptive techniques to obtain victims’ bank details. One common tactic involves posing as overseas lawyers. They send emails claiming that a person sharing your family name has died and left behind a large sum of money, which will be forfeited to the government if no relatives or nominees are found. These scammers create a sense of urgency, leaving little to no time for verification. Victims are asked to submit their bank details, and in some cases, are also required to pay a fee for the "successful completion" of the transfer process. Many people around the world who are unaware of such scams often fall prey to them.

Phishing is a technique employed by spammers and hackers to gather web users’ personal information in order to steal their identities and, subsequently, their money or benefits.

What is different about Ghana phishing scam?

Phishing emails suspected to originate from Ghana are often disguised as messages from e-commerce websites, sent to a vast number of users. These emails typically request recipients to confirm their email addresses and verify their bank account information. The ultimate goal is to acquire users’ personal information through a website that appears legitimate. Scammers from Ghana employ various phishing techniques to make their scam operations successful.

Example: