Scam Money Transfers -
Fake Grants
Example - Église Catholique en France
- ECOWAS
"Rev.Santini Benzima", "Rev. Silvian Dechamps"
Now, even the Catholic Church is getting in on the scam grant
business! Well, people claiming to be from the church are! Here's a variation on the basic scam money transfer email.
You received an email from "Rev.Santini Benzima" of "Église Catholique en France", which is supposedly supported by "ECOWAS",
telling you to contact "Rev. Silvian Dechamps".
They just want to GIVE
you money... because you have an email address or bought something at a
grocery store.
If it isn't obvious, we'll say it for you: this is a complete
scam and fraud. In some cases, the alleged organizations, like "Église Catholique en France" do
exist and may be legitimate. Don't let that fool you. The scammer
has nothing to do with them; the
email and the grant are all nonsense. If you believe that there are
organizations randomly handing out money like this, then we fear you may have been scammed already!
If you need tangible proof, ask yourself this: why would
an substantial organization with a website ask you to reply
to a yahoo (or hotmail or other) generic, free email address, unrelated to the
organization, which ANYONE could get? We've
highlighted some of the more
absurd statements and clues in the example email below.
And if you were crazy enough to write back to them,
click here to a typical response the
scammers send.
Sample actual scam letter from "Église Catholique en France":
From: Église Catholique en France [
catholiquegrant02@gmail.com ]Église Catholique en France .
Date: February 21, 2008
www.cef.fr
Qualification number: CEF-080-2998-2996
The Église catholique en France would like
to notify you that you havebeen chosen by the board of trustees as
one of the final recipients of acash Grant/Donation for your own
personal, educational, and businessdevelopment. The Église
catholique en France, established 1977 by the Multi-Million groups
and now supported by the Economic Community forWestAfrican States (ECOWAS),
United Nations Organization (UNO) and theEuropean Union (EU) was
conceived with the objective of human growth,educational, and
community development.
In conjunction with the ECOWAS, UNO and the
EU, We are giving out ayearlydonation of US$850,000.00 (Eight
hundred and Fifty thousand Unitedstatesdollars only) each to 100
lucky recipients. These specificDonations/Grants will be awarded to
100 lucky international recipients worldwide,in different
categories.Based on the random selectionexerciseof internet websites
and millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide,you were
selected amongst the lucky recipients to receive the award sum
ofUS$850,000.00 as charity donations/aid.
You are required to contact the Executive
Secretary below,with yourQualification numbers (CEF-080-2998-2996).
FULL NAMES:.........
ADDRESS:............
CITY................
STATE:..............
ZIP:...............
COUNTRY:...........
SEX:...............
AGE:...............
MARITAL STATUS:....
OCCUPATION:........
RELIGON:...........
PHONE NUMBER:........
I _________ HEREBY DECLARE THAT, ALL ABOVE
INFORMATION PRODUCED BY ME RE TRUE.
You Are Required To Contact The Secretary
Via their email contact email:
catholiquegrant@live.com Executive
Secretary: Rev. Silvian Dechamps
On behalf of the Board kindly, accept our
warmest congratulations.
Regards,
Rev.Santini Benzima.
* | 
