Fraudsters in Ghana are deliberately targeting British women in online romance scams, claiming their crimes are a form of retribution for colonial exploitation, new research has revealed.
Accra, the capital of Ghana, has become a hub for cybercrime networks known as Sakawa Boys. These gangs impersonate white men on Facebook often posing as soldiers, bankers or government officials to lure affluent Western women into relationships.
Over months, victims are persuaded to hand over large sums of money, sometimes amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds, after being manipulated with fabricated tales of medical emergencies or personal crises.
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Dr Suleman Lazarus, a criminologist at the London School of Economics, interviewed 13 Ghanaian fraudsters and five police officers for his study. He found many scammers showed no remorse, instead framing their activities as retributive justice for Britain’s colonial past.
“A common saying among Sakawa Boys is: ‘They exploited our ancestors with mirrors and gunpowder; we will reclaim our resources with computers and brains,’” Dr Lazarus told the media
Ghana which was colonised by Britain in 1874 and exploited for its gold and role in the slave trade, gained independence in 1957. Yet its colonial legacy continues to be cited by some criminals as justification for fraud. According to Oxford University’s cybercrime index, Ghana ranked 13th-worst globally last year.
Interpol has identified West Africa as an emerging hub for online scam centres, where recruits are sometimes tricked by fake job offers, forced into debt bondage and trained to defraud victims. In a recent continent-wide crackdown, more than 1,200 suspects were arrested, with £73m recovered.
In Ghana, training hubs for aspiring scammers dubbed hustle kingdoms teach recruits how to run romance frauds and other online cons. British and American women, particularly those who are vulnerable and seeking companionship, are frequent targets.
Some police officers interviewed even expressed sympathy for the scammers’ perspective. One fraudster, Kojo, said: “Our ancestors were stripped of dignity and freedom… The colonialists brought chains and humiliation. Now we are smarter. We carry the codes, the format, the skills. We are reclaiming what was taken.”
Another scammer, Justice, echoed the sentiment: “They took our gold, cocoa and our people. Now, we are bringing dollars back from overseas.”
The human impact is stark. One British woman was persuaded to send vast sums to a Ghanaian posing as a US soldier. After months of online exchanges, she flew to Ghana to meet him only to discover he was a much younger man with no connection to the military.
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