DEM SHOW ME SHEGE THIS CHRISTMAS, OPEN YOUR EYES.

Dem show me shege this Christmas. Open your eyes.

My name is John, a Ghanaian. I sell mobile credit and offer mobile money services. The problem is, the business isn’t mine. I work for one business woman inside Madina. She is a nurse by profession but has a restaurant, two troskis and this mobile money job that I run for her. I have been working for her for about two years now and I have gained her trust. I have also been saving my salary since I don’t really need much as a single guy living with my parents. I just contribute small for the house keep and then save the rest. I was hoping that after next year, 2023, I would be able to start my own business, but this 2022 show me shege.

Earlier this year, I got a new customer. He said most of his friends called him Taste. On a weekly basis, he came to my shop and gave me huge sums of money to send to a different account. I was curious and asked why he was always sending money to that account when he did it the fourth time in a month. He explained that he left Kumasi to come and join the hustle in Accra. Now that he was making it a little, he had to send money to his mother so she could take care of herself and also fund the schooling of his younger siblings. I was touched by his story. He would send up to 3k a week. He mostly did this every Saturday night. He told me that he was a security man at one of these student hostels around university of Ghana and he opted to be paid on a weekly basis. He did side jobs too.

This relationship continued for about four months, then one evening I was at the shop when a different guy came over. He asked if I was John, I answered yes, then he told me that Taste sent him to make a deposit of 2k. I was like okay. I took the money and sent it to the account. Later on, Taste called me to confirm that they had received the money and that he had travelled for a while. That was okay by me. two months passed and Taste resurfaced. The amount of money he was depositing increased but this time to a different account. He gave me some tips as well. All was going great. He had earned my trust. One Friday evening I got a call from him. He wanted me to send 2k to a friend of his who was seriously in need but he, Taste, didn’t have that money. He promised to pay me the next day which was a Saturday. Since he was a regular customer, I agreed and did the transfer.

The next day, he came to my shop and paid it off. Then he deposited 200 cedis in his usual account. I was glad he did. A week after this incident, that his friend came to my shop and told me they will send me some amount of money which he had to withdraw and send to Taste in the hospital. He called the number I have been sending money to and they sent 20k to me. Withdrawing it was a problem. We had to push it to the bank. Taste was sick and needed the money urgently.

My customers were growing even wider as at October. Taste was back and told me he nearly died from this his sickness. He thanked God for helping him save that huge amount of money. Our friendship grew stronger. Fast forward, early November, I got a call from Taste, he wanted me to transfer 40k into an account for him and that he’d pay me back in a matter of three months with interest. The interest was huge so I took the offer. I had my personal savings of 34k so I told my madam and took 6k from her so it would make up for the 40k. This way I got a bigger share of the interest. I sent the money in pieces till it was up.

The whole of November, I didn’t hear from Taste. I called his friend and it didn’t go through. I called him severally and no respond. By December, his number could not be reached. He had scammed me. I had wasted my years of savings. I spoke to my parents and they gave me the 6k to give back to my madam and advised me to open my eyes.