How do you check up on someone to see if a Ghanaian passport is real or not?

Question

Met someone online and sent me a copy of their passport. Do not know if they are real or a scammer.

Answer 1

This is from the US embassy's website......

Another type of fraud is by persons claiming to live in Ghana who profess friendship or romantic interest over the Internet.  Once a relationship has been established, the correspondent typically asks the American to send money for living expenses, travel expenses, or visa costs.  Sometimes a “hospital” or “doctor” telephones to say that the friend has suffered an “accident” and needs immediate financial assistance to cover medical bills.  There are other variations of this scam, but all of them want to get money.  Americans have reported losing thousands of dollars through such scams.  The anonymity of the Internet means that the victim cannot be sure of the real name, age, marital status, nationality, or even gender of the correspondent.  In most cases reported to the Embassy, the correspondent turned out to be a fictitious persona created to lure Americans into sending money.

For additional information, please see the Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, brochure, Advance Fee Business Scams.

Answer 2

Go to any of the international online dating sites, and if you see the same person from the alleged passport photograph under the profile of someone who says they want to marry you, then you can be reasonably assured that you're dealing with a golddigger.

Answer 3

David,

do not mess with this.  Follow this link, call one of the 800 numbers attached, and follow their instructions.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw...

Best of luck to you!