YAPCSL

Hi,
I wokr for an Australian government orgnaisation and am convening a conference in about 1 month. 1 month ago (so 2 months before the conference), I started to receive emails from this lot in Sierra Leone. There is no record of their organistation, and they have consistently sent emails with USA fax numbers and other such incorrect info. This is their first email to me, and I have had one just about daily for the past month.

The last couple have included credit card payments that was traced by our Immigration Dept to a town in Germany???? Of course, we cannot process it, and we have asked, if they were truly intereste din coming, that they prepare a bank draft.

During the course of these emails, I was also sent an email from an "organisation" in Sierra Leone called "Moves Alone" - again, no record of them, and the email was so similar to this one.

I hate being so suspect, but it really has got me suspicious - can anyone shed any light on this at all?

Thanks,

Pete

PS I have removed my actual email address and name, and replaced them with "my actual email address" etc.


*EMAIL DELETED*

I just read my hastily typed message! So many spelling mistakes.

here is another email from them, again with my details replaced. She continues to use my full name in addressing me as well.

Pete
* EMAIL DELETED*

Hi Pete and welcome. This certainly has many red flags that point to scam but with a quick search, I'm not finding any links to the scam elsewhere.

First of all, the Youth Alliance for Positive Change in Sierra Leone isn't showing up anywhere on line, as you have already noted. You would think that an organization interested in travelling so far for a conference would have the means to create a website and use their own domain for sending emails rather than using a gmail address.

The US Fax number: Is the area code 206? That is a k-7 number. They are free numbers you can sign up for online that receive faxes and voicemail and send them to you as an email attachment. You can be anywhere in the world to receive them. Please post the fax number for us as we may be able to find evidence of it used in other scams.

The scam is likely that they intend to pay with stolen credit card and then won't be able to attend the conference and will want a refund. The card resolving to Germany would account for the fact that it is likely a stolen card. Please report it to the authorities. You can also send it to me by private message and I can report it for you.

Thank you for your reply. I have attached further emails from them (without all the message source at the top), so you can see the flavour as they go. The USA(?) fax number is in one of those below. Yes, we are suspicious of the credit card and today I received scanned images of our payment forms with a signature, yet 2 days ago they sent a Word attachment with everything typed out in place of a signature (and not even with the correct information).

They have contacted our Immigration Department (the person who is assisting me with this), and she has been extremely helpful in this matter.

Thanks, I would really like to get to the bottom of this, and would be intereste dif other Health Conferences have been contacted with such requests?

Pete

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*EMAILS DELETED

Just realised something else - at times she spells her own name differently.
Hmmm

Hi Pete,

As Jillian said there are many red flags in this matter that should compel anyone to act very cautiously. After searching the net on many aspects of information that you've supplied, such as the email address, names, contact numbers, organisation titles and even blocks of text I still can't say for certain that this is a scam. But it just doesn’t sit quite right.

The contact number +232 22 224439 appears to be a genuine fax number attached to The Conservation Society of Sierra Leone. I sourced this information from here: http://www.welcometosierraleone.org/contact-us.asp Perhaps you could fax them on that number or telephone them on Tel: 232 22 229716 to confirm the validity of the “Youth Alliance for Positive Change in Sierra Leone”

The other contact number 001-301-576-3570 appears to be a landline number which resolves to Washington MD in the USA. Unfortunately this confirms nothing. Like yourself, I have not been able to find any other useful information on the organisation “Youth Alliance for Positive Change in Sierra Leone”

You could try to contact the Australian High Commission in Pretoria directly for some local intel on this type of approach. No doubt they have a greater understanding of the methods employed by less-than-savoury persons to scam Australian entities.

The use of compromised credit cards to falsely register for conferences with the applicants later pulling out and requesting a refund is a fairly common scam method. This is another reason why I suggest that you take great care with this matter.

Thanks, I would really like to get to the bottom of this, and would be intereste dif other Health Conferences have been contacted with such requests?

You can take that for granted, I'm afraid. Advertise anything on the Internet, and you will attract scammers. It doesn't mean it gets reported though. Some victims are too ashamed to admit they've beeb scammed.

You guys are good!

Thaks again, I will continue to monitor and will look into the advice you have all given

Pete

I strongly suspect that it's a scam. It looks as if the situation in Sierra Leone is quite appalling with few charities or NGO's operating there.

I did find this website

http://www.sierra-leone.org/links-ngo.html

which lists NGO's in Sierra Leone. I know there are some other very poorly funded charities there which, I doubt, would have the funds to send anyone to a conference.

It is a bit of a blow to think that the few people giving aid to Sierra Leone are likely to be putting money into the pockets of scammers.

Interestingly you'll note that there is a directory of Sierra Leonian people on that site and, as I presume that the head of this charity must be a notable person, his name could be expected to appear there.

http://www.sierra-leone.org/email.html

Don't let the charity (scam) know about this, as it discloses people's e-mail addresses. and they'll use them without pity. You could also contact some of these people to seek verification. Some appear to be notables with local charities and NGO's.

The US fax number was issued by PAETEC, Inc. A visit to their website shows they also offer VOIP services, which may be what is being used here. There is no earthly reason an organization in Africa would need to get phone service from the US. Also, if they need a letter of invitation for visa purposes, I can't imagine that initials would be acceptable--they would need full names. This just goes to show that nobody is actually intending to get a visa and travel.

As Arnold stated, the scammers will go after anything with an online presence. What you appear to have here is just a variant of the standard "booking scams" that have targeted hotels and restaurants for several years, and have lately expanded to other types of organizations.