On a Monday morning in September 2024, an alarming email lands in the inbox of the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority.

The email is from an insurer from Ghana who has been asked to investigate a potential Norwegian partner for a customer. Before the customer signs his contract, he wants to make sure that the Norwegian company is legitimate, so the insurer attaches a document he has received in the email to the Norwegian authority.

“Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was,” says the Ghanaian insurance man, who doesn’t want to be named for risk of losing his job. “Maybe I was just following my instincts”.