10.2.07

"Internet Love" Cost American $150,000




GREG Stivey, an American, apparently did not find it strange when a girl friend he met on the internet demanded huge sums of money from him.He readily sent her 3,500 dollars she requested for her to join him in the US and parted with another 2,000 dollars to secure her release from a supposed arrest at the Kotoka Airport for possessing 33 kilogrammes of gold.Through various representations by the girlfriend, identified by the police as Nancy Osei, and her accomplices, Mr Stivey sent a total of 150,000 dollars before realizing that there was something wrong.
Superintendent Denis Abade of the CID Headquarters told the Times that Edmund Ametepey, unemployed, and Alexander Quarshie, a trader, Nancy’s accomplices are assisting the police in investigations.Nancy herself is on the run.He said the American met Nancy at a dating site on the Internet, in January last year and introduced herself as a single lady who was looking for a Christian man to marry. He became interested in her, and started corresponding with her through the Internet.He said that Nancy later on informed Mr Stivey of her desire to join him in the USA, and demanded $3,500 for the trip.
The amount was transferred to her.Mr Stivey later on received a call from one Kennedy Smith, an alleged travel agent, who informed him that Nancy had been arrested at the Kotoka International Airport for allegedly carrying 33 kilogrammes of gold, and so 2,000 dollars was needed for her release. He accordingly transferred the amount to secure her release.
The police said after that transaction, Ametepey and Quarshie told Mr Stivey "stories upon stories" about Nancy’s trip, which made him transfer more money to bring the total to 150,000 dollars.In August last year, the American came down to Ghana with the view of tracing his supposed fiancĂ©e, only to realise that he had been duped. Consequently he sought legal advice.
He has since left for the US..The police said that in January, this year, Stivey received a call from a lady who claimed to be Nancy’s friend, and said Nancy had been kidnapped for three months, and she needed 300 dollars to buy a new phone. The money, should be sent in the name of Alexander Quarshie, a supposed pastor’s son.
The police said the money was transferred on January 15 but when Quarshie went to the Industrial Area branch of the SG-SSB to collect it on January 23, he was arrested by the police who had been alerted by Mr Stivey.Further investigations led to the arrest of Ametepey.
Source:Ghanaian Times

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:29:00 am

    i live in the usa and i was on a dating service looking for love and isaac tetteh duped me for 5,500.00 dollars. he said he was having trouble raising air fair and he was so in love with me we had to met. then his daughter goes to private school in ghana and he needed to bring her also home to the usa he said he lives in kentucky. well i believed in him he told me he had a plane ticket but then when the flight was to leave he ended up with an accident and now in the hospital. just wanted you to know i was duped also.

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  2. isaac! :P....still posting i see...i think really one should look at the situation holistically...if you're that stupid to give 150,000 to someone you've never met, well then u deserve to lose that money....ignorance isn't something to be sympathetic towards....moreover, my real question is to how someone so stupid came upon 150,000 that he can just give away....through World Vision, 150,000 can allow 150,000 kids to live another day in a third world country...that my friends is something to think about

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  3. Anonymous4:02:00 pm

    Thanks Mark, I think its really absurd for someone to come up with that much money and give it away in the name of Love. That money may not have been given in one day but the thought of it makes me think that a lot of people are 'impulse buyers'. I hope everyone learns something from this.
    Monies like these shd be donated to the World vision for the protection of Kids and the needy worldwide.

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