African Development Fund Phishing Scam: Another Scam By Africans Targeting African
This is probably one of the coolest scams I ever came across, and I think that a younger me might have gotten scammed by this.
I am glad that I caught this scam early because many people would be informed about it. But who knows how long it has been going on.
In terms of Cybersecurity, this scam is a combination of phishing and social engineering.
This type of scam usually starts with a rumour, then the rumour spreads.
African Development Fund ADF is a legit organization that, contributes to the promotion of economic and social development in 38 least-developed African countries.
The ADF was established in 1972 and is administered by the African Development Bank (AfDB). The ADF has invested US$ 45bn since it became operational in 1974.
But as you would have figured out, they are not responsible for the rumour, they are not responsible for the scam. They have an imposter.
The official website for ADF, African Development Fund is www.afdb.org but then the imposter's website is afdbfund.org
Wow, you have to give credit to these people, they are not dullards.
When I performed a DNS lookup on the site's domain? The site was inactive.
How then do they have a working email address?
So I tracked it again, but I was a little more careful in tracking and I used their email address to locate any information I could get and well, I got the info.
The domain was created on the 3rd of April, 2024, but was updated on the 22nd of April, 2024.
After filling out the form, they will reach out to me and others some days later.
On Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024, at 12:26 PM Nigerian time, they sent an email with the subject "OFFICIAL GRANT APPLICATION FORM"
and the body of the message is
"Hello,
Following your recent application requesting to be considered in the ongoing funding program by Africa Development Fund in Conjunction with USAID (Prosper Africa), we are pleased to let you know that your submitted details were successfully received in our portal for due consideration. You have hence been shortlisted to proceed to the next step of verification by the grants department should you meet the minimum requirements, In order to facilitate this: I have attached the official grants application form for your convenience, download it, fill it in then send it back for final proof reading and possible approval not later than 18/04/2024. Take note that only successful applicants will be contacted for further guidelines and the way forward on how the funds will be disbursed. We wish you best of luck."
Attached to the email was a form, the so-called "ADF Grant Application Form" Asking for all sorts of details and information. The form looked really legit, it was simply a work of art. The form shows professionals like me that the scammer is diligent in his or her evil vices.
After filling out the form and attaching the useful documents, I responded to the email and a few days later, I got a response.
On Monday, Apr 22, 2024, 6:50 AM Nigerian time which was 8:50 in Kenya time. I got an email from them.
Someone was starting Monday with a scam. Who is that someone? Well, we will get to that.
Email subject: Re: OFFICIAL GRANT APPLICATION FORM
Email body:
Hello, I hope this finds you well. On behalf of the African Development Fund and USAID under Prosper Africa , I hereby confirm receipt of your submitted application form and attached testimonials requesting to be considered for this funding program. The grant committee has been going through the applications and after a series of reviews and scrutinization, the committee is convinced that your application is viable and meets the minimum threshold required for funding. As we were going through your application, it was noted that you have attached all the required documents except a copy of Africa’s Entrepreneurs (AE) certificate of accreditation which is also a mandatory requirement by the policies and regulations of the African Union to regulate the disbursement of Donor Funding therein stated under article 4 and 13 of the Foreign Funding Act (FFA) of 2015 (clause 4 e-j and 13 a-c). Kindly attach the same to enable the committee to finalize on processing your application since this program is for AE accredited members only. In case you do not have accreditation, we urge you to kindly contact Africa’s Entrepreneurs headquarters through their secretary who is based in Nairobi, Kenya and request for the same. I have included his contact details below;
Name of Officer: Dr. Gilbert Kane
Email Address: membership@africasentrepreneur.org
Phone Number: +254 (0) 707 690 270
Mention that you have been referred by me and they will guide you through the entire accreditation process. I advise you to do everything you can to get AE membership as soon as possible (latest 27th of April) because we cannot proceed without proof that you are a registered member.
Thank you again for your support and cooperation in this wonderful program to improve the lives of men and women entrepreneurs. We hope this will be the beginning of our ongoing development partnership to create more jobs and ensure speedy economic growth.
------------------
Kind Regards,
Ms Gwynn Albina,
Secretary,
Africa Development Fund."
Wait, who is Ms Gwynn Albina? Well, she is a real person. But she definitely did not send this message.
So who sent this message?
Let's not jump the gun.
I reached out to the so-called Dr. Gilbert Kane, who also happens to be a real person, but the person I reached out to was definitely not Dr. Gilbert Kane.
The person is a Kenyan, where did I say the domain was registered again? Kenya.
To cut the long story short, I tracked the number and the name of the person with this number is Shiroh Kihuyu and the personal email address is lucykihuyu107@gmail.com
I am tempted to display more information about this person but I will resist the urge/temptation.
Please stay guided, stay at alert and most importantly please and please don't attempt to scam anyone of their hard-earned money. And if the devil uses you, pray to God, that I don't find you. Remember the person the Devil uses, takes the devil's punishment on his behalf. Please Like, share, comment and subscribe to my YouTube Channel, thank you.
