Asante Ceremonial Crown
African scammers are 'targeting British women to get revenge for colonialism'
African romance fraudsters justify targeting British women as revenge for colonialism, a new study has found.
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is known as a hub for organised groups including the notorious 'Sakawa Boys', who specialise in online crimes, including romance scams.
Typically, they spend months grooming vulnerable women on social media before asking for money for imaginary medical emergencies or family crises.
Far from feeling guilty about their actions, fraudsters perceive tricking Brits and other Westerners as 'morally acceptable' and 'retribution' for the slave trade [Britain was the first country to outlaw the African Slave Trade, around 1805].
Dr Suleman Lazarus, a criminologist from the London School of Economics, said this pattern was common in other West African countries, including Nigeria, leading to a belief that taking part in online romance scamming is a 'commendable civic virtue'.
'Online romance fraudsters, within this context, often hold esteemed positions within their communities, earning a revered reputation for their prowess as con artists,' he wrote in the journal Deviant Behaviour alongside his co-author, Nigerian academic Kaina Habila Garba.
The pair drew his findings from interviews with 13 romance scammers and five police officers in Ghana, which was officially colonised by the British in 1874 following the defeat of forces from the Asante Empire.
Accra, the capital of Ghana, is known as a hub for organised groups including the notorious 'Sakawa Boys', who specialise in online crimes, including romance scams.
Dr Lazarus drew his findings from interviews with 13 romance scammers and five police officers in Ghana, which was officially colonised by the British in 1874 following the defeat of forces from the Asante Empire
A collection of 32 items - including rings, knives and a ceremonial cup - were recently loaned to Ghana by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) 150 years after they were taken from the palace of an Asante king.
The academics said that scammers liked to pose as 'agents of historical retribution' who justify their crimes 'as acts of resistance against the enduring economic inequalities rooted in colonial legacies'.
They quoted one scammer, called Kojo, as saying: 'We thank God for business today! We are finally making it at last. You see, there was a time… a time not too long ago… when our ancestors were stripped of their dignity and freedom.
'Back then, the white colonialists came with promises of trade and progress, but what did they deliver? Chains. Enslavement. Humiliation. But today, here we are… smarter! [paused] We're not in chains anymore, are we?
'No! Now we carry the codes, the format, and the skills, you know. We are the architects of a new era, an era where we turn the tables and reclaim what was taken from us by the white people. This is not just a game, o! This is history reclaiming itself.'
A second criminal, ironically named Justice, echoed this sentiment.
'They took more than just the gold, cocoa, and the riches of our land. They took our people, bound them, and shipped them across ocean,' he said.
'Now, we are bringing back dollars from overseas. You see! You know the history? They broke our forefathers and turned their spirits into commodities, crushed under the weight of the empire.'
Known as the Gold Coast, the territory's mineral resources were heavily exploited, with precious gold objects also taken from local rulers. Pictured is a ceremonial cap taken from an Asante ruler that is being loaned back to Ghana by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A)
A total of 32 Asante gold items are set to be loaned to the current king for three years, including this Asante gold torc (left) and ring (right)
Members of the Black Watch patrol the forests of Ashanti in central Ghana, during the British-Ashante war of 1873-1874
Ghana became independent in 1957 and was last year rated the 13th worst nation globally for cyber crime, according to the World Cybercrime Index.
The country was included in a recent Interpol operation that led to the arrest of 1,209 cybercriminals operating across Africa.
Operation Serengeti 2.0 brought together investigators from the UK and 18 African countries to target a variety of online offenders, including romance scammers. Officers seized more than £72million.
Interpol has identified West Africa as a regional hub for 'online scam centres', which train individuals in the art of tricking vulnerable victims.
Last month, a woman told of being conned out of £200,000 by a romance scammer who bombarded her with gushing messages every day for two-and-a-half years.
Elizabeth, who is in her sixties and lives in rural England, handed over her life savings, took out a loan and remortgaged her home to meet the man's ever increasing demands for money.
Sharing her story in public for the first time, she bravely revealed how she fell victim to an elaborate catfishing plot orchestrated by a fraudster posing as an oil industry consultant from Texas.
In reality, the criminal was based in Nigeria and had stolen photos of a real man before concocting a string of crisis scenarios to trick the kindhearted mother of two. At one point, he even pretended he had a daughter who had lost her newborn baby.
Ava Waller, 76, was duped out of £67,000 by a Nigerian romance fraudster
The scammer posed as a charming American oil-rig worker named 'David West'. In reality, this photo shows an American doctor whose photo had been stolen
During the whole period of the scam, he repeatedly promised to pay back the money and even delivered a fake cheque to her home for $1.832million dollars.
Elizabeth, who did not want to give her real name for privacy reasons, said she 'can't believe' she fell for his evil lies, but was vulnerable at the time after breaking up with a 'toxic' partner.
Hers was only the latest account of the misery being caused by romance scammers, who conned British victims out of more than £88million last year.
Another victim, 76-year-old Ava Waller, was duped out of £67,000 by a similar scam involving a fraudster posing as a charming American oil-rig worker named 'David West'.
In reality, 'David' was using stolen photos of a real man whose image has often been used by scammers - Dr Mark Smith, a chiropractor in Indiana - while spinning tales of hardship, delayed flights and desperate emergencies that Ava felt compelled to help with.
'He told me he was in an oil rig in the middle of the sea somewhere,' she said. 'I've since learned that's a favourite job for these people to pretend they have.'
What began as a harmless online friendship in 2018 - sparked when he complimented her photos on Facebook - soon turned into a daily lifeline.
Ava, a mother of two with three grandchildren, divorced and grieving the loss of her mother, admitted the attention became a comfort.
Some scammers have started using deepfakes to make it seem like women are talking to a young, attractive man
One woman, Elizabeth, was sent this fake check in what he said was an attempt to pay her back for the money she had given him
'I think we'd been talking maybe six months and then he was coming home,' she recalled. 'And he told me he got stopped at the airport – something to do with his drilling equipment - and needed money to sort himself out.'
Desperate to help the man she believed was flying back to start a new life with her, Ava sent her first payment of £250. It was the first of many requests before her son intervened and called police.
Forces typically refuse to pursue scammers based abroad due to the cost and complexity of these investigations.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15034619/African-scammers-targeting-British-women-revenge-colonialism.html
No comments:
Post a Comment