In my seventh month of pregnancy, I was mostly at home resting my back. If I was not trying to get anything to eat or do house chores, I was usually scrolling online, reading anything I found interesting. It was during one of those moments that I saw a post in a group about a lady who wanted to help small businesses.

I’m into event planning and decoration, and because I have limited capital, I don’t have enough items of my own to work with. I’m always renting extra items for my setups, so I needed capital to make some purchases. If you’re into events, you’ll know that decor is quite capital intensive.

I sent a message to the number, and the person, who was a lady, directed me to another man. She said it was her husband. We built rapport for about a week through WhatsApp calls and video calls. Every day, we chatted about life, business, and the trials and temptations I faced working as an event planner.

Another day, I got introduced to one of their business partners. “She is our relationship manager, and she handles meetings with clients on behalf of our company. She will be arriving in Ghana from Côte d’Ivoire next week,” he said.

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We met at Accra Mall, and she further explained what they essentially did as a company. They were a group of people who gave out loans to struggling small business owners and helped them scale up. According to her, many people failed to repay the loans, so they developed a new strategy, thus creating new Ghana cedi notes using “see finish” papers from Switzerland.

We were literally going to print Ghana cedi notes, and dear, I can hit my chest and tell you that the money did not look fake. I told her I needed GH₵100,000. The lady then told me that if I had money in the bank, I should withdraw it so they could get mercury from the banknotes and attach it to the “see finish” paper to create new notes. She said they would then give me 40% of whatever amount I brought.

At our first meeting, she dashed me GH₵75 and told me that she had created it that very morning before meeting me to prove that they were very legitimate. The next day, we met again, and she asked me to bring a GH₵200 note. I took it along. She attached two pieces of the “see finish” paper, soaked in some black substance, to the front and back of the GH₵200 note, sprinkled some powder on it, and placed everything inside an envelope.

We waited for about 30 minutes, then took it out and washed the notes. That’s how we ended up with GH₵600. She gave me two notes, my original GH₵200 and one of the newly made notes, while she kept the other one.

When we were leaving, she asked me to get GH₵50,000 and bring it along so that when we made GH₵150,000, I could receive my GH₵100,000 as capital.

Honestly speaking, if I had that money, I would have fallen for it completely because we did the experiment together, and she assured me we would do the bigger one together too. She kept saying no one gets cheated.

I went home and thought deeply about it. I prayed about it, and I discussed it with someone I trusted, but I didn’t tell her the full details because, at that time, I desperately needed money. Not just for capital, but because I wanted to move from my current place into a more spacious room before I put to bed.

I didn’t have the money, so I borrowed money from a relative. I didn’t tell her the truth about why I needed such a huge amount, but because of my condition, she didn’t want me to worry, so she gave me GH₵20,000.

We went through the same process we had done with the GH₵200 note. The only difference was that, because the money was a lot, one hundred pieces of GH₵200 notes, she said it had to be done overnight. She bundled everything up and gave it to me to take home so we could wash and share it the next day.

Only for me to try to reach her the next day, for her to tell me she had been arrested and that I should send GH₵10,000 so she could be bailed. “If I get out, I will refund your money when we are done cleaning.”

I Called My Girlfriend And Another Man Answered The Phone

Only then did it click that I was being scammed out of my hard-earned money. The minute she mentioned that the police had arrested her, I knew she was lying. Her so-called brother was always calling me, begging me to help bail her out. “Help us to help you.” I haven’t shown them that I know I’ve been scammed, so I just play along.

I have now given birth, and I am paying off a debt because of this. We all have to be vigilant on social media. That is all I can say.

—Martha

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