Internet, blessing or a curse to the world we live in. “PART ONE”



This topic came in my mind and urged me to do some research and write on it after
series of email I have been receiving from unknown persons in and around west
Africa, After responding to some of this mails, the response I received came to my
notice that most of the mails was sent from my own motherland Ghana, this was very
disturbing to me because I know I am not the only person receiving such electronic
mails and therefore tarnishing the name of my motherland Ghana.

I have decided to break this article into parts to enable readers know the risk the
internet has brought in this 20th century, without doubts, we all know the most
outstanding invention of the 20th Century is the “internet”. It presented humanity
with lots of opportunities as well as challenges all over the world. It has linked
up the world into a Global Village there by making communication very cheap and
easily. The internet has also created jobs for the jobless and also given fraudsters
the opportunity to widen their network and ways of operation.

For instance, someone in Ghana now can be using a UK or USA line, change their
internet protocol address to make detecting their location difficult, the increase
in internet cafe business has also made it difficult to track down this culprits,
the question we have to ask ourselves is, what is a teenager between the age of
13yrs and 18yrs be doing in an internet cafe at an ungodly hour, this teenagers are
often supported financially and protected by adults who are also in the line of
business or just sponsors to the line or crime this youngsters are committing.

There are a number of ways that this fraudsters and their associates who some of
them are serving in public offices or private sectors operate, each and every one of
them have their role to play in a dubious transaction that end up scam people
thousands of dollars and this article has targeted a wide range of how this bad
people operate and I am willing to through a light on it so as they will stop
tarnishing the image of Ghana abroad.

Online shopping scam/fraud is when a person/s access someone's debit or credit card
and use it to make online transaction which the goods or service purchased is often
shipped in either USA or United Kingdom but finally end up in Ghana. The process
starts by acquiring someone’s credit/debit card details and the persons billing
address details, this information is often bought virtually from computer hackers
mainly from Vietnam and parts of Asia, Then the receiver of the purchase comes in
here, the receiver maybe a victim of scam as well thinking he is dealing with a
trusted person he/she have come across on the internet or the receiver of the
purchase may have known the culprit who is using the stolen cards details for a
short or long term. When the purchase is delivered the processing of resending it to
Ghana begins, the same person who made the purchase will then arrange for a currier
to pick the goods/purchase from the receivers address and then sent to Ghana for
him/her via UPS, FedEx, EMS, DHL etc.

Collection of such goods when they finally arrive in Ghana is often supported by
people in public or private offices here in even though many of them know the goods
are fraudulent goods and instead of reporting it to the appropriate authorities
which is the Ghana police service, they end up taken money from this scammers and
end up releasing the goods to them.


Credit, Debit, and ATM Card Fraud/Scam is what I will like to discuss in this
article, first of all there is numerous ways in this scam and it’s a often operated
by more than two persons, the reason why i am throwing light on this kind of scam is
the due to the increasing use of ATMs in Ghana and the use of online shopping now.
ATMs have become one of the most convenient and efficient ways for the travellers
and ordinary people in the Ghana to obtain local currency. Most cash machines
accept foreign bank cards and will give you GHC while deducting either GHC or your
issuing banks country currency from your account. However, use of these machines is
not without risk. ATM fraud in Ghana will increase if significant measures and care
is not put in place, incorporating technologies to record surreptitiously customer
ATM card and PIN information has been on increase in many parts of the world
therefore making clone debit/credit cards easily used by this scammers all over the
world with developing countries being the target of the collection whiles Asia is
the main area where this debit/credit cards are cloned due to the technology there.

ATM fraud generally comes in three varieties: card-reading devices, card-trapping
devices, and distraction schemes. The common element in all these cases is that they
are after your card and PIN.

In order to prevent becoming the victim of such scams:

* Avoid cash machines where the card slots appear to have been mounted on the
machine. Card entry slots should be flush with the surface of the ATM or
recessed from it. If you see a card entry slot that is raised above the machine,
do not use it.
* Guard your PIN, especially when entering it, by shielding the keypad with one
hand.
* If you are distracted at all during a transaction, immediately press cancel
and collect your card before responding to anyone.
* Change your PIN from the original number given when you first got your card
(this number is sometimes contained in the data on the magnetic strip and can be
discovered by thieves who have stolen your card). Do not write your pin your
bank card at any time.


My next article which is the part two of this article is solely going to be about
internet dating scam and online banking/transaction scam which has been on increase
since the late 90s till date, this line of scam change pattern every day and many of
the youngster in Ghana with the help of some foreigners and bankers use to scam
foreigners and ghanaian of their hard earned money and this is tarnish the image of
Ghana.

The question I will like to ask my fellow Ghanaians today is-- Is internet a
blessing or a curse to the Ghanaian public. The duty of our generation as of this
twenty-first century is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing
meaning to a community in which we live in by making is a secure and safe place to
live.

Long live mother earth, God bless my home land Ghana.


Abubakar S Swalah, United Kingdom

swalahas@hotmail.co.uk