If you live in Accra, Ghana can you please help me to find out if this girl I met on-line is for real.?

Question

Her name is Gloria Wasilat and we have been emailing each other for about a month. She has asked me if I can help her with her Internet Cafe expenses. It cost $60 month and she has run up credit with them for 3 months and owes them $180. She also said she has just graduated from a leading hospital as a nurse but she can not get her nursing certificate until she pays off her remaining tuition of $400. She lives with her mother and does not have a phone. She says she is a Christian and I want to believe her but their are so many scams out their that I'm not sure what to do. If I could maybe have someone check out her address I would at least know that she really exists. I would appreciate someone's help on this matter. Thank you. Jonathan

Answer 1

Hi Jonathan,

If Gloria really is in Ghana then she is probably being honest with you. Ghanaians are the most honest and trustworthy people I've met. However, the Nigerians and Ivorians, which are also in West Africa, have a well earned reputation for being dishonest and many scams which appear to originate from Ghana are in fact coming out of Nigeria and the Cote D'Ivorie.

The things that you've mentioned about her are all feasible...

Her name seems genuine enough, it's a typical Ghanian name.
Very few people in Ghana have an internet connection (it's very expensive) but there are quite a few internet cafes in Accra.

Running up a $60 bill in a month would be quite easy to do so that part I can beleive. What seems strange is that the internet cafe has let her run up a bill - in Ghana it's almost unheard of to get credit of any kind.

The bit about being a nurse is quite possibly true. Living with her mother and not having a phone is common. Christians are the main religion in Ghana.

If you can establish that she's in Accra then it's probable that she's being genuine. Do you have a phone number for her, if it's a Ghana number it will start 00233, most phones are cell-phones and start with 02 (usually 021, 024 or 028). Even if she doesn't have a cell-phone (a lot of Ghanaians don't), she can still phone you and you can phone her at a phone booth (like an internet cafe but with phones, if she's not there when you ring you can leave a message for her).

Some things you can ask her about that will help establish if she is in Ghana...

Trainee nurses uniforms are nearly always green (not always), they have 1 band on the arm for a 1st year student, 2 bands for 2nd year, 3 bands for 3rd year and a wide band when qualified. Training is often in hospitals as opposed to schools or universities and a lot of trainee nurses live in junior staff blocks.

Ask her which hospital she studied at then check it on the internet - the biggest training hospital in the Accra region is Pantang.

Find out her native language. Everyone in Ghana speaks English but also their local dialect. The most common native languages in Accra are Twi, Ewe and Ga but there are many others.

If you want to put her on the spot then ask her where the tourist market in Accra is (it's on the beach), what the mini-bus taxis are called (trotros) and what collective name is given to the group of people on all Ghanaian monetary notes (the Big Six).

One thing which I guess you should know... Ghanaians are incredibly friendly people but you need to be a little bit cautious when dealing with Ghanaian ladies as many have an ambition of moving to America or Europe and in order to do this will 'attach' themselves to any American or European male. This is true of many Ghanaian ladies but especially true of the Ashanti. If you just want to be friends with Gloria then make this point abundently clear so she has no misconceptions.

Hope this info helps.

Answer 2

I feel terrible for you, I doubt the people in Ghana even have a computer, so it's probably a scam
I doubt that you will find anyone from Ghana

Answer 3

just like de user above explained, go ahead, establish the reality-nd all the best :) i hope it doesnt turn out to b a scam :)

Answer 4

Probably a scam!!!!

Answer 5

run ..