[ 2011-11-15 ]

Investigative journalist, Anas, in subterfuge

Special Report: Confessions of a gold scammer
Special Report: Confessions of a gold scammer
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Investigative journalist, Anas, in subterfuge
“The fraud business is like the Al-Qaeda
network. Al-Qaeda has a motive and mission of
revenge. In our case, it is revenge on what the
colonial masters did to our grandparents in the
olden days.

"That is the money that we are collecting back
from them (through the scams). When they came to
Africa, they carried our grandparents and gave
just one bottle of wine and left. Now we are
taking the money back. We are taking the money
back. All the work that our grandparents did in
America, in London, in Europe, we are coming back
to collect the money. That is the motive and the
mission. ”

That was the summary of mission and purpose, given
by a gold scammer who spoke to our ace
investigative reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas in an
hour-long interview during our recent
investigations (with Al Jazeera) into the issue of
gold scamming in Ghana.

The gold scammer, who granted the interview on
condition of anonymity, revealed the inner
workings of the criminal underworld. He also gave
insights into the scammer’s mind, motivations
and challenges.

“It’s a big work. Involves money, involves
ideas. Most of the people who scam have good
degrees. We have marketers, we have banking and
finance. We have lawyers, we have engineers; but
because of what? It’s because there isn't any
employment for them”, he revealed.

HOW THE SCAMMING NETWORK OPERATES

It may appear to be the work of a few individuals
engaged in a life of defrauding others; but this
is far from the reality that persists. The New
Crusading GUIDE’s interview with the gold
scammer, brings evidence that the gold scamming
comprises of several network across the world.
Like most organized crimes, this network is
composed of some professionals and institutions
which knowingly (sometimes unknowingly) contribute
to and benefit from the successes of their
operations. In Ghana, the network is composed of
lawyers, police officers, customs officials,
banking institutions, government offices and
officials, politicians and traditional rulers. As
revealed by our investigations, the hour-long
interview with this scammer further lifts the lead
off the operation of these scammers. Here are
excerpts:

Anas: So what kind of network are we talking
about? And how big is this network?

Gold Scammer: What I can say is that this scamming
or fraudster network is like Al-Qaeda. In Ghana,
outside Africa, Europe, Asia and Arab states, we
are working together as one.

Anas: How many people are we talking about?

Gold Scammer: Many people, massive numbers of
people. This business is not only for one group,
there is division of labour.

Anas: Who are the victims, where do they come
from?

Gold Scammer: A victim can be anybody. ..it can be
you! Can by father; a minister, can be an outside
person – anybody who wants to buy and sell gold.
The most important thing is that victims fall
because of their greediness. That is why they
fall. Everybody knows the price of gold in the
market, but when they come to Ghana, they want to
buy gold at the lower price.

Anas: So which people do you normally get as
victims?

Gold Scammer: We get a lot people to defraud from
Europe, Asia, and any part of the world and they
want to come and buy and sell the gold. We got
America in the business too much. Americans are
most of the people victim in this area; more than
any other country. Asia and Arab states follow.

Anas: So how many millions of dollars have you
seen people be defrauded?

Gold Scammer: Many people, it depends on the
quantity of the gold you need. .. because if you
want a tonnes of gold, people will sell it to
you...if you want 100kg, 50kg, 2 tonnes, we will
get it for you. Any amount of gold that you want.
People lose money! 10 million, 5 million, 5m U. S
Dollar, 5m pounds, 5m Euros, people lost.

Anas: Is it one person?

Gold Scammer: One person can lose it. One person
can lose 1, 2,3 million dollars. It depends on
what quantity of gold you are looking for.

A GOLD SCAMMER’S ROADMAP OF FRAUD

Anas: Can you tell me how it is done; from the
beginning to the end?

Gold Scammer: From beginning to end, it is just as
simple as selling and buying in any business. In
the beginning, you contact someone through a
proposal, or a letter. Or send a letter by post to
the victim’s address. If they reply, everything
starts. Send them the documents, stick it in the
email. After we satisfy what I have said about the
gold, I have satisfied the price and all the
information I have given to you. They arrive in
Ghana for dispensing.

First we tell them not to pay all the money, just
come to pay only the shipment fees; but when you
arrive, the story will change. After the story
changes, I will take you to the mining site.

When we go to the mining site I explain that we
need to buy gifts for the chiefs, and the
community. You can buy rice, oil, so many things
for presentation to the chief. ..and wine, gin;
you buy it and present it to them.

Chief welcomes you, do everything for you. From
there you are out of the place. They start the
business, they show you gold. After you accept,
you pick your sample and go back to Accra.

From the village down to Accra, you test. Though
you were already informed to come and will only
pay shipment fees, but after, the chief and the
villagers say they need some money before the gold
can be moved. You are made to pay 10%, 20%, 40% of
the full price. You feel like paying, because you
have already seen the truth.

After that, you need to pay. If you don't have the
money, you will call because you have already seen
the goods. Cough up the money, after you pay the
processes start for the shipment.

We meet later meet at office. That's the office we
are using. After that, we will present everything
for you to pick the sample from the gold. Take it
to the Geological, PMMC, Asavasa or any refinery
in Ghana that you want.

Anywhere you take it, there are insiders over
there. Any result will come out in our favour so
you can believe that what we are doing is good.

After you are satisfied with the test, or the
result of the gold sample, we ask you to pay the
money, the shipment fees. We take you to the
shipping agency. We decide how the money will be
entered by card or by cash, and don't forget that
the shipping agent is also part of the network.

From there, we move to the airport. When at the
airport, a messenger from the community will
arrive saying that that the chiefs say no; the
community wants part of the money to be paid
before the gold can be shipped. They would say
“you cannot just come to Africa and come and
carry their gold, without paying anything”, even
though you paid at least 20% or 30% before leaving
them. So everything goes back to the office or is
kept with the Custom officials at the airport, or
you can ask for safe keeping at a bank.

If it ever gets shipped, remember what is shipped
to you is not pure gold. If 5 kilos is shipped,
maybe 2 kilos or 1.5 kilo is genuine. When it
reaches there, maybe your friend or your partner
gets the gold and goes to do the tests. They
confirm that only one kilo or so is genuine.

We then say it’s not our fault, it’s the
airlines fault. The airline, many airline, we pay
money. Many servers company we pay them in this
matter. That’s how everything we do from
beginning to end. It appears to be legal. All the
procedure seems legal from the way the government
gives its procedures down to how to buy, how to
ship, how to move the good out of Ghana. Every
procedure is carefully planned.

But the end is the last show. If you are not there
I cannot just explain it until you are on ground
and you will see, what is going on. Everybody in
this world needs money. We cannot just call it
corruption, it’s just a gift. People receive a
gift to add to their own salary. We influence them
with what we have, to get what we want from them.

In Bank, in Customs, in PMMC, in any refinery,
even customs officer. To get what we want, we have
to satisfy our own links, that’s the way it is.


Anas: So from the bank what else happens? How do
we get to that end?

Gold Scammer: The person will finally be defrauded
when, that is where we will call a scam. From the
beginning to the bank, it is genuine. If the
client doesn't pay, he has not been defrauded.

Let me just give you some little idea of how they
change from real to fake. They have two types of
gold that everyone knows in the world. You have
gold bar, and dust. Its easy to defraud clients on
bar than dust.

Bar made with iron, covered with gold water. And
even they have acid proof, to secure the quality
of the gold; because when they come down with the
acid to test the bar. When you put the acid, the
bar starts to shine, shinier like original.

For the dust the only way to change let’s say a
hundred kilos, maybe only one or two kilos are
genuine inside, and they will put your real bit on
top. All the 99 below are fake.

After you have already accepted the result of the
test of the gold we give you a padlock to lock the
box by yourself and hold the key. We have another
box with the same colour and same padlock key, and
we change it with yours.

Usually, that one is not real gold inside, just
ordinary sawdust, or paper, or brass for you to go
and ship at the airport. People are there who will
ship it for us.

Anas: When you get to the airport, won't the
customs ask you, what is inside?

Gold Scammer: We use money to influence anybody,
to get what we want. There are insiders
everywhere.

Anas: Don't you leave traces that will lead to
your arrest?

Gold Scammer: We rent the offices to use for just
one week when the client is around, so they cannot
trace it. And even the car we are using is not our
own personal car. ..it’s usually a rental car.
And most of the cars are not registered cars. We
use temporary DV number plates for running about.
After he will dismantle everything after the
scam.

Anas: We sometimes hear that you are able to use
lawyers?

Gold Scammer: It depends on clients. If the client
wants the lawyer to secure his service here in
Ghana, we acquire a lawyer for him. Sometimes, we
acquire a real lawyer to keep him, to just know
that this is what is going on. Sometime people
pretend, by being an imposter using somebody’s
name.

Anas: Is it an easy thing? Don't you get caught by
the police?

Gold Scammer: Caught by police? That’s why I
told you earlier that we use what we have to be
able to move. In police language, the police have
(fell to hostisay? ?). Police are here to keep the
law; we are here to dismantle the law. And the two
of us, in the face of everybody are cat and rats
but at the back, we are one. Not all. ..most. We
are using it to get what we want.

In this scammer game, there are three things that
follow it – money. You get your money... if you
don't get money, you can be caught by police or
put inside jail, or some people die. They can be
caught by some area boys, beaten to death. It's
not easy to get caught because any amount of money
that you collect from the clients, we have a
certain percentage to give to any group. That if
any case rises up, we can bring the case down.

We have the lawyer that we are paying a monthly
salary to. If anything happens, the lawyer will
come and defend us... we are paying his salary
every month. We have police people that are given
information. That is what is there.

We can buy anyone. Anybody: official, police,
immigration, custom to get what we want. We even
use immigration to get cable visa. We get visa
without coming down from the Ghana embassy.

Most people coming here are not coming for gold. I
will let you know that about 80% of taxi drivers
at the airport are working for us. When they pick
a foreigner from the airport to the hotel, they
start asking questions about what they want in
Ghana. If you want to buy gold I can introduce you
etc. If the person doesn't want, the driver gives
us the hotel number. If they buy a SIM card for
the phone, he is the one who communicates with the
person and gives the number to you. He'll say let
me have your number, call me, I will take you out.
The taxi driver will come and give us the
information. We then plan to defraud the person.

Anas: Don't you feel guilty that you are ruining
people’s lives?

Gold Scammer: It’s a big question. You know, I
don't how to put it. When you want to plant a
seed, the seed needs to spoil before it can
germinate a big new thing out. When I need
something, I need to quell before somebody, for me
to go up.
You need to use some people as a step for you to
reach where you are going. It’s already there in
the bible. ..that you collect from somebody that
has, to get for what I need. You read you r bible
yea, it’s there. No matter what you want to do
in this life, you have to climb somebody as your
step case to get to the top.

BRIBE OFFERINGS TO SILENCE THE STORY

Meanwhile, some of the scammers and their partners
have contacted The New Crusading GUIDE offering
sums of money to stop the publication of the
story. In separate calls to our investigative
reporter, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and the
Editor-in-Chief, Kweku Baako Jnr, frantic efforts
are being made by the scamming network to
influence the newspaper’s editorial
independence.

Recordings made by The New Crusading GUIDE
regarding these developments show the scammers
calling to offer the investigative reporter
$20,000 as a preliminary bribe to stop the
story’s publication. The scammers, who wanted a
meeting in the night at a secret location
somewhere in Osu with the reporter, promised to
pay some more money if the reporter is
interested.

The reporter and the newspaper have however stated
in no uncertain terms to remain true to the
journalistic duty of being a voice to the
voiceless and shinning light on the dark places in
society.

Source - Anas Aremeyaw Anas

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