If you have been contated by somebody unknown to you claiming to be from Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana, and in need of your financial support, please proceed with extreme caution. It is very likely a scam to defraud you of your money in the name of helping somebody in distress or poverty.
With increasing frequency people claiming to live at Buduburam as a refugee, with various needs for urgent financial support, have been soliciting strangers via Facebook or email. While each scam attempt is different, common supposed needs include money for rent, food, school fees, medical care, or travel. Common themes include being orphaned as a result of war, working with somebody (a facilitator) who is supposed to help them receive your money, appeals to religious or moral sensibilities, and urgency. Many stories are based loosely on real people who can talk about their lives, with fabricated and sensational elements, and may even include scanned images of official looking documents. In all cases there is no possibility for quality follow up or accountability to show how money sent was really used, or by whom.
If you have found this page as a result of looking for some help in knowing the veracity of an email or Facebook contact from Buduburam, please be duly warned of the dangers inherent in responding to such communications. We hope this information will raise awareness and caution, and will help to prevent good people from being taken advantage of by these scam attempts. In most cases it will not be necessary for us to conduct investigations in order for you to not be scammed. Simply don’t respond, and don’t ever send money. Doing so will expose you to risk of identity theft and fraud.
If you still feel like your sutiation warrants an in-person investigation by our staff at our Refugee Orphan Home, we would be happy to be of assistance, free of charge. Just contact us and send all details of your communications and individuals asking for your help, and we’ll see if the information is truthful. We will need information about your contact, including: names, ages, official ID documents, photos, location of residence on the camp, name and location of internet cafe where they go to communicate with you, the source of money used to pay for internet services, and names of schools where school is attended at the Camp. With these details we will be able to help discover how real the story is which has been presented to you.
Unfortunately there is no recourse availalbe to those who have been the victim of these scams. It is often difficult to ascertain the true identity of the scammer, and even when we can, there is no authority at the Camp who is in a position to enforce any written or unwritten law that would prevent continued internet scamming. Therefore, prevention is by far the best medicine in this case.
Please understand that we know first hand how difficult conditions are at the Camp. Many who live there are in poverty, including children and orphans. We do not wish to minimize the difficult policitcal, social, and logistical issues that affect living conditions at Buduburam. But we can never condone or justify the use of deceit in obtaining assistance. Internet scamming is always wrong, regardless of the situation. We have been a part of fighting it by helping to foil many scam attempts, and we will continue to do so as necessity may require.
For those who are interested in contributing to the support of true orphans at Buduburam, please take a moment to learn more about our Refugee Orphan Home, established in 2008. We are always in need of donations to enable the continued provision of services for the 35 children and youth in our care at the Camp.
