Thomas Anane, a Ghanaian based in Abidjan, says his troubles began when he went to help another Ghanaian man who was stranded and needed a translator. The man claimed he had been sent to Abidjan for work, but the person who invited him wasn’t picking up his calls. Thomas took him home even though his French wife didn’t want him to, bought clothes for him, found him a small job, and treated him like a brother before traveling to Ghana.
While Thomas was in his shop in Yokugun, the man thanked him and assured him the help would never go to waste. He then introduced Thomas to his sister in Kumasi, who claimed she had inherited gold from their late father and wanted to sell it in Côte d’Ivoire. She sent videos and photos of the gold, and Thomas agreed to help her sell it once it arrived in Abidjan.
After that, the sister kept pressuring Thomas for money, and he kept sending it. Eventually they asked him to come to Dormaa Ahenkro, where they showed him the gold. Thomas, not knowing the difference between real and fake gold, relied on their word. The sister came with her brother, Albert Yeboah, and the man Thomas had helped. Thomas told them if they could get the gold into Abidjan, he knew buyers who would purchase it at a good price.
They waited for hours for “the boys,” and the group gave Thomas a small sample of gold to take to Abidjan to test the market. Buyers said the gold couldn’t enter Côte d’Ivoire legally, but if it did, they would buy it. One potential buyer even tested the gold sample and confirmed it was real. This encouraged Thomas to take loans and gather money to purchase more gold from them, believing he could resell it successfully.
But when Thomas brought the gold to Abidjan, everything fell apart. His own brother, a pastor in Obuasi, had earlier warned him to stay away from gold deals. Later, someone Thomas invited into the business traveled to Dormaa Ahenkro to verify the gold and discovered they had been sold fake gold. That man—who had invested large sums—had Thomas arrested and took him to court, accusing him of conspiring with the Ghanaian scammers to steal money.
Now the case is in court. Thomas says he has lost 8 million CFA (about 160,000 Ghana cedis) after using his savings and taking loans. The man he brought into the deal lost 60,000 Ghana cedis and wants his money back, leading to Thomas’ arrest. Thomas says he only received a small amount of genuine gold earlier, worth about 2,000 Ghana cedis, which made him believe the deal was real.
He says his mother cried when he told her, and his wife advised him to be careful. Thomas claims the scammers live in Kumasi and wants their pictures exposed. He adds that he has lived in Côte d’Ivoire since 2006, running a phone shop and a car business. He owns land there and has a child with his French partner. He says he only sold his land to finance the gold deal, and now he fears he may go to prison if he doesn’t repay the man who invested with him.
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