How Scammers Used Daily Nation To Con In A Fake Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Tender Deal

In the midst of financial desperation and increased level of unemployment in the country, fraudster(s) managed to publish a fake tender deal on Daily Nation newspaper dated 31st May 2020 taking advantage of the world wide status quo as many would scramble to win the tender to get back on their stable feet.

“We are aware of a potential scam involving a foundation office in Nairobi, Kenya. Please know that we do not have any office in Nairobi, Kenya, and ask that you report any fraudulent activity to local authorities in Kenya.’

In response to this scam alert, Bill & Melinda Gates Organisation said.​

“Please be advised that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, foundation employees, grantees, or partner organizations do not:

• Request administrative fees for awarding a grant. The foundation’s grant-making procedure can be found here.
• Host internet lotteries or offer prizes of any kind through email, postal mail, telephone, fax, or in person
• Request registration fees for conferences or summits
• Request information about bank accounts or other private information
• Approach individuals in person offering grant opportunities
• Solicit donations at any time
• Offer investment opportunities”

The statement goes on to say:

“The foundation is aware of numerous forms of fraudulent correspondence including, but not limited to: email, postal mail, fax, and telephone, all claiming to be from, or associated with, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They are circulating in a number of different languages and often include foundation logo, photos, links, or other information taken directly from our official web site, www.gatesfoundation.org.

Unfortunately, scams claiming to be from or associated with the foundation are growing in volume and, in many cases, can be quite sophisticated. Our security team is working with law enforcement to make every effort to stop such scams, but unfortunately, we cannot stop them all.

If you doubt the authenticity of any type of correspondence claiming to originate from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, please email [email protected]. This alerts the foundation to the potential scam and allows for it to be investigated and remediated, if necessary.’

Seems the Fraudster(s) had not dug more policy information on the operation of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hence published some extraordinary requirements that have never been part of BMGF or of its partner organizations. These extraordinary requirements include Application fee which in this scheme is Ksh4,100 per each category (which are 7) summing to 28,100 for an individual. A jackpot win which seemed to be the target of the scheme. The fake tender Notes Better that it reserves the right to reject any bid and cancel wholly the procurement process or in part without assigning or giving any reason(s) for its decision.

Its likely that a number of people have already fallen into the trap, the fraudsters regained the money used on the ad and probably walked away with millions. Because many people don’t do enough due diligence.

Talking of Due diligence, it’s really sad and high incompetence that the entire DN approved an advert like that without doing a background check to verify it’s authenticity. How half a page ad with false information could pass so many begs a lot of questions. This is not the first time fraudsters are using the media and nation to con unsuspecting citizens. It’s the responsibility of the media house to cushion their readers from scammers and that can be done by a simple background check.

On this the scammers claimed they have an office in Kenya, cloned the official B&MG website to make it look surreal. But nation having received their share of the advert payment went ahead and placed the ad without doing a verification, it’s unethical and irresponsible their side.