Heartbreaking email

The email that reaches many thousands of Germans these days is merely sad. A young woman writes from a refugee camp in Lome. Togo. Africa.

None of this is true. In Libya, where the email was written, gangsters are taking this for new business what the Nigerian mafia has been demonstrating to them for many years.

Neither the person nor the story is genuine. The perpetrators want to get hold of notary fees, which they want to have as an advance by Western Union.

A collector in any African state then collects this money, and the perpetrators are long gone.

Don't answer, don't reveal personal details and never send money!

There is also a suspicion that the perpetrators use the addresses for illegal people trafficking.

Here the charming story of a girl who went astray.

"My name is Miss Safiatou Ibrahim, from Libya, I am 22 years old, currently in St.Christopher's Parish for Refugees in Lome-Togo under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. I lost my parents in the recent war in Libya. I am in Lome-Togo right now. Please save my life!

I am in danger. I need your help in transferring my father's legacy.

He left it for me here in a bank in Togo. I have everything I need, the documents for the fund. All I need is a foreigner who is available as beneficiary.

The amounts deposited with the Bank top up to 10.5 MILLION US DOLLAR.

I just need you for this fund to transfer it to your bank account, so I can come to your country and finish my education.

My country was in a deep crisis because of the war. And I can't go back. My whole family was killed in the battle.

If you are interested in rescuing me and helping me, you will receive my inheritance balance with maximum credit to your bank account. Please get in touch with me. I beg you!

Safiatou Ibrahim"

Ten years of happy visas issued

The layman is surprised; the expert is about to lose his temper.

For about ten years, a false embassy of the United States in Ghana was working, and the US flag was flying above it. Diplomats did not maintain it, but by a network of criminals until it was closed down last summer by local police forces and employees of the real embassy in Accra, in "Operation Spartan Vanguard".

Dutch-speaking Turks carried out day-to-day business as members of the US embassy in Accra, which was discovered by an informant in the course of the investigation.

The perpetrators of the fake US embassy resided in a clothing store and an apartment building. The "Embassy" did not accept any appointments for visits but visited the clientele in the deepest bush of West Africa. Afterwards, the initiators accommodated the guests in a hotel in Accra.

In the backroom, visas and other documents were forged by the organisation, and the "embassy staff" also printed flyers and posters to attract customers from the entire region, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo, from whom the forgers demanded up to US$6,000 for an entry visa to the USA.

In clearing the false embassy, mobile phones, computers, 150 passports from 10 countries, legitimate and forged visas from the USA, the Schengen zone, India and South Africa were seized, which were "made" in a clothing shop. Many of the documents produced there were also exported to Europe.

The "embassy" was headed by a Turkish gang, according to the police in Accra. Meanwhile, Interpol is involved in this unique case.