Ghana Beauty and Inherited Gold

by Chase Warden
(Dallas, Texas)

Oh, this is a good one. In advance this has been reported to all authorities both US and Ghana as well as the people whose images were used without permission.

I played along because it was so good. This started with an anonymous hit on my Facebook as a friend request by a beautiful woman. I simply asked how I knew her. I didn’t accept her as a friend and my account is private, thank goodness.

I figured she got it from my Instagram site which is/was public. Well, we engaged in the exchange of usual messaging through MS Messenger that quickly moved to Hangouts then Telegram. No biggie. About a month into the volley of messages, the first request for help (money) was in the form of a broken phone, can’t take video, can’t hear etc.

But she could call me on her time but for some reason I had to make multiple calls for her to finally pick up the phone. Next came the “I’m sick and need medicine.” Followed by I need food stuffs and can you get me a Stream / gift card. I prolonged this as entertainment. You see, by profession I’m a C.P.A. and auditing and tax are a specialty of mine.

Finding fraud is kind of fun. So about 5 months into this, sexy and I mean really sexy explicit pictures start coming in. Then the big hit. I have inheritance, gold bars my father left me. Taxes are due (you all have read this many times.) I said OK. First, I said it’s bad to mix business with friendship/lovers and that I prefer that she retain someone local.

She insisted I handle it. I said OK, but I need to treat this like my business. I drafted an engagement letter and payment would be pro-bono. It required Name, Address (no P.O. Box), phone, relative’s full name and address as there could be liens or other reasons the Ministry is holding the gold. I also need all documentation regarding the asset, her ID, Passport as she indicated she was a U.S. Citizen.

I actually received almost all the request. I looked up the social security number, her so called deceased father, her address, and I communicated with the Ministry as she signed the Attestation engagement agreement.

Well, the social # was of a deceased railroad worker in the early 1900’s. The address is a hospital, her so called deceased father did exist, but there is another sibling and another woman in her parents’ marriage (public record and documented) which was on a previous Will that was immediately recalled/deleted. But I capture everything the second it hits my screen.

So equipped with all this info, I thought do I spend $150 US for a PI? Na. The Internet is great. I purchased for under $20 bucks access to software that does background fraud checks. It even scans an image, which I had plenty, and does facial recognition across multiple social media sites.

It resulted in numerous Facebook pages with different names but with the same photos she sent me. Too many email accounts to even count. And the best one …. Was it found her on porn sites. She was masquerading as Dani Daniels, a well-known public figure with a plethora of professional photos.

Here is how good these scammers are:

1. A passport means nothing if not in your physical possession! It has features embedded that a human eye cannot detect. It’s so easy to put a picture on one and Photoshop it and send via email. They are also hard to verify if you are not a business and have an account setup.

2. Social Security number if a US citizen. It’s free to check and can quickly tell you if they are alive or dead, but doesn’t verify if it is really them.

3. Asking them to hold up a note with your name, the date, also does not work unless it is a live video feed. Again Photoshop is wonderful. A keen eye can detect fraud if you’re good.

4. A video chat where you can’t pause or ask them to pause so you can ask a question. Then you are disconnected and told they have a bad connection. These are prerecorded and stolen off the Internet. I could track down all her videos off Dani Daniels site.

5. They think you’re connected and will resort to emotions to make you feel guilty. You don’t trust me and so on.

Well, I didn’t send her 15k. I did report her for using a deceased person’s SSN. I notified Dani Daniels of the scam. She is quite aware and there is not much she can do. She has a verified page, the blue dot which requires proof of who you are and you must be popular (written so many articles, have x number of followers, etc.)

So please, do as the professionals say. Do not send money unless you meet them in person and feel comfortable with the relationship. It’s not all bad. I had a wonderful experience years ago with someone I met on a popular web site.

After months of normal conversation and no sexual pictures or request for money, I traveled to Russia. It was a wonderful experience. I met her family, friends, parents and her son.