Man loses life savings of £200,000 in a gold scam; Ghana police cited for complicity

According to nottinghampost.com the Nottinghamshire man who pleaded anonymity said he was defrauded by convincing con artists who had claimed that gold worth £5 million could be released in return for payment.

Per the narration by Simon as the nottinghampost.com chose to name him, most, if not all the scammers were from Ghana.

Simon said he met a certain woman named Dora online in 2014 who said her father worked for a mining company, and that his firm had paid him in gold, which was looked after by the mine, according to the post.

She told Simon that the said mining firm demanded payment for the security costs, and that it would keep the gold if the payment wasn't made by the end of 2016.

Simon said after 12 months he decided to help Dora and her family who claimed to be Ghanaians.

He said in an interview with the post that “I just sent four grand at the start, and it just spiraled. They said the gold had been released, but then they said it needed shaping into bullion, and then they needed more money for it to be stamped, and it all just continued.

“It all appeared to be above board, they sent copies of the gold ownership certificates, and I spoke on Skype to a man who said he was a Ghanaian police officer who said that everything was legitimate.

“I was just thinking if I spend a few more thousand I might get my money back.

“I didn’t just have the money lying about in a bank, I spent my pension and my mortgage. I just sent everything.

“I realised that something was very wrong after I’d sent about £180,000. The stories were so polished and so believable, they overload your mind and they get you into their way of thinking, the way that they want you to think.

“They absolutely destroy your mind. The first four months after I realised it had gone belly up, it was a dark depression. Every day was black. I was in a dark place.

“But time is a good healer, I just said to myself it’s time to dust yourself off and get on with life.

“But I can understand that some don’t have the character I have, and I can see why people would seriously think about ending their lives. But I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Simon only woke up from slumber when his friends asked him again to pay £380,000 in tax to have the gold released. It only became obvious that the poor man had been defrauded after he went to complain to his bank.

He has hidden his ordeal from people except his brother and two friends, but chosen to disclose it now, to conscientise others to beware of such scammers.

The poor pensioner sad “I went online and there were pages and pages of scams, you wouldn’t believe how many different ones there are running, and a good percentage of them are from Africa.”

He said he has reported the matter to the Nottinghamshire Police and “They were very sympathetic, and they are still looking into it, but other than raising awareness, there’s not a huge amount they can do.

“The Ghanaian police are aware of it as well, but it could be anyone from a phone anywhere, so what can they do. And also, because I chose to give them the money; it wasn’t stolen from me, so that would be different.”

Detective Sergeant Simon Harrison works for Nottinghamshire Police's fraud team said “Because of the way online fraud works and the fact that criminals can operate from anywhere in the world, all cases go through the national body Action Fraud who then disseminate to individual forces if there are viable lines of inquiry in that area or if safeguarding measures are needed.

“With this victim's case, it was clear that the connections ran oversees mainly in Ghana.

“The investigation is ongoing, but cases like this are notoriously very hard to conclude.

They're most-likely operated by serious organised crime groups who know how to cover their tracks and use methods that they know are untraceable.

“That's why we're really concentrating on helping to educate and prevent people from falling victim because if people know what to look out for, they can shut it down and report it straight away.

“Together we can outsmart these criminals and put an end to these kinds of crimes completely.

“Our message is clear if someone you've never met asks you for money, don't give it to them."

Man loses life savings of £200,000 in a gold scam; Ghana police cited for complicity

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