Ask Me Help Desk - Am I being scammed?

Am I being scammed?

I've recently met a woman online and she is from Ghana. She's sent me over 40 different pictures of her and says she is in love with me. She wants to come to America to be with me. We've been talking for about 6 months now and she wants me to send her the money for a airline ticket. I told her that I already know that Ghana is the leader in dating scams and she swears she's not one of them. She's sent me a picture of her passport. I can't tell the difference between a fake and a real one. Everything looks real. On a real one does it list the place of issue? Would be grateful for any help!! Thank you

You are being scammed. Find someone local.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_9

You are being scammed. Find someone local.

She says all the right things, even said I could do a background check on her and get her ticket online. How can I find out for sure?

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_9

You are being scammed. Find someone local.

She says all the right things, even said I could do a background check on her and get her ticket online. How can I find out for sure?

Let her buy her own ticket...

How much does it cost?

How much does a visa and a passport cost from Ghana to America? Help please. Thank you

And then she is going to tell you that she needs a certain amount of money in her bank account before she can leave. Then someone in her family gets sick and goes in hospital so she uses the money you sent to pay that bill so she will ask you to send more money. This cycle will go on until she bleeds you dry.

Does she work? Suggest that she put a little money aside each month until she can afford a ticket.

A visa is gotten from the US embassy, and her passport is from her nation. They are a total of about 300 US dollars.

On the airline ticket, because of the corruption in Ghana even this is not perfect, but you can buy the airline ticket, and make it where it can only be picked up by this person, with proper ID and passport at the airport, and can not be turned in for cash.

I doubt she will like that idea.

Or tell her, you will fly to Ghana, meet her at the airport and buy her ticket in person.

But no, it is a scam, and honestly, even if it is real, she would not love you, she would only want a ticket to America,
Plus, if you were to marry, she would still have to leave the country and reapply for a spouse visa.

So, you travel there, marry, and apply for a spouse visa and return together later

Or tell her you will reimburse her for the ticket when she gets here.

She is scamming you. Tell her you don't have that kind of money but you will wait for her while she saves it on her end.
If you know there are a lot of scams from that area, why would you engage in this to begin with? I don't get it.

Of course it's a scam. Its also quite foolish to invest and commit to a stranger you are so unsure about. This scam plays on your desperation for love and romance and a future with someone, and no doubt you are but one of many "she" scams online.

I like the suggestion of telling her you cannot afford to send her money and see where that leads you. Honestly though, you do better with local dating and old fashion exploring and experimenting in person. Why go half way around the world? What, no local dating services online?

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_9

And then she is going to tell you that she needs a certain amount of money in her bank account before she can leave. Then someone in her family gets sick and goes in hospital so she uses the money you sent to pay that bill so she will ask you to send more money. This cycle will go on until she bleeds you dry.

Thank you for your advise. It was very helpful. I told her to save up the money and come over or I would fly over there and bring her back with me. She said she wanted money in her hand to purchase ticket then tell me when she will leave. I said it's either I come and get her or I purchase her ticket online or nothing. Funny, I haven't heard from her since. Lol

I suppose you now realize you are being scammed.

Is there a reason you can't find local women?

Of course often there will be a part two, to the scam sometimes, another person will contact you, tell you, that the other person was a crook and had stolen their identity. But now, because of the other persons criminal behavior, can not get a visa or get something. They often do not totally give up, if they had you going for a longer time.

Sorry to hear it Daytona... it's truly unfortunate that there are plenty of people in the world who lack integrity and decency.

If they have been working you for 6 months, it is probably not over yet. Like Fr_Chuck said, there will be more to it. That is a lot of time for them to invest to just simply walk away from. Expect more...pleading, promising, telling you that they can't believe with all you had that you don't trust them...things like that. Just be ready.

On one of my trips there, I was able to tour one of the businesses, The owner was very proud. They worked three shifts, every email is saved and the people doing the texting and email have scripts they use. Today you may chat with another person, and never know it, Often it may be grandmothers or even men, who are just paid to try to keep you chatting.

The photos are either photos they steal off internet, or family members they use. Sometimes they hire a few beautiful women who will do video chats.

The passports and visa's are easy to fake, simple photo shop does most of it but the place I visited had passport blanks and even made me one, to show me how easy it was. I honestly, could not tell a lot of diference between the fake pages and my real pages ( in a photo copy)

They pay the workers a few dollars a day and a percentage of what they get.