REGARDING OFFSHORE INVESTORS

You should insist on having written terms and conditions in place, or, at minimum, references from principals of completed deals before committing to a offshore journey.
You could visit hg.org (as mentioned in one of my earlier backgrounders, if I remember the website address properly) for lawyers in various countries. Paying a couple hundred for a local lawyer to represent you may be easier and cheaper. Alternatively, you could hire the local lawyer to do a background check on the offshore firm. I can likely give you some other contacts (investors and finance firms) in the country in question should you want, but they could only answer "have you heard of them" questions. In sum, do not travel anywhere unless you have all the paperwork in hand that would require your signature on the spot.

To do such travelling simply to negotiate is a poor use of time. If there is a scam it will likely involve something having to do with currency conversion and export. You might want to check with the country's consulate or embassy about current currency export restrictions, and ask the investor where the money is coming from. It may already be offshore. Also, you will want any investment in US dollars rather than some other currency. Make them do the conversion and have all your obligations in US dollars.

PS

A client had previous contacts and negotiations with a guy in Ghana, Africa when at the end, the requirement was disclosed that they had to show up in Johannesburg to assist the investor in establishing a "foreign national account" as they could not do that. It appears to be just another takeoff from the "Nigerian 461" scam only with the approach on investing venture capital with interested parties. The prior group's negotiations went too quickly and a major red flag was that they had no knowledge or background in the industry but wanted to invest $10.5 million and have the client teach them the business.

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