He was trained as a soldier to handle sophisticated weapons to defend the United States of America in many high profile wars, a duty he carried out diligently, but not without mishap. He suffered an accident at the war front, resulting in him becoming permanently disabled.
But that does not mean he should not marry or take a girlfriend, despite his predicament. Therefore, when Alton Graham, the war veteran, saw a supposed Ghanaian lady via the internet, he quickly yanked her picture, viewed it, and instantly started to date her for a possible future marriage.
Unfortunately, Alton Graham had only studied the intricacies of war and could probably close his eyes and shoot on target, but certainly not against internet fraud, which goes by the moniker, ‘Sakawa’ in Ghana.
As a result of this limitation, Alton Graham is now yelping from his US home for the Ghanaian authorities to help him trace his girlfriend, Fati Abdul Rahman, the supposed hulking and swash- buckling trickster, who swindled him of $3,000, which was meant to acquire a US visa and air ticket for his lover girl to travel to the US for the continuation of their relationship.
Alton Graham admitted in an e-mail conversation with this reporter that he had been scammed, but it had now opened his eyes to this wicked and hackneyed tricks being employed by some Ghanaians to tarnish the international image of the country.
“My understanding is that this type of crime happens on a regular basis in Ghana, so help me put a stop to this,” he told The Chronicle via e-mail.
According to Alton, he held the belief that he had met a genuine Ghanaian lady, so when he started sending money for a visa fee and plane ticket, he did not blink his eyes.
According to him, after sending the money to the alleged girlfriend via Western Union, she scanned her passport and embossed it with her supposed picture and American visa to him, in the US.
Having convinced himself that his lady had secured all her traveling documents, Alton said he was expecting her to board a flight and head towards the US. Regrettably, Fati Abdul Rahman started telling all kinds of stories, and rather demanded more money from him.
The ex-US soldier further told this reporter that at a point in time, he insisted that Fati Abdul Rahman use his credit card to buy the air ticket, but she insisted that he (Alton) send her cash, because credit cards are not used in Ghana due to internet fraud, a crime she herself was perpetuating against the US war veteran.
According to Alton, when he realised that he had apparently been scammed, he called the US Embassy here in Accra to verify whether the visa they gave to his girlfriend was genuine. He was, however, told in plain language that the number on the supposed visa did not correspond with any visa the Embassy had issued.
A careful scrutiny of some of the particulars the supposed Ghanaian lady sent to Alton, which he mailed to The Chronicle, also indicated that most of the documents were fake. For example, Fati Abdul Rahman gave her telephone numbers as 233-324-146-2255/233-324-510-8978/233-324-285-0788, numbers which do not correspond with any telephone number codes in Ghana.
Particulars in Fati’s old Ghanaian passport also indicate that she acquired it on June 8th, 2013, at the time the Passport Office had stopped issuing those passports. Also, her face in the passport does not resemble a true Ghanaian lady.
With the suspicion that the lady’s Ghanaian passport could also be a fake one, Alton Graham is wondering how Fati Abdul Rahman was able to cash all the monies he sent to her through the Western Union with the fake passport.
Meanwhile, the following is some of the conversations that took place between Alton Graham and his Ghanaian girlfriend, which we have published unedited.
*thank you, for thinking am a scammer, you have loose a good woman, I tell you, and that I promise you would later find out; you think everybody is the bad type, what the embassy told you about my visa is a lie, tell them that I got a new visa, and that old one was renew bec they only gave me a month visa, and the traveling agency go in and re-apply for 6 months, so am sorry, you just miss the right woman, from all what u did and the insult, I intend to call you and meet you when I get to the state, but sorry to say have change my mind.
*why would you contact me, you said you are done with me and you are going to be with someone else, I don’t want you to contact me anyway with somebody else or is that just another lie.
*Yes and am now back to prove you wrong, so if you want us you can stop the payment of your motor cycle unless maybe you want to go with that then am fine with it, as I said its in your hands, but then know i don’t fear police or no body bec am not a thief as you thought.
*I told you had we not this problem between us it would be this Wednesday the 14th because I’m thinking that you’re not speaking and you say it was all over up to today what I decide on my motorcycle that’s what I do.
*I have what you sent for ticket – 1000 – that is what I have and what my family would add to it, so all needed from you for the ticket is 900.
*let’s not worry about ticket right now okay we have 3 more weeks
*I understand dear, what am saying is, I have half money u sent here, and i told you here we dont use credit card due to this internet fraud and things, thats why am requested to pay cash to board the flight.
*What you told me and what have found out about the ticket do not much , I found a ticket there for 1825 USD.
*baby it’s a straight flight to the USA why should I sent almost another thousand dollars when we get a flight and you have enough already now if that’s not good enough you let me know what you want to do *you have enough money go book a flight and Thursday I will send for your mother $300 for bills.
*need a straight flight from Ghana to USA, not transit flight because my Visa is USA Visa and not other country Visa, if u are having problem with adding the rest of the fund I said dont worry i would start working here and get it myself , so you dont worry.
* Hey Baby on that website there’s a flight out of Accra the airline is Emirates its lice from Accra to New York the price road trip $865 and do the other airlines the most expensive one is $1,382 and you have that much book the flight and come to me you could be here by Friday if you truly love me I truly love you I hope to see you make me happy baby I will make you so happy.
*ok filed charges, I want u to know i dont fear that bec am not a bad person so file it if u think am in fear.
*because if you don’t send it back to me that means you can keep it for another purpose that’s not the intent and that’s what you do thought of the school but you say you’re not supposed to send me my money today because if not continue filing charges.
