aupbgh.com - benjamin.amoah1@hotmail.com

[firefly]

Tender / procurement scam.

The potential victims received emails from someone pretending to be a sourcing agent working for African Union Procurement Board. Checking online, the potential victim found the site used to confirm the reality of the business already reported on aa419.org for fraudulent activity.

How the scam works:

The victim is contacted online and asked to register his company for participating in a tender supply project. Before any order will be made, the victim need to provide various documents - and pay a fee for each and every one of those documents.

Emails:

On Tue, Jan 31, 2017, Benjamin Amoah <benjamin.amoah1@hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear Sir/madam

Attention: President/CEO.

I write to inquire if your company will be interested to participate in a tender supply project issued by the AFRICAN UNION PROCUREMENT BOARD here in Ghana for the supply of
AIR OVER HYDRAULIC PRESS
20" THROAT MACHINE

This Tender is open to Foreign suppliers whose company products meet international standards.

Terms of Payment: If the Order is given to your company, An upfront payment of 80% by Telegraphic Bank Transfer(T/T) will be made to your account, while 20% will be paid before shipment.

You be require to register your company as a Government supplier/contractor with the AFRICAN UNION PROCUREMENT BOARD when you are submitting your Supply/bidding documents for approval before award,This is in accordance with the public procurement Act 2013 of the republic of Ghana.

If your company is interested kindly get back to me for a comprehensive details and the procedure about the project supply and how to proceed

Best regards,

Dr.Benjamin Amoah
Managing Director

[firefly]

From: AFRICAN UNION PROCUREMENT BOARD <secretary@aupbgh.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2017
Subject: INQUIRY VERIFICATION AND CONFIRMATION
To:

Dear xxx,

We write to acknowledge the receipt of your email which has been processed by our compliance team.We have the pleasure to confirm to you that the person whose contact details appeared in your email as "Dr.Benjamin Amoah"is the Managing Director of FP AND F GHANA LIMITED,his company is our registered and accredited consultant sourcing agent,authorize and empowered by this office to render such services on our behalf.

We also confirm to you this Board has open tender for the supply of AIR OVER HYDRAULIC PRESS and 20" THROAT MACHINE as part of our development project for 2017.The request of Dr.Benjamin Amoah to your company is authentic ,legitimate and NOT a scam.

You may proceed with his company in submitting your supply document,he shall inform you on the procedure and requirement for the tender participation.

We commend you for verifying the legitimacy of his request.

Please confirm the receipt of this email.

Accept our highest consideration.


Yours Faithfully,

Dr.Mrs.Miriam Ayew
Board Secretary.

[firefly]

From: Benjamin Amoah <benjamin.amoah1@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 3, 2017
Subject: MY COMPANY NAME
To:

Dear xxx,

Thanks for your email and request,

My Company Name is : FP AND F GHANA LIMITED
ADDRESS:
Tetlow Towers
522 Harbert Marculey Road,
Koffi Anan Junction
Accra-Ghana

PHONE NUMBER:+233 238 552 893


I look forward to hearing from you on Monday.

regards
Dr.Benjamin Amoah

+233238552893 - mobile number

[firefly]

Fake site used in scam: aupbgh.com

The Public Procurement Act 2013 established the African Union Procurement Board charged with the responsibility to amongst others, provide Legal and institutional framework and Professional Capacity for public procurement.

Contact details on the fake site:

THE HONORABLE CHAIRMAN
AFRICAN UNION PROCUREMENT BOARD
Address: ADDRESS;NO 75 SWITCH BACK ROAD,
EAST CANTONMENT
P.O.BOX 652,
ACCRA GHANA
Email 1: secretary@aupbgh.com
Email 2: chairman@aupbgh.com

They have even a scam alert:

Our Attention Has Been Drawn To Unauthorized Emails Circulated By Non Agents Of AUPB Without The Consent Of The (DR.EDWARD QUASHIGAH).
Kindly Be Informed That Such Emails Did Not Emanate From Us. If You Receive A Suspicious Email Or You Are Unsure Of The Authenticity Contact The Chairman directly through Email Below For Confirmation.Please Be Assured That We Do Not Disclose Your Competitive Offer To A Third Party.

From the fake site details - https://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=117730:
Domain Name: aupbgh.com
Updated Date: 2016-10-10
Creation Date: 2016-06-11
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-06-11
Registrar: NameSilo, LLC

Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: coffe goerge
Registrant Street: Plot 58 Roman Ridge Road,Accra Ghana
Registrant City: Accra
Registrant State/Province: Accra
Registrant Postal Code: 23144
Registrant Country: GH
Registrant Phone: +233.233549618614
Registrant Email: garyrodkin@gmail.com

This is what the fake site is looking like:

[firefly]

In the same day, the owner of the email address garyrodkin@gmail.com was already someone else located somewhere else, while registering a fake bank, now no more active: onlineboa.net.

From the fake site details:

Domain Name: ONLINEBOA.NET
Updated Date: 2016-06-12
Creation Date: 2016-06-11
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-06-11
Registrar: TUCOWS, INC.

Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Waranetta English
Registrant Organization: intl ltd
Registrant Street: 1106 Bushwick Ave 1106 Bushwick Ave 1106 Bushwick Ave
Registrant City: Brooklyn
Registrant State/Province: new york
Registrant Postal Code: 11221
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.5105203272
Registrant Fax: +1.5105203272
Registrant Email: garyrodkin@gmail.com

[sak]

Hello

I received same type of request under the name of Independent National Procurement Agency(INPA) with a very similar web-site.
Firs I received this mail:
----------------------------------
De : lawson Mensah [mailto:lawsonmensah47@gmail.com] Envoyé : vendredi 19 mai 2017 01:42 À : xxxxxxxxx Objet : INPA TENDER SUPPLY PROJECT 2017

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write to inform your company about a tender supply project in the INDEPENDENT NATIONAL PROCUREMENT AGENCY here in Ghana for the supply of various equipment from your company

My company is registered by the aforementioned Agency as their consultant sourcing Agent and we work as a government contract negotiator and facilitator. my commission in every successful contract awarded through Our recommendation is 2% of the total supply value. This commission is payable after the contract has been awarded and the supplier receives full payment in their account.

If your company is interested to participate in the tender kindly get back me as soon as possible to enable me send you all the details and procedure for the tender.

You will also need to do an official Registration with the INDEPENDENT NATIONAL PROCUREMENT AGENCY as their legal and non residential supplier/contractor in accordance with the procurement Act 2013.

I look forward to hearing from you if your company is interested.


Best regards
Dr Lawson mensah
----------------------------------
The after internet search found the web-site http://www. inpagh.org/index.php
and sent them an enquiry to check if it was right.
The receied following answer
-----------------------------------------
-----Message d'origine-----
De : INDEPENDENT NATIONAL PROCUREMENT AGENCY [mailto:info@inpagh.org]
Envoyé : vendredi 19 mai 2017 12:40
À : xxxxxxxxx
Objet : Re: TR: INPA TENDER SUPPLY PROJECT 2017

Sir/Madam,

We wish to confirm the validity of the Tender referred to in your inquiry. We also wish to confirm that Lawson Mensah is a licensed agent of the Independent National Procurement Agency(INPA). The validity of his license remains until August 2019.

Available record shows that Lawson Mensah is a committed and credible licensed Agent and does not have any questionable remark.

You may proceed with him for the submission of your offer and other supply document.

All our suppliers are under statutory legal obligation to pass through our Agent.

We commend you for your security consciousness.

Accept the assurances of our highest considerations.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Mrs Miriam Ayew
Board Secretary.
-----------------------

Luckily I still misstrusted and made a search on Mrs Miriam Ayew name , then found your scalm alert.

Thank you for avoiding me troubles !

Sue

[firefly]

sak,

Glad you found it. Thank you for the update - we'll see what can be done about that new fake site you reported.

It will help a lot if you can post the header for that email you received from info@inpagh.org. About how you can find the header you have some details here: http://whatismyipaddress.com/trace-email. It is always useful to check, especially while receiving emails from companies or people you never dealt before. Be sure you remove your email address out of it before posting.

[firefly]

From the fake site inpagh.org pretending to be Independent National Procurement Agency Ghana:

We have the sole mandate for the purpose of handling all public procurements in Ghana.

The Public Procurement Act 2013 established the Independent Procurement National Agency charged with the responsibility to amongst others, provide Legal and institutional framework and Professional Capacity for public procurement.

TENDER DOCUMENT:

All companies who wishes to have a copy of the official tender document does so buy purchasing the Tender documents through their local Agent who must be a licensed and accredited Independent National Procurement Agency with the sum of US$400.00.

COMPANY/TENDER REGISTRATION FEE:

All our suppliers/contractors are under statutory legal legal obligation to be registered with this Board as our legal and Non residential supplier with the sum of $3,350 USD only.This is payable to the Tender Procurement Board at the time of tender offer submission through the Accredited Agent representing the company in the Bid. Company Tender Registration and Submission Fee is 100% refundable to bidding companies that do not meet nomination status for Contract Award within two days of their formal disqualification from the tender.

Address: No.49 Nautical Road P.O.BOX 273,Accra Ghana
E-mail: info@inpagh.org

According to the fake site details - https://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=123705 - the domain was created only 9 days ago. The registrant of the domain is in Nigeria.

This is what the fake site is looking like:

inpagh.PNG (199.58 KiB) Viewed 4759 times

For other fake sites created by the same fake site maker, see viewtopic.php?f=17&t=58313.