Need Some Help - Ghana Gold Scam

I'm an attorney in Texas. I have a client who I told almost a year ago that he was getting taken by a scammer. Apparently he didn't listen to me. He has dumped over $250K into this scam! He met this person on a dating website who has persuaded him into believing that she inherited a significant sum of gold that has been shipped to the US but is being held by US Customs. He has sent me copies of "documents" that this person has sent him as proof of the statements (Ministry of Interior Certificate of Ownership, Affidavit of Change of Ownership, pictures of "gold" bars on a newspaper with a date, all of which I have no doubt are bogus and fraudulent). Anyone have any advice for me to help get him to the place where he can understand that this is all a scam and that he has lost $250K? Links to these documents in other places maybe? Details of similar scam posted on here or the net so I can have him sit down and look at it as objectively as possible? He's not going to be happy. This "woman" talks to him almost every day, texts him, says she is in London, that he is marrying her, etc. All the things to keep the cash flowing. I would appreciate any help and advice. Not sure how to post the pics of the docs he has forwarded to me but once I figure that out, I would be glad to post to maybe help someone else from getting in this situation.

Thanks in advance!

This is a common scam . Ghana is famous for the Gold Dust / Gold Bars Scam . Please post the email addresses and phone numbers these criminals are using .

You should also file a report on the IC3 website . Internet Crime Commission .

[AlanJones]

This sounds like a combination of a romance scam and a gold scam. As T5 said, please post any email addresses, telephone numbers that you have. If you can also post pictures of the "woman", we may well be able to find where they were stolen from.

Links to social media profiles and examples of the emails that she sends will also be useful in proving that she is not who and where she says she is.

From the US Customs website

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail ... ance%20fee
There is also a link on this page where you client can email the Public Information Officer. One of canned subjects is "Am I Being Scammed?"

Other notes that might be helpful.

US customs will never ask for a fee to be paid via Western Union, Money Gram, bank transfer to an individual account.
No government agency will use a free email service such as gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.

Romance victims with this much time and money invested are very difficult to convince that everything is a lie.

Anyone have any advice for me to help get him to the place where he can understand that this is all a scam and that he has lost $250K?

I'd suggest either you or he contact the PMMC ( Precious minerals marketing company) of Ghana. Explain the circumstances in readers' digest ( yet concise) version giving all of the information about this "seller" or whatever he calls himself ( the scammer, that is).

the PMMC is good about returning emails, but they aren't as fast as lightning. So the answer may take a few days to a couple of weeks to get back to the author of the email.

fwiw, I have regularly contacted the PMMC over the years via email and every time I ask about a miner, seller, or broker they have always, 100% of the time come back as scammers.

Here is the simple fact as explained by the "foreign buyer's guide" on the site. the PMMC won't allow gold from Ghana to be sold at below market prices ( the LBMA market), so anything ever sold through Ghana will be sold at a minimum of LBMA prices for that day.

http://pmmcghana.com/ is the link for the PMMC. click on the "contact us" button to get email address(es), phone #'s and other contact information for them.

Anyone have any advice for me to help get him to the place where he can understand that this is all a scam and that he has lost $250K?

You may want to have your client view these 2 resources . I believe it will be the same scam or very close to it .


2015-2016 Ghana Scam, Romance/Money . United Kingdom Victim

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=115630




2010 Ghana Scam, Romance/Money. New York Victim

http://abc7ny.com/archive/7617743/


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/video/ro ... e-11437350


And there are probably thousands of that same scam in email form posted on this same website . Thank you for posting to Scamwarners .

Wow! You guys are great! Thanks for all the quick and helpful input. Here is what I have:

Name/Alias: Megan Hockey
Email: [email protected]
9038836312 (uses this number to text)
# 011-233-20-8542
People he has been told to send money to by this Megan: Andani A. Alidu Bank of America the acct # is 381043068016 Newark, NJ address is 24-26 Jay Street; Abudulla Alhassan WellsFargoBank # acct # 1528956269 Newark,NJ address at 24-26 Jay Street as well; and Keith Amponsah. Noted

She/they have told him that he has to pay another $15k by Friday or customs will forever have the gold that was shipped by Luxxmore Global Express. He's going to sell some more equipment he owns to pay it. I know he really doesn't want to believe he's been scammed. That's got to be a tough place to be in mentally/emotionally especially when this person says they are your fiancé and is coming over here to get married. Tough stuff.

Thanks again for all the help! This is an awesome community!

Jeff

[AlanJones]

There's a few things here-

9038836312 - assuming this is a US number, then it is a Google Voice VoIP number that is registered to someone in Greenville, TX, why would someone in the UK want such a number

# 011-233-20-8542 this is an incomplete Ghanaian mobile phone number. A business would not be giving out such a number as a point of contact.

Then there is the payments to various personal bank accounts. The payment of customs fees does not work that way. You would not be asked to wire funds to someone's personal account.

The fact is that there is no gold and the woman in the UK is very likely a young man in Ghana, but when a victim is in so deep, it can be difficult to get them to see the facts and not what their emotions are telling them.

I did a quick search for "Luxxmore Global Express" and found this website luxxmoreexpress.com, do you know if that is who he is in contact with? It is clearly a fake website for the following reasons.

1. It was registered in the middle of last year, despite the company claiming to be over 20 years old.
2. The registrant has used a privacy service to hide their identity. Legitimate businesses do not need to do that
3. Looking at the contact page, they claim to have offices in Spain, the UK, USA and Ghana
   

   Spain Office
   Avda de Roma, 98
   Tarragona Tarragona
   75005, Spain
   Phone: +34 911 984511
   E-mail: [email protected]
   
   UK Office
   5 Thomas More
   St. London E1W 1YW,
   United Kingdom
   Phone: +447709170633
   E-mail: [email protected]
   
   
   
   USA Office
   6000 Lincoln Ave
   Salinas, CA, 45901
   Phone: 0017164076338
   E-mail: [email protected]
   
   GHANA Office
   153 Rawlings Street
   Adabraka-Accra
   Phone: +233570682958
   +233244684871
   E-mail: [email protected]

   
   
   The UK and Ghana phone numbers are mobile numbers and the US one is another VoIP, in a NY area code, despite them claiming to be in CA.

The domain luxxmoreexpress.com is in the process of being reported for fraud.

Fake documents used in this scam.

The company Global Rox Security does not exist,

I strongly suggest that you make a report on the Internet Crime Commission Website as a 3rd party .

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Image used by Scammer

[AlanJones]

Image used by Scammer

Used on this profile on Spark.com http://www.spark.com/Applications/MemberProfile/ViewProfile.aspx?MemberID=142328388

Single, Woman seeking Man
30 years old from Amarillo, TX

Have kids:None
Wants kids:Yes
Height:5' 5" (165 cm)
Ethnicity:Caucasian / White
Religion:Baptist

Smoke:Non-Smoker
Drink:Never
Education: High School
Occupation:Other
Annual $:Will tell you later

And on various Google+ profiles

One of the few bits of accurate information your client will have is the banking account information he was given to use to make payment. The old adage of 'follow the money' is applicable when bank accounts are used. Sometimes the names are changed on the accounts but this may not be the case here.

In these types of fraud, providing the police with vague information about someone in Ghana won't excite them, so the accounts are the best information to get the immediate attention of law enforcement.

I've point blank told him he's being taken and he initially accepted it but now the "woman" has convinced him that these documents are her originals that have been used by other people as fakes!!! I asked if he understood how insane that sounds. She wants to have a skype chat with him about it. I told him to tell her that she needs to have a Skype conference with me where I will have law enforcement standing by watching listening and recording. I'm going to get specifics from her for hopefully building a criminal case. What sorts of questions and documents should I have her produce (passport/visa) with the objective of having law enforcement get personally identifiable information? Thoughts? I really don't think she will have this conference with me knowing I'm his attorney but you never know.

West Africans are masters in the creation of fake documents . I wouldn't trust anything she / he produced .
They will probably hire some peasant surf in lagos to play the part of the woman .

I think you should get IC3 involved now . I have my reasons for advising that , but wont post them publicly . You can private message me if you want .