Everyone who lives in a big city be it Accra, Kumasi, London, New York etc has come across a con man/trickster/hustler/azaa man at least once in their lives. In Accra its a common sight for people to come up to you whilst walking downtown and try to tell you some sad story (most of which are cons). If you work downtown (central business district of the capital) you must have come across someone with a story. Normally I dont even wait for them to start and I'm already telling them off or walking on, but there are two formats (tr. cons) that I rate the best and worst so far..........
1. Best
I'm standing infron of my gate one evening and this dude walks past and greets me, as usual I respond thinking he is one of the area guys. He walks on a bit, stops and comes back to me.
Hustler: Ofain3 onu) Ga (tr. please do you speak Ga)
Me: 333 (tr. yea)
Hustler: I am a fisherman from Prampram, and I came to look for my brother here but when I came he wasn't in. I have to go back to Prampram and I have no lorry fare back there can you help me?
Halfway into the format alarm bells are ringing and everything indicates this is a scam, but then this guy is dressed like a fisherman, I mean, matching baggy shirt and shorts (a.k.a jumper and jokoto) made out of african print and to top it all a cooley high (tr. tweed cap) so he could really be a fisherman. So I decide to give him ¢0.50p, so that in case he was for real that would be enough to get him to Tema and then he could hustle his way from there and in case he was a conman, ¢0.50p wont be able to get him any weed (or whatever poison he was on). He grumbles a little and thanks me adding he would bring me fish anytime he was in the neighbourhood.
Fast-forward 3 weeks after the incident, my mate and my sister tell me about some fisherman from Prampram they met in Osu who was stranded and needed money to get back home.
2. Worst
Its Tuesday morning and I'm on ma way to the work, I go a few steps past the overhead bridge at circle and I hear someone shouting 'Biggie Biggie' and with Biggie being the generic name for all LARGE guys I turned expecting someone I knew. Enter this yound dude and he goes like; "Challey Biggie I lost ma wallet ooooo, I be Legonite oooooo, make you give me ¢0.70p make I go back to campus" (tr. Biggie, I lost my wallet, I'm a student at University of Ghana, Legon, can you give me ¢0.70p to get back to campus). I stop and look at this dude for like 2 minutes and I go like "dude get a job". Which self respecting blue blooded Legonite would stand at circle and beg for money, thats like almost impossible. Yea I know some of y'all will go like it could be true and whats wrong with a Legonite panhandling for tro-tro fare back to campus. The thing with us Legonites is that we are too proud for such tactics. If a Legonite really has to resort to panhandling to get tro-tro fare back to campus he will find it prudent to leave out the fact that he is student at the nation's premier university.
What are some of the cons people have used on you, pray tell
