“I am Ghanaian” – Fake American finance analyst Scott Bolshevik admits after Fact-check Ghana’s report

Days after Fact-Check Ghana’s publication on how Ghanaian X accounts posed as international experts for deception, @scottbolshevik, one of the burner accounts that was exposed, has started making amendments to his profile on X to reflect his real identity.

The report by Fact-Check Ghana showed how a Ghanaian X user account, using the name Scott Bolshevik, portrayed himself as an American financial analyst and economic expert, to contribute to political discussions.

Some of the Ghanaian media outlets that fell for this fake personality made stories about his social media posts in several reports while referring to him as an international expert (See here, here, and here).  

Checks by Fact-Check Ghana showed that Scott Bolshevik (@scottbolshevik ) is a burner account that was not only masquerading as an international analyst but also stole posts from others on social media. The account was using the photo of renowned Australian lawyer, Matthew Johnson, as its display photo. 

The report further revealed that before presenting himself as an American finance and economic analyst, Scott Bolshevik was known as Scott Oppong. ‘Oppong’ is a popular Ghanaian name. 

When the report was published, many users on X started calling Scott Bolshevik out for misleading both the media and X users (here, here,  and here).

A user said, “I thought these @scottbolshevik @_JHopkins__ were credible expatriates contributing their opinions from their ‘wells of experience and exposure’…but deceiving mainstream media and masses under the guise of false identities???”

Following the public reaction, @scottbolshevik has pulled down the photograph of Australian lawyer, Matthew Johnson, which he used as his displayed photograph. 

Aside from that, @scottbolshevik recently admitted on X that he is Ghanaian. 

A user on X, @SomeAlvinmax replied to his post saying that “Man, you need to be a citizen of our beloved country Ghana”. Scott replied, saying that “I am a Ghanaian”.

The account’s admission is contrary to the position and impression it created over the years, misleading many people to believe that it was an American analyst.

Fact-Check Ghana’s report also showed that a similar X account @_JHopkins_ with a username Dr John Hopkins and the display photo of a white-bearded, casually-dressed white man also portrays himself as an economist. This account was also found to be a burner account operated by a Ghanaian. The account is yet to make any post after Fact-Check Ghana’s report was published.