Any BloodHounds looking for a lead in Ghana?

by John Rowles

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

We have a feature called “Ask Our Agent” on our Listing Detail Pages where people can do just that, no registration required and anonymously if they so choose.

Today, for the first time, we got our first “African Diplomat” phisher, and it is such a relief. Up to now, almost all of the questions have been legitimate, and none the bogus ones were from African con men. I was insulted, to be honest, but now we have arrived! A Minister from Ghana wants to buy a $25m residence/hotel:

DEAR SIR,

I AM CONTACTIN YOU ON BEHAVE OF HONORABLE DR RICHARD ANANE MINISTER, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GHANA. I AM CONTACTING YOU IN RESPECT OF HOUSE PROPERTIES FOR PURCHASE AS CONTAINED IN YOUR PROFILE.
HE WANT A RESIDENTIAL HOUSE FOR HIS FAMILY IN YOUR COUNTRY. THE LOCATION MUST BE OUTSIDE THE CITY. AND IT MUST HAVE ALL HOUSE COMFORTS.AND THIS PROPERTIES ARE ESTIMATED $25 MILLION US DOLLAR BOTH THE RESIDENTIAL HOUSE AND THE HOTEL.

IF YOU ARE CAPABLE AND WILING TO SECURE THE ABOVE MENTIONED PROPERTIES AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE CONTACT ME TELL:00233-246-430-865.SO THAT I CAN TELL YOU WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS PURCHASE.

THIS PURCHASE MUST BE VERY CONFIDENTIAL BECAUSE OF HIS POSITION IN THE GOVERNMENT.

EXPECTING YOUR SWIFT RESPONSE,MR.MICHAEL JOEL.

How awesome is that? Textbook! Here is the response I just emailed back, for your Saturday AM enjoyment:

Dear Sir:

I am contacting you on behalf of the former CEO of a mortgage originator here in the US. I got your email address from a Real Estate agent who, as I write this, is in the driveway trying to figure out how to program the GPS in her Lexus to locate $25 million residence/hotel properties for your minister. She is very excicted to help, and wants you to know that she is ready and willing to provide you with access to her bank accounts just in case you need help moving money around, no questions asked.

Your communication could not have been more timely. I can tell by your choice of an @yahoo.com email address like mine and your willingness to initiate multi-million dollar deals with people you have never met that you are a man who can be trusted.  My client is interested in leaving the US for a while, and bringing a large amount of cash with him. Ghana is his first choice. He hears that Cape Coast is nice spot.

First, my client will need a new Ghana passport and a hotel where he can lay low, so its a good thing your guy is a minister, right? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, wink’s as good as a nod to a blind bat, eh, know what I mean?

My client is interested in buying a hotel there to use as a coastal residence. The first thing we will need you to do is find us a good local appraiser and we will go from there. Does Ghana have any bond rating agencies?

Once the hotel is secured, he will need a compound on high ground, with a local populace that he can first hire to act as lookouts and then, when the heat is off a bit, help him build a build a phone bank. Once that is done, he will train them to call people at dinner time and offer them loans, so you can tell the minister this is a job creation program.

Before we can do anyting, though, we need to get my client’s cash to an intermediate country with favorble banking laws. He can’t open the account because he is being watched, so we need you to open an account in Switzerland for us. You will need to deposit at least $10 million to open an account there, but that should not be problem considering that your minister has $25 million. Get that done and email me back and I will give you the information you need to make my client a co-signer on the account so that he can deposit his money. In exchange for this service, my guy will pay your guy $5 million and give him a stake in the new Ghana-based mortgage business.

This transaction must be kept very quiet for obvious reasons. I await your timely response,

Hal J Likiakik, esq.