"All That Glitters
 Is Not Gold"

                                                   or

                                "Ghana 60 Seconds."

In a departure from the usual routine, this scammer offers to sell me gold dust and diamonds.   It is still a scam.   No legitimate precious metals dealer would contact an unknown customer by email and then trust his referal for another unknown person.

It appears that there was some dissent among the scammers in this gang because Mr. Ibrahim decided to continue the deal long after Mr. Frempong twigged. He continually slandered him as a dishonest man.

I managed to get these scammers to the airport to meet Penny and hopefully they paid the customs officials a bribe to let her pass without the proper paperwork as often happens to anyone foolish enough to meet a scammer in his own country. Additionally I scored ten trophy documents and a photo of the scammer which I believe is genuine.

An unusual twist is thrown in to salvage the scam when Penny balks at the deal. The scammer assumes the identity of a government official who wants to try to help her recover whatever she might have lost to the criminals.


The Players:

     Good Guys:
     Ned Devine : The scammer's original contact.

     Penny Mahoney : Owner of 'Emerald Isle Jewelers' in Dublin searching for a
     cheap source of gold.

     Seamus O'Paddy : A friend of Penny who wants to invest in an African
     diamond mine.

     John Killingskam : Another investor friend of Penny.


     Bad Guys:
     William Kwame : The original perpetrator of the scam.

     Alpha Ibrahim : Mineral Metal Company broker.

     Da Costa Obeng Frempong : Managing director of
     The Douglas Morgan Group

     Koffi Adams : The scammer resorts to conning his victim into thinking that
     her money can be recovered by his West African Diplomatic Org. Many
     victims are scammed a second time like this.

     Jerry Mensa and Harley Maritz: Possibly the same scammer using a different
     names trying to determine if I'm baiting him. I don't know if these are
     separate, unrelated scammers but I suspect that they are just different
     aliases used by Mr. Ibrahim.