The Lads set up web sites with more or less sophistication which mimic those of real banks, or create 'identities' for banks which don't exist.
Examples sent by Kindly Contributors appear below, most recent ones first.
The Financial Times (3/3/2003) described actual penetration of banks by scammers as staff.
List of dubious institutions mentioned: http://www.bkoa-ci.net/ http://www.leedmerchant.com http://www.eurolinkfinance.com http://www.cu-bk.com/ (Credit Union Bank CI [Cote d'Ivoire] ) --> transferred to http://www.creditunionbankci.com/ http://www.sprintsecuritiesbv.com http://www.lyonaise.com http://www.firstpacific-fc.com/ http://www.primroseventures.8m.net/ Universal Securities BV (Netherlands) CRUBANK CORPORATION OF BAHAMAS Monarch International Bank DBS Bank (fake?) www.guaranteefinanceltd.com www.drc-ng.com/ (impersonating the Central Bank of Nigeria) Kapital Securities CrownSecuritiesBV.com e-litebv.com www.equitafinance.biz http://www.alliedcharteredbanks.com/ www.swisscarribean.com http://www.allstatestrustbank.com/ (apparently impersonating a real bank) 24. COTE D'IVOIREhttp://www.bkoa-ci.net/new scammers use this fake Bank of Africa website (supposedly in Cote d'Ivoire) to impress the marks. The 2 phone numbers given are both cellphone numbers. The REAL Bank of Africa website in cote d'ivoire is http://www.bkofafrica.net/cote_d_ivoire.htm Hmmm. bkoa-ci.net has address 195.110.124.144 According to RIPE (www.ripe.net), 195.110.124.144 is currently assigned to dada.it/dada.net in Firenze, Italy. The copyright notice reads " © All rigth Reserved to Bank Of Africa" At the top there is a statement: "PUBLIC NOTICE We have found out that some people always try to use our site or bank name to scam the public. You are therefore advised to contact the bank through any of the e-mail address on the contact page for confirmation. [which of course would be, uh, the scammers] You are also warned not to comply or respond to any e-mail that did not pass through any of our e-mail addresses on the site." 23. ENGLANDFrom a Kindly Contributor in Germany:A short quote from a section of "http://leedsmerchant.com/business.html": "What we do - LEEDS. helps people open bank accounts. Opening a bank account in United kingdom can be confusing and extremely time consuming unless you know intimately the United kingdom banks, their policies and procedures. We cut through the red tape to get you the United kingdom bank account you need. " Does this sound like a legitimate English bank? Didn't they, like, invent English grammar and stuff? They appear to have lifted a lot of content from a real bank. The Kindly Contributor says that someone is known to have been majorly scammed by this "bank". 22. SOUTH AFRICAFrom a Kindly Contributor in Sweden:Here is yet another fake bank who lifted the entire page from a legitimate bank: www.first-rand.com Look at that one, then bring up the page of the real bank REFCO: www.refco.com Looks pretty similar, right? Even if the structure is slightly diffferent, they have copied the text of e.g. the products and services and other things they needed to make the fake bank look credible. First-Rand is used for the lottery scam EURO-AFRO-AMERICA SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY, featuring "Dr Jim Parsons" as the lottery director. 21. ENGLAND(?)March 2004http://www.eurolinkfinance.com Eurolinkfinance The source HTML for the login page contains a nice Javascript in which the user names and passwords are hard coded, and the passwords are all the same. Covered in more depth on http://www.scamorama.com/eurolinkfinance.html or try it yourself! 20. HONG KONGMarch 2003http://www.cu-bk.com/ (Credit Union Bank CI [Cote d'Ivoire] ) --> the web site was transferred to http://www.creditunionbankci.com/ There is a PHP script which upon login showed the Kindly Contributor a 'bank account' belonging to PRINCE MICHEAL OBI A. CHUKWURAH with an apparent balance of $25 million. In case you're curious: LOGING NAME CU%bk17 PASS WARD 22322 19. NETHERLANDSMarch 2003Sprint Securities BV claims to be a finance and security firm registered by the RvA, Dutch Council for Accreditation. They say they are in the business of handling finances for lotto contests among other things. The RvA says it has no relation with Sprint Securities and considers them a fake. ( www.rva.nl/uk/rfouteclaimuk.html ). The web site ( www.sprintsecuritiesbv.com ) slips up in a number of places. There is a nice discussion of it (in French) at: http://www.netarmenie.com/forums/viewthread.php?tid=1196 ( NetArmenie Forums > Tout et Rien > ATTENTION ARNAQUE !!! : SPRINT SECURITIES BV & EUROLITE BV ) Some of the remarks made in this forum were apparently taken to heart by the scammers, as the web site has been slightly changed. Still, beware! From a Kindly Contributor in Denmark 18. IRELANDDate: 15 Jan 2003Subject: Re: Another False Bank My alter-ego was invited to place a large sum of money into this bank to facilitate the transfer of ~$Gazillion to him. Things didn't work out as planned for the lad when he found out that my alter ego works for "The Secret Biological Weapons Research Institute of Ireland" and wanted to bring the money in person when he applied for Political Asylum in Nigeria... --> www.lyonaise.com 17. IRELANDTo: postmaster@scamorama.com From: (Kindly Contributor in Ireland) Date: 15 Jan 2003 Subject: 419 scam bank Hi I was ' Impressed ' with the fake Bank web site the my pet fraudster Dr.Isah Gambo is offering for my use! It's certainly quite sophisticated From: "Dr.Isah Gambo" drisahgambo1@dr.com To: Kindly Contributor Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 06:44:48 -0500 Subject: Re: Good day. X-Originating-Ip: 66.178.46.12 X-Originating-Server: ws1-2.us4.outblaze.com X-UIDL: 3723eb36cee065cbbb743b33bf8c073f Dear (Kindly Contributor), Thank you very much for your prompt response to my mail. Since you feel telephone conversation is not secure,then,i guess we should proceed with the email correspondence because means of communication should not be a hinderance to the execution of this business transaction. I suggest that you should open immediate correspondence with the finance company and their webpage is as follows: www.firstpacific-fc.com As soon as you receive this mail,please view the webpage and every information you require is in it. I will wait for your response as a matter of urgency. Best regards Dr.Isah Gambo. 16. FRANCESender: paulmusa33@dygo.com Date: Fri, 4 Jan 1980 03:21:56 GMT PRIMROSE VENTURES LIMITED, STE. 3b, ROCKVIEW PLAZA, VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS. www.primroseventures.8m.net TEL: 2348023263622 blah blah I am the director of the above named company, I recently retired as the director of finance of the Federal Ministry Of Power & Steel (FMP&S). During my tenure as the director of finance, I was also in charge of the federal tenders board. blah In the course of our work at the tenders board, we recieved a bid of (USD46.8M) from Arab Contractors Company of Egypt for the refurbishing of the six thermal flow stations and the supply of (1000 units) of 27KVA transformers for the south-western part of the country. etc etc Arab contractors have executed the whole contract and have been paid off, leaving the balance USD23.2M. etc etc ...I have therefore been mandated as a matter of trust by my partners to source for a business partner to whom we could transfer the sum of USD23.2M by drawing up a letter of domiciliation instructing the concerned government parastatals i.e the FMP&S and CBN to pay into the partner's account the contractual entitlement of USD23.2M. You will agree with me that a letter of domiciliation is an accepted form of doing business worldwide. more stuff Should this transaction interest you, you are to contact me on my telephone number 2348023263622 or my e-mail address, so that I can brief you fully, and discuss your renumeration for this undertaking. Yours Faithfuly, Paul Musa. 15. PHILIPPINESThere's another one - one of the security firms that they use in the Netherlands:http://www.universalsecuritiesbv.com - slickly designed ... It used to be redirected to a student account at Utrecht School of the Arts - so I e-mailed the school to suspend the account. It did get suspended but it just got transferred to planet.nl (Planet Internet). Well, the work of an anti- scammer never stops, huh? 14. PHILIPPINESHi there good guys at scamorama: Here's another fake bank that you can add in your list (from Mrs. Louise Estrada): --------- beginning of quote ------------- I appreciate your concern over this transaction, this business has nothing to do with any documents so you need not worry as nothing will go wrong be rest assured of that in line with that You are required to contact and open an online account with the Crubank of Bahamas where this money is so that the funds will be transfered into your account. it is very important that you use your name to open this account.and inform me as soon as you have done that BANK NAME:CRUBANK CORPORATION OF BAHAMAS CONTACT PERSON: MICHEAL GLENN EMAILS: mglenn@mail.crubancorp.com customerservice@crubancorp.com info@crubancorp.com WEBSITE:www.crubancorp.com TEL: 0012423808005 0016477220069 TOLL FREE:18666993069. As soon as you reach them, tell them that you want to open an online account where they will send your money for onward remittance to your country Please reach them immediately to open the account and get me posted.am counting on you to make this whole transaction come to sucessful end. Make sure that you open the account today so that the funds will be transfer with out delay. Bless You. Louise Mrs. --------- end of quote -------------- According to the Central Bank of the Bahamas website, this bank is "not licensed under the Banks and Trust Companies Regulation Act, 2000 to conduct banking and/or trust business in or from within The Bahamas. Members of the public who transact business with these persons do so at their own risk. Prudence should be exercised when dealing with these persons. " 13. USAHeres one I haven't seen before. They even set me up with a nice online bank account just full of money. I AM DR. OSCAR DURU... I RETIRED LAST MONTH AS THE CHIEF AUDITOR IN THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA; AND IN THE COURSE OF MY ROUTINE WORK, I CAME ACROSS AN INTERNATIONAL FUND TRANSFER FILE WITH YOUR NAME AS BENEFICIARY. [blah blah] THE NEXT STEP WAS TO CONTACT YOU TO RECONFIRM YOUR BANKING COORDINATES, BUT THERE WERE RAMPANT FRAUDS AND SCAMS INVOLVING ALMOST ALL AREAS OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA, AND I THEREFORE DECIDED TO MOVE CAUTIOUSLY. IT BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO TRANSFER OUT THIS MONEY FROM THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA! LAST MONTH, I FOUND THE SOLUTION! USING MY WELL FOUNDED CONNECTIONS IN THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA, I RAISED A PAYMENT VOUCHER IN YOUR FAVOUR, AND PAID IN THE SUM OF USD75 million INTO THE MONARCH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC. ... THIS MONEY IS NOW DEPOSITED IN YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT IN MONARCH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC; AND I WILL INSTRUCT YOU LATER HOW TO PERSONALLY WIRE TRANSFER PART OR ALL OF IT TO ANY BANK OF YOUR CHOICE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! http://www.monarchinternationalbankonline.com PLEASE CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY BY EMAIL, STATING YOUR CURRENT PHONE, AND FAX NUMBERS, AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION: (1) Customer Name (2) Customer ID (3) Security Code (4) Account Number (5) Amount in US$ ONCE YOU GET THE ABOVE INFORMATION FROM ME, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE MENU PAGE OF THE MONARCH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC,AND TO CUSTOMER LOG IN, AND IMMEDIATELY ACCESS YOUR ACCOUNT/MONEY! THE LOGICAL AND NEXT STAGE IS FOR YOU TO BEGIN WIRING OUT YOUR MONEY! UNBELIEVABLE? PLEASE TRY AND SEE! REGARDS, OSCAR DURU Phone: +234 90 505 509 email: antonio3@congomail.com - and later - Dear Friend, I have tried several times to reach you by phone but unfortunately I did not succeed. I have good news; I have concluded the establishment of your A/C, and I am now ready to give you the A/C access information. As per our agreement, upon receipt of your Access information, you will arrange to wire immediately 25% of the total holdings in your A/C to my personal Bank A/C below. Bank: DBS BANK ADDRESS: 6 SHENTON WAY DBS BUILDING, SINGAPORE 068809 A/C No: 0065-000361-01-4 SWIFT: DBSSSGSG BENEFICIARY: OSCAR DURU PLEASE CALL ME IMMEDIATELY ON ++234 90 505 509 TO RECEIVE THE ACCESS INFORMATION WHICH WILL INCLUDE: AMOUNT: CUSTOMER NAME: CUSTOMER ID: SECURITY CODE: A/C NUMBER: Regards, Oscar Duru From: OSCAR DURU [oscarduru@fastmail.fm] Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 11:38 PM To: Kindly Contributor Subject: YOUR A/C ACCESS INFORMATION (please also open attachment) amount: USD75000000 customername: Kindly Contributor customerid: Kindly securitycode: Z55X66T110 accountnumber: 903-111-672 http://www.monarchinternationalbankonline.com 12. AUSTRIAHi :-)Playing with one of them, (of course using a different name) I received this web-link http://www.guaranteefinanceltd.com/Sites/ST10170/PG10426.asp might be another web-site set up just for this scam.... 11. USAYou might have already seen this, but anyway...After looking at the phony site Tommy Udo mentioned at: http://www.drc-ng.com/ I linked thru to their phony 'log in' online CBN banking page: http://www.drc-ng.com/CBN-Transfer/Log_In.asp which (when you put in the right password) links to an interesting 'account statement': http://www.drc-ng.com/CBN-Transfer/Accounts/Statement_of_Account.htm Sophisticated eh? Keep up the good work. I hope to contribute more soon. If you back up to the page at http://www.drc-ng.com/CBN-Transfer/Main.asp it appears they are using this to pretend there is millions in an account in your name, then they ask you to put your bank info so they can 'transfer' it to you. It's actually the most sophisticated 419 site I've ever seen, especially compared to the Eurolite one which was quite amateurish. Cheers, Todd 10. UKSubject: I saw this story and thought of Scam o RamaHi, I read your "Big Mac" series of emails a couple of days ago after hearing more and more about 419 fraud. It was probably one of the funniest email correspondences I've read. I thought you'd be interested to read the following story on BBC News, it was also on the radio this morning too. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2308887.stm Keep up the sterling reportage. Cheers Kindly Contributor The link is titled "Fake bank website cons victims" and described how West African criminals have used a fake version of a real British bank's online service to rob people. 9. FINLANDSays the Kindly Contributr: WARNING ! ! ! They Web sites are very good !Says the Lad: "... The site is (www.xxxxxx.com)I believe that this is a good news for us to credit this US$18m into your online account with my bank, then you will transfer immediately from your online account with my bank to your private account for our mutual benefit. On this note, I advice you to that and send your Online account to me for my Lawyer to arrenge the Legal documents that proofs you the next of kin to this fund. My regards to your family." ****** SCAM-O-NOTE: The bank in question apparently is a REAL bank, and requested the removal of its name from this list. This may be where the Lad was banking, which is not the same as the bank being a scam. After all, crooks have to bank somewhere. Scamorama did not mean to imply that this bank was disreputable. The mistake was one of context. Anyway it's all XXXed out. ****** 8. IRELAND"Oliver Flanagan" in Ireland reported on "Kapital Securities":http://www.scamorama.com/oliver-kima.html 7. USAKindly Contributor Rev. Elmer Fudd says: Hi I also came across Kapital in my encounters with Kima Savimbi. I received a fax from the Debt Reconciliation Committee after corresponding with Dr Adams Obozuwa. The DRC said that the payments to may account had been approved and that I had to pay a signing fee. When I received the fax, I did a search and the site came up. I thought that the site was suspect so I went to the contacts section and found two email addresses and sent them the following email: ---------------- Dear Dr Udoji I am written in respec of the fax dated 4 November 2002 from you in respec of the $38,000,000 million in monies that you'll be sending to my account in AMsouth Bank Mississippi. I am writting to let you all know that I's considerin' gettin a Senior Advocate Attorney of Nigeria called Dele Ojo to help with this hyar tansactiun. Does you think he is acceptable? Kind regrds Rev. Elmer They replied with this message the next day: Dear Sir, We are in receipt of your e-mail dated 19-11-2002. We hereby advise you to go ahed and hire MR.DELE OJO (ESQ)to represent you on the subject matter. He is very good and reliable. Thank you. JOSHUA MOTUTU DEBT RECOUNCILIATION COMMITTEE That means they are either fake or I am really getting the money! If you believe I am getting the money then perhaps you can give me the $6,000 attorney's fees - I will give your 5% of my share of the $38,000,000!. IS that OK? Regards Rev. Elmer 6. NETHERLANDSInteresting one here - Advance Fee Fraud letter with "No Advance Fee Fraud"-guarantee built in! ("Please be informed that you will not be required to spend a dollar of your money on this transaction, as all fess will be deducted before the sharing of the fung" - end of quote). Received: from relay.surfnet.nl ([192.87.5.144]) by igrsxc01.i-groep.leidenuniv.nl with SMTP (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.2650.21) id XGYR9MNR; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 04:15:03 +0100 Received: from localhst2781.com (unknown [195.166.237.34]) by relay.surfnet.nl (Postfix) with SMTP id 36050443D for Kindly Contributor; Thu, 21 Nov 2002 04:15:01 +0100 (MET) From: "ADAMU IBRAHIM" ]adamu_02@mail.com] To: Kindly Contributor Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 04:07:25 -0500 Subject: URGENT HELP X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6900 DM Message-Id: [20021121031501.36050443D@relay.surfnet.nl] ADAMU IBRAHIM & CO SOLICITOS & ADVOCATE 232 Manute Avenue V/Island Lagos. Tel: 234-803-7179388, fax 234-1-7597187 Dear Sir, RE: WILL EXECUTOR I am sure that this letter will come to you as a surprise, but I shall be grateful if you would read with the interest of assisting in this proposal tendered herein. My name is Barrister ADAMU IBRAHIM, Attorney at Law and Legal advisor to Mr. ISSAH LONTHAN a lebaneses by nationalist. Two years ago, my client Mr. Issah Lonthan died in the ill-faled A.D.C airline crash at Egbin a sub-swamping area in Lagos state after take off. Before his death, he disclosed to me some amount of money ($32.645 MUSD) which he has with a foreign finance house in London and made me his chief will executor, and his only Child Mr. KAZHEEM LONTHAN his next of kin. But unfortunately the only child died of excess drug taking last year. May his soul rest in peace. Infact, last week equita finance house in London sent me a draft of information about the said amount deposited in their finance house by my late cleint Mr. Issah Lonthan that by the end of this last quarter of 2002 the account will be dormant & closed for inactiveness within the last two year. I now took this upon myself to search for a trustworthy person and corporation to whose account these fund can be transferred to as soon as possible. By proving this person or corporation documents indicating depositary and account statements would be disclosed. Infact, all you are to do is open an account with the Equita Finance House in London and the power of Attorney will be giving to you to transfer the money to your account. Bank Information Telephone Number: 00-44-207-0169711 Website: www.equitafinance.biz You will retain40% of the transferred sum, while 10% for any cost being incured during this transaction, and the balance 50% which is for me will be kepty under your supervision immediately the money is transferred into your account for safe keeping. Please be informed that you will not be required to spend a dollar of your money on this transaction, as all fess will be deducted before the sharing of the fung. Please if you are able to assist me, you may send your response Via my E-mail adamu_02@mail.com, or Telephone number 234-803-7179388 fax 234-1-7597187. I await your favorable response Yours faithfully, Barr. (Dr.) Adamu. Ibrahim 5. AUSTRALIAFrom: Stew deBaker Hawke (the one and only) Hello to all I am mailing you all about a fake bank web site that I belive is being used by Nigerian 419 advanced fee fraudsters to scam money out of people. The Url of the site is http://www.alliedcharteredbanks.com/about.html Which Pings to this IP address 64.29.21.95 Which seems to be owned by Dialtone Internet. http://www.dialtone.com/ There is a warning issued by the Central bank of The Bahamas regarding this bank. You can see it here. http://centralbankbahamas.com/public/notice010802.pdf An amusing exchange with the fraudsters can be seen here. http://www.scamorama.com/ilichy-amechi.html The mention of the bank is about halfway down. The domain name seems to be owned by these people so I am including them in this mailing. please note this has also been sent to the Florida Police and the FBI Brand Financial 3400 Consolate Pl. Saint Johns, NFLD N3N4D6 CA Domain Name: ALLIEDCHARTEREDBANKS.COM Administrative Contact: R. Stevenson brandfin@hotmail.com Brand Financial 3400 Consolate Pl. Saint Johns, NFLD N3N4D6 CA Phone: 902 5832359 Fax: NULL Technical Contact: Administrator DNS admin@webmasters.com WEBMASTERS.COM 3003 W. Stovall Street, Suite 100 Tampa, FL 33629 US Phone: (813) 837-8000 Fax: (813) 837-8900 Record updated on 2002-06-13 11:30:31 Record created on 2002-06-13 Record expires on 2004-06-13 Database last updated on 2002-10-09 23:05:37 EST Domain servers in listed order: NS10.WEBMASTERS.COM 64.29.20.205 NS9.WEBMASTERS.COM 64.29.20.35 4. USAFrom Comrade Alexander Kerensky (see Funny Links on this web site). Hello persons at Scamorama, Lilith is having a conversation with the lads with the website www.swisscarribean.com. In this version of the scam Lilith has to "login" to a tracking website using a so called "tracking number" to find out where the luggage contain the millions of dollars are. (Who says scammers are not refining the scam?) The "login" is no more than a simple javascript that redirects you to a specific page based on the tracking number entered. The relevant javascript is reproduced below... [script language=javascript] function check() { var track=document.Login.shipmentid.value switch (track) { case "00134001841184":window.location="scfsshipment41184.htm";break case "00134841841168":window.location="scfsshipment41168.htm";break case "00134841841169":window.location="scfsshipment41169.htm";break case "00134841841170":window.location="scfsshipment41170.htm";break case "00134841841172":window.location="scfsshipment41172.htm";break case "00134841841173":window.location="scfsshipment41173.htm";break case "00134841841174":window.location="scfsshipment41174.htm";break case "00134841841175":window.location="scfsshipment41175.htm";break case "041340018422":window.location="scfsshipment18422.htm";break case "3413400184444":window.location="scfsshipment184444.htm";break case "84664130263116":window.location="scfsshipment63116.htm";break case "84664130263117":window.location="scfsshipment63117.htm";break case "88016214730001":window.location="scfsshipment730001.htm";break case "470826577414":window.location="scfsshipment77414.htm";break case "80234154054":window.location="scfsshipment54054.htm";break case "95910550212":window.location="scfsshipment550212.htm";break case "95910550211":window.location="scfsshipment0550211.htm";break case "95910550213":window.location="scfsshipment550213.htm";break case "91910550213":window.location="scfsshipment91055021.htm";break case "92910550214":window.location="scfsshipment0550214.htm";break case "85910550212":window.location="scfsshipment80550212.htm";break case "0013400181302":window.location="scfsshipment01340018.htm";break case "0013400181301":window.location="scfsshipment00181301.htm";break case "00134001841303":window.location="scfsshipment0134001841.htm";break case "0011900181301":window.location="scfsshipment00119001.htm";break case "0011800181302":window.location="scfsshipment00118001.htm";break } Basically, to find out who has been scammed by these lads you can enter in the following URL http://www.swisscarribean.com/scfsshipment00118001.htm replacing the html page with the ones in the javascript It would seem that 26 people have fallen for the scam so far, well actually 25 since Lilith hasn't really fallen for it... A ( name of unfortunate victim ) http://www.swisscarribean.com/scfsshipment41184.htm fell for it first back in May. I wonder exactly how many of those 25 have sent money to the lads. Alexander Kerensky 3. USA-- from the redoubtable Louise LutefiskHello ScamO, Regarding the case of "JUAN PEREZ MUNOZ DE BARATA TUDELA LOVEDAY VERSUS YET ANOTHER MRS. ABACHA & HER LAWYER" (http://www.scamorama.com/perez.html) The CrownSecuritiesBV.com website is pretty much a mirror image, in text at least, of e-litebv.com which is the purported website of another consignment company of which I am still having an interesting exchange with a Lad. It's not signficantly amusing yet but I will forward it all on after it's done. The nigerianscams.org website (when it was up) listed other scammy front websites which the Lads use. I wonder what happened to nigerianscams.org anyway... 2. AUSTRALIAFrom: Stew deBaker Hawke (this one's longer) FAKE BANK WEBSITE This one is a bit different from the usual scam letter although it began with one. Madam Yotta also know as J. Cosmo Newbury etc put me onto it. You can see the first mention of the bank here http://members.optusnet.com.au/jcosmonewbery/ntales/MY12.html but it is well worth looking at the rest of the story there as well as the other threads if you havn't read them. Basically it is a fake web site pretending to be a bank. The All States Trust Bank which from a bit of Googling seems to be a real bank in Nigeria. This is the fake site. http://www.allstatestrustbank.com/ So I sent them an e-mail from their contacts page as Stew de Baker Hawke and got the following reply. .................................................................. ATTN: Baker Hawke S Sir, We refer to your enquiry and wish to inform you that your request have been granted and I have been assigned your account officer to quide you open an online account with our bank. You are therefore requested to forward your fax number to me via; ossy@allstatestrustbank.com to enable us forward to you an account opening form which you will be requested to fill and which will enable us create the account in your name. Onbehal of Allstates Trust Bank Plc, this is welcomming you as a prospective client/customer. Yours faithfully, Ossy Olaniyi Account officer(Customer Services Dept) ................................................................. Naturally I mailed back. ................................................................. Hello Ossy Thank you for your reply. It is a bit premature to start opening accounts just yet. At this stage I am just making general inquiries. I am interseted in your long and short term interest rates and if you can offer any references doing business with American companies that would be excellent. Also could you tell me your postal address I couldn't find it on the web site. If you could attach the account form to an e-mail it might be worth having anyway but there is no hurry. We are an import export company mainly involved in manufactured goods that can be value added by moving them around the world. For example we are looking at importing farm machinery into Africa. However as yet we have no plans to export from there. I am looking closely at that possibility though. Stuart de Baker Hawke ................................................................. The "Bank" didn't want to know. ................................................................. Ossy olaniyi wrote: ATTN:Baker Hawke S Sir, Regretably we can't be of help to you at the moment in your areas of interest. We suggest you try another financial institution and thanks once more for showing interest in our bank. Yours faithfully, O. Olaniyi Customer Services Dpt. ................................................................. But it says on your web site that you do exactly what I need. Please put me in touch with your superior. This is big business, I need to talk to a manager not a flunkey. Stuart Hawke ................................................................. Stuart Hawke Sir, Don't get mad at me. I am only carrying out instructions from my superiors. Try Eco International bank via their website as stated herein www.ecointbankonline.com they will be of help. We do not render the services you required at the moment. Ossy Olaniyi Customer Services Dept. ................................................................ I am not mad at you Ossy. Get your superiors to mail me directly. I wish to comunicate with them. Don't worry it is not about you. ................................................................. That seemed to be the end of the exchange, but in the meantime I found out who was hosting the website and informed them of what was happening. ................................................................. All States Trust Bank 80.94.192.72 (the ISP - or someone claiming to be associated with the ISP - asked not to be mentioned) (details omitted - it's all in RIPE.net) ........................................................ Hello (ISP guys - who never answered). I am mailing you because I have reason to belive that Nigerian 419 (advance fee) fraudsters are using your service to front a fake bank wesite. It would be this one. www.allstatestrustbank.com A ping to that domain name gives an IP of 80.94.192.72 which a RIPE whois lookup indicates belongs to (you) and gives your e-mail addresses. Please bear with me here while I tell you more. First of all my name is NOT Stuart Hawke I use an alias of Stew de Baker Hawke to reverse scam Nigerian fraudsters as they are quite dangerous thugs and I wouldn't want them to know my real name. (snipped) Now I belive that the All States Trust Bank is a real bank and is "probably" located at the address below. I also think they have other branches in Nigeria. Plot 1675, Oyin Jolayemi Street, PO Box 73018, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: 234-1-2647031-5, There are also some other web addresses on the internet for them but they don't work. www.allstates.com.ng , www.allstatesbankng.com/. Which may or may not have been real. However I think the site you are hosting is a front for a quite sophisticated fraud. These are not uncommon in that part of the world. I came across their web site because a friend of mine who also exchanges e-mails with nigeria etc mentioned it to me. You can see his ideas on this "bank" here. http://members.optusnet.com.au/jcosmonewbery/ntales/MY9.html I contacted the "bank" from it's web site and received a reply which I will list below (with headers) and forward to you properly after this mail. Next I insert a reply to a mail of mine from the friend mentioned above. Begin Quote --------------------------- Nah, I don't think the banks legit. When you go to the 'contact us' section they ask far too many questions. A contact should only need to give their email for a reply. They wanted a lot of info. And the first reply I got was from someone at @opera.com, the second was the Ossy you contacted. The new account form is very 'iffy' and they never ask for a signature! They are just getting smarter but not too smart. Cheers, -------------------------------------------------------------------- End Quote I realize that what I am telling you is not evidence as such but I thought you would like to know about it so you can research futher. I would prefer these people (if they are fraudsters) were reported to some approriate authority but I will leave that to you. If you just suspend their website they will only move it somewhere else. Then they will just keep conning people out of their money. I would be interested to hear back from you whatever you think or decide to do though. If you don't know much about this sort of thing a google search based on "Nigerian 419 fraud" will yield a LOT of info. Anyway I will assist in anyway I can (probably not a lot) and answere any questions you like. Consider though the different time zones, the weekend and that I don't have e-mail at home. Thanks ( S deB H ) Here is the reply from www.allstatestrustbank.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- X-Apparently-To: Stew deBaker Hawke via 66.163.169.93; 18 Sep 2002 23:46:07 -0700 (PDT) X-Track: 0: 100 Return-Path: [ossy@allstatestrustbank.com] Received: from 80.94.192.72 (EHLO allstatestrustbank.com) (80.94.192.72) by mta496.mail.yahoo.com with SMTP; 18 Sep 2002 23:46:06 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 07:50:43 +0100 From: "Ossy olaniyi" [ossy@allstatestrustbank.com] Reply-To: [ossy@allstatestrustbank.com] To: Stew deBaker Hawke Subject: Response to your enquiry ATTN: Baker Hawke S Sir, We refer to your enquiry and wish to inform you that your request have been granted and I have been assigned your account officer to quide you open an online account with our bank. You are therefore requested to forward your fax number to me via; ossy@allstatestrustbank.com to enable us forward to you an account opening form which you will be requested to fill and which will enable us create the account in your name. Onbehal of Allstates Trust Bank Plc, this is welcomming you as a prospective client/customer. Yours faithfully, Ossy Olaniyi Account officer(Customer Services Dept) ............................................................ I waited a few days and then as they were in Befast I informed the Belfast Police, Crime Stoppers (Belfast) and Scotland yard. I await developments Stew and his other instantiations (Apparently (the ISP) kicked the "Allstates" web site off.) 1. EUROPEHere is a "virtual" banks agent telling me how I can claim money from a "virtual" bank which does not exist.The account was opened by Dr Oscar Duru without my knoledge. [any errors in sequence may well be Scamorama's fault. ] DAER Kindly Contributor, PLEASE KINDLY SEND YOUR FAX AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS TO ENABLE ME SEND YOU THE INFORMATIONS YOU NEED TO ACCESS AND TRANSFER YOUR FUND WITH OUT PROBLEMS. CARL SMITH From: financier2 financier [financier2@financier.com] To: Kindly Contributor Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 3:09 AM Subject: Re: Fw: Fund transfer stop Order DEAR SIR, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR INVESTIGATING YOUR BANK, THE MONARCH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC IS SITUATED AT VICTORIA ISLAND LAGOS NIGERIA, THEY ARE IN GHANA , KENYA ETC , IF YOU ARE ACTUALY LOOKING FOR THE BANK AND NOT HOW TO GET YOUR FUND RELEASED I WILL ADVICE YOU GO TO NIGERIA AND WALK INTO THE BANK . BUT I WANT TO ADVICE YOU THAT YOU ARE THE ONE LOOSING, THE NIGERIA GOVERNMENT WILL CONFISCATE YOUR MONEY. THANKS CARL SMITH ... this is the end of a long back and forth. Dr Oscar Duru ... contacted me to say that an account in Monarch International Bank, Lagos Nigeria had been opened in my name.They had got my name from the Nigerian National Oil Company because my company had put a bid in for some work there ( or from Equatorial Guinea where we are working on off shore oilfields, both facts being correct). But the strange thing is it was in my personal name not in the name of the company.The Account was an online one.This was news to me but I tried to open the link given (monarchinternationalbankonline.com) and it did open to show as if it was that of a bank.When I put in the customer ID and code to access the account it would not display the ID.I realised the whole thing was a scam but could not see how it would work as the good Dr Duru called me and told me I should transfer some money into his account from my account in the Monarch International Bank.Surprise, surprise he even gave me a bank account in Singapore with all the details where his share should go.This bank is genuine enough as I checked up from Singapore, as a matter of fact well known.So as a curiosity I used the online bank form to transfer the requested amount to see what happened next.You have guessed, Nothing.Dr Duru starts pestering me every day as to what happened to his money.I email the bank but no reply.He asks me to fax the bank which I do via my computer so as not to reveal my fax number.I get a prompt reply to contan their agent Carl Smith to sort out the problem:. "Our records indicate that your fund transfers have been stopped. Please contact oour Agent Mr. Carl Smith for remedial advice. Peter Bona Supervisor" Ofcourse Mr Bona omits any contact details of Carl Smith.When Dr Duru rings me again in the middle of a meeting I tell him this.Then I get this funny email. "Dear Friend, A bad virus attacked my computer yesterday; consequently and sadly, all information in my files have been erased. The cause of the virus has been trased to my former email oscarduru@fastmail.fm address, which was deactivated immediately. Therefore please reply to this current email address, sending me again your LAST CORRESPONDENCE to me. Also please send me your complete address, telephone and fax numbers for my records. Regards, Dr. Oscar Duru oscarduru@consultant.com If he got my name address etc from the NNPC then why does he need it again?He must have seen our letterhead there.But I play the game. "Dear Oscar, Sorry to hear about you virus problem.Here is the last message received from the bank.Incidentally the e-mail address from which it came is not that listed by the bank.It makes me wonder if the message is genuine.As you had set up the account, you must be able to check who this Peter Bona is and what remedial action do they require.I hope things are OK.Did you get the attachment with the transfer requests which I sent to the bank for your record? "Our records indicate that your fund transfers have been stopped. Please contact oour Agent Mr. Carl Smith for remedial advice. Peter Bona Supervisor" Awaiting your reply, M.I.Kindly Contributor" He asks me to contact Mr Smith in London.To this I reply "Dear Oscar, London is a large city,so where do I find this agent and what do I discuss with him.This is most unusual.Why can't the bank or you tell me what remedial action to take if you want me to do so? Banks usually do not work through Agents.Does this Agent have any office here? If so what is its address?And what is the work of the Agent.Can you please answer this urgently. M.I.Kindly Contributor ----- Original Message ----- From: OSCAR DURU [oscarduru@consultant.com] To: Kindly Contributor Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 8:37 PM Subject: Urgent! > > Dear Kindly Contributor, > > Since you live in London, why not contact this Agent in London? > > What are you talking about the email? > > Regards, > > Oscar" Low and behold I am given an email address for Carl Smith. "Dear Kindly Contributor, His address is financier2@financier.com Regards, Oscar -- I email him.His rely "DAER Kindly Contributor, PLEASE KINDLY SEND YOUR FAX AND TELEPHONE NUMBERS TO ENABLE ME SEND YOU THE INFORMATIONS YOU NEED TO ACCESS AND TRANSFER YOUR FUND WITH OUT PROBLEMS. CARL SMITH" To this I again gave him a fax number to be retrieved by email.He then sent me the detailed letter attached to this email.Rest assured it has been scanned for bugs.It should open this time.Time to end this charade so I sent this message to both Dr Duru and Carl Smith "Dear Mr Smith. I have a Nigerian contact called Abdul Salaami Abu Baker who is a very well connected person in Nigeria.I am handling some confidential dussiness for him.He has promised to sort out the whole business of blocked accounts if I can tell him who has ordered this.Can you please send me the name of the person/s who have reported this to the authorities and the letter from NDLEA and FCLEN so he can follow this up.Or shall I tell him to go to the bank himself and checkout the whole issue? An early reply would be appreciated as Mr Abu Baker is keen to help me out for handling his affairs here. M.I.Kindly Contributor" Needless to say there have been no replies.Incidentally,the Monarch Internal Bank is not listed in the list of authorised banks by the Nigerian Central Bank or in the Bankers Almanac.It is a virtual bank.It might be worth your effort to open their home page and see how authentic their site is.I wonder how many people have been taken in by this.I must say the whole thing is very realistic but for the fact we actually work in the area and I was sceptical all along. |