A 45-year-old trader on Tuesday lost virtually all the ¢10 million (GH¢1000) loan she contracted two months ago to engage in trading. She was swindled of her capital by another woman; a confidence trickster who posed as a potential client interested in Esther Atsu’s jewelry, but ended up paying the ¢9.8 million (GH¢980) worth of goods she bought with packed blank sheets cut to the size of the one Ghana cedi note and laced on both sides with actual notes. The neatly packed pink notes that was each supposed to contain ¢1 million (GH¢100) turned out to be worth only ¢20,000 (GH¢2) each. Tear-filled Madam Atsu, who stormed the offices of Joy FM on Wednesday evening pleading help from anyone with information about the ‘black, good looking’ woman who duped her of her money, said she least expected her fellow woman to complicate her life and subject her to the misery. According to the mother of three who said she had to contract the 10-million-cedi loan two months ago in order to support her family, the unidentified trickster approached her wares; a small glass shelf of various jewelry at Abeka (Last Stop) in Accra and expressed interest in buying some. She had arrived with another woman who was also apparently a jewelry monger, but she hardly spent a minute there as she claimed she was off to check the Makola Market in the Central Business District if her customers had delivered her stock. The would-be swindler however, conducted brisk business, settling into a chair and making her choice of jewelry to buy. As she did so, she cunningly placed a bag opened to display what should have been bundles of one new Ghana cedi notes worth ¢10 million, freshly withdrawn from the bank and sealed with transparent polythene bands, under her seat. After selecting what she desired, Esther Atsu said she dutifully wrapped the goods and handed it over to her client, who placed it in the seat in which she sat and looked for more. Momentarily, the customer asked to be shown a place to pass water, leaving her ‘bag of money’ still under the seat. Readily, Esther showed her guest to a place of convenience close by, but unknown to her, the unwelcome guest had with apparent practice, scooped up the wrapped ornaments without a hint to the owner. “She was neatly dressed and good looking, so I least suspected she was out to dupe me. And she had her bag with the money also there. In fact I did not see her pick the jewelry and I had no suspicions.” Well, as it turned out, Esther’s ‘client’ had high suspicions; that if she returned to her bag, the pack of paper she had neatly cut to the size of the one new Ghana cedi note would be exposed and her cover blown, and apparently she did not even mind passing any water. She vanished into thin air with the visit to the rest room, and even long after she failed to return, Esther Atsu was still dreaming of her fortune, for she had never made that amount of sales in a day. Esther told myjoyonline that it was very long after waiting for the never returning client that she realised she had been duped of her wares. Her attempt to count the money yielded the wind; as the sealed cash turned out coloured newsprint. And now her headache is how to get money to re-enter business to enable her continue supporting her family and redeem the over ¢1 million monthly loan repayment contract she had signed. Esther is therefore appealing to public-spirited individuals and groups to donate any amount to help her restore come to her aid.