Information reaching us reveals that numerous Cameroonian citizens are stranded in Ghana after being duped by a certain Billy Gomez.
Billy Gomez, an alleged travel agent is accused by these Cameroonians to have taken huge sums of money from them, promising to fly them to the United States of America through Mexico.
We spoke with one of the victims of this scam, and he told us that the Cameroonians who get to Ghana are kept in an airtight room in Kwabenya, Accra, or Sapeiman and forgotten about by Billy Gomez.
How the scam is done
Much like the Mali job scam, victims told us that Cameroonians are lured into Ghana by Mr. Billy Gomez who promises to give them Ghanaian passports.
One of his victims who had traveled to Ghana in February 2021 said “He collected 700,000FCFA from me to get me a Ghanaian passport. After a few days, he sent me the photo of the passport and requested that I send him 3.5 Million, making it a total of 4.2 Million FCFA.”
After sending the money to the alleged travel agent, the victims are told to travel to Ghana, where their flights will be booked. “…Since I got to Ghana, nothing has happened. I also met people who have been there for more than a year,” he revealed.
The victim also told us that Mr. Billy Gomez would often remain anonymous to all his victims and not let them know where he lives. “Each time you ask about him, he always says he’s working on something. He doesn’t care how we survive. It’s my family that sent me money for my upkeep there in Ghana, ” a victim told us.
We asked the victims of the scam why it took them long to speak up against the scam. Our informant, who has left Ghana told us they were scared of what Billy Gomez could do to them.
“Any time a client gets aggressive towards Mr. Billy Gomez, he comes to the shelter with his gang smoking marijuana, and he makes sure we see him brandishing his gun.”
Mr. Billy Gomez denies allegations
We also spoke to Mr. Billy Gomez to get his side of the story. He told us that the stories about him were fake and that he helped Cameroonians in Ghana more than harm them.
He told us he is a certified travel agent who always delivers whenever he collected money from clients. He told us, “I accept there are some clients here who did business with me but because of the outbreak of the Corona Virus, things didn’t go as expected…” Billy Gomez claimed.
Commenting about victims stranded in some of his accommodations, he told us “No one is living in an airtight room in my house. The information is false and meant to stain my image…if there are for example 10 people living in my house, 3 of them will be my clients and the remaining 7 are people duped by other travel agents… Cameroonian here will direct them to me because they know I’m in a position to help.”
He also claimed that most Cameroonians stranded in Ghana are those who have been repatriated after traveling. “Most travel agencies in Cameroon and Nigeria always send their people here to travel. Some do travel and are sent back. When they return they don’t want to go back to Cameroon and I can’t drive them.” He insinuated.
Mr. Billy Gomez nevertheless failed to clarify how the huge sums of money he collects from clients are used.
He told MMI “…there are things about travel businesses that I can’t just put them out to satisfy someone… As I said, anyone who has had business with me in the past will testify that I always deliver,” he also added that “if I haven’t delivered to anyone, then it is obviously because of the current situation at hand (Covid-19) and I can’t perform magic.”
Dozens of Defrauded Cameroonians Stuck in Ghana Following Barren U.S. Dream Pursuit
