Scams

Scams stink, and unfortunately they are entering the Ghana adoption world. Someone recently contacted me because someone in Ghana had emailed her saying that an orphaned boy from Sudan had run away to Ghana (a 7 year old boy!) with a box of $12 million. He was stuck at the airport and they needed $500 to get him out of the airport with his box of money. This woman's name and email was taped onto the boy's box. They needed her to help the boy get out of the airport so that he could be adopted.

Pretty clearly a scam, right? Well, that's not so obvious to everybody. So I got a call from someone who was genuinely concerned that there may be a boy "stuck" in Kotoka International Airport. I explained that it was a scam. But the woman didn't want to hear that. She wanted to believe the story. I sent a detailed message with links to similar scams on the internet. I warned her never to call their numbers or give them her number, because they could try to steal her identity. I never heard back from her.

Then yesterday I started getting calls from Ghana, from the scammers. The woman, for whatever reason, gave these people my name and phone number. Nice. And I'm assuming she told them that I said it was a scam. So I got dozens of calls from Ghana yesterday. They started out nice, and once they realized I was not going to be scammed, they became very mean. They ended up threatening my life and my family's life. It's a little scary to have a man in Ghana screaming at you at the top of his lungs saying, "I will find you! I will find your family and you will DIE for what you have done!"

I highly doubt that they could find our family or do anything to us. But just to be safe I now have a new phone number with no address attached! And we're saying a few extra prayers for a hedge of protection around our family.

Anita