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 Post subject: Ghana Minister Scam--Need Advice
PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:32 am 
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Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:18 am
Posts: 1
On Oct. 11, 2010 our business was contacted via email by a person claiming to be a minister looking for banners to have shipped to a mission in Ghana. He followed up with phone calls and paid with credit cards that were approved. We were then asked to work with a freight company that would pick up the product and ship it to Africa. Emails were exchanged with the company and they told us the price for the shipping and insurance. When the funds for all this cleared into our account, we were asked to wire the shipping portion to the company's account. After this was done and the product was ordered, we got a message from our credit card procesor that the cards were fraudulent and our bank debited our account for more than $35,000. This was much more than we had in the account, which is now frozen.

Our mechant processor and bank have washed their hands of the whole thing, saying that the fault is completely ours for running the cards in the first place, even though they were approved and funds were deposited into our account. We have filed reports with the police, an attorney and the issuing bank for the credit cards, but none of thiese seem promising. The bank is demanding payment and our business operation has been limited in that we can not accept credit cards until the situation with the bank is straightened out.

This situation has not only affected my business but my marriage as well. My wife is furious at me for getting caught up in it and is agonizing over where we will get the money. My father thinks we can pursue some of the other actors in the situation (bank, merchant processor, card-issuing bank) but I am skeptical at this point. I am also filled with shame, grief and embarassment over the whole thing. I am normally a fairly skeptical person and have never been the victim of such a thing. But with the bad economy and the prospect of landing a big sale, in retrospect I let those factors cloud my judgment looking back at the red flags that were present along the way. Needless to say, this is the low point of my life and am really struggling to find some inspiration and reasons to keep up the good fight.

Is there anything else that can be done in our situation? Any advice you can give would be appreciated. Thank you.


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 Post subject: Re: Ghana Minister Scam--Need Advice
PostPosted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:33 pm 
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Site Admin/Co-Founder

Joined: Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:09 pm
Posts: 2921
I can feel your pain, since I have walked in your shoes. Yes, mine was for a different amount, but we trusted that the bank did way they told us they did . . . verified that things were good and clear . . . but they still held us liable.

I would find a good lawyer, document everything, and report the scam to the places listed here

http://scamvictimsunited.com/Reporting_scams.htm

Also, we should bring items like this to the attention of our law makers. Have them change the laws so that the banks have more liability. We have a petition on this topic, and you can find the link to it in my signature.

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