Beware of the “Robertson Foundation Grant” scam

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Reported in detail by Lin Edwards. Unfortunately his live pages are now gone, but thanks to the Wayback Machine, the information is still out there:

The scammers are still active – this morning’s email included this:

From: Steve Ballard <sballard@redlake.k12.mn.us>
To: Steve Ballard <sballard@redlake.k12.mn.us>

Subject: RE: Robertson Foundation development grant

You have been short-listed for the Robertson Foundation development grant. Please contact EMAIL: rbtf@ca.rr.com for more information 

I have reported the return address (rbtf@ca.rr.com) – roadrunner redirects to Time Warner – as a fraudulent address, but I’m surprised it hasn’t been shut down before this. Perhaps TW doesn’t care. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is delete suspicious emails like this at once, or if you do investigate, remember:

  • NEVER pay money to collect a prize
  • NEVER give out financial details over the telephone or internet unless you are dealing with a verified organization
  • NEVER pay money go obtain a grant.

There are so many bott0m-feeders out there, and vigilance is your only protection.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

43 responses to “Beware of the “Robertson Foundation Grant” scam”

  7. I got an email from the same scam. The red Flags went up with the UK office, and stating for me not to tell anyone. But when they approved me in 8 hours and sent my approval on Saturday morning, that was enough. I started looking into this, and I’m convinced it’s a scam.

    Reply

  8. I received the same email which advised me that I have been short-listed for a grant, but to my surprise, I never applied for Robertson grant before, then i decided to find more then i come to this web, tnx for the heads up Wolf…

    Reply

    • Scammers often have their email accounts cancelled, or change them regularly to try to hide their tracks. It’s also possible that the same scam is being run simultaneously by different scumbags. Thanks for your comment.

      Reply

  13. From: “Robertson Foundation”
    Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 11:07 AM
    To: “undisclosed-recipients:”
    Subject: Robertson Foundation

    You have been short-listed for the Robertson Foundation development
    grant. Contact this email: rbfsummit@ca.rr.com for more information.

    I just received the above message.
    Please forward this to the appropriate Police Authorities.
    Atilla Levay
    Hungary 2072, Zsambek

    Reply

  14. Received: from iron2.blic.net ([217.23.192.35]:5052)
    by web240.dnchosting.com with esmtp (Exim 4.82)
    (envelope-from )
    id 1XSOCe-001R97-JU
    for xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Fri, 12 Sep 2014 05:35:45 -0500
    Subject: CONTACT US ASAP
    Reply-To:
    Mail-Reply-To:
    Message-ID:
    X-Sender: soda@paleol.net
    User-Agent: Paleol Webmail/0.8.2

    You have been short-listed for the Robertson Foundation development
    grant. Contact this email: robertsonf2014@ca.rr.com for more
    information.

    Reply

  15. At least this scam had the positive result of making people research the name “robertson foundation” and learning something (+ in my case some humility and a good laugh). Not all scam do.
    I fell for it, as i am in position to receive several mail send to a team i am not really in, but my ex collegues told me.

    Reply

  17. Hi there, my name is Andrea Masi and I’m the president of a very small non profit cultural association operating in Sicily. Guess what?!? I received the same e-mail with the same e-mail address ( rbfsummit@ca.rr.com ) saying I’ve been shortlisted for a grant. We do need money and we do have plenty of crooks here and we surely don’t need other “wise guys” trying to fool us.
    I just hope they get caught and pay for what they are doing.
    Andrea

    Reply

    • Salve Andrea, grazie per il Suo commentario. La triste verità: la giustizia dell’uomo non è sempre giusto, ma questi stronzi non sfuggiranno mai alla giustizia dell’Eterno. Nel frattempo facciamo ciò che possiamo noi per proteggere i nostri ed anche il pubblico. Buona continuazione!

      Reply

  18. I received the same email today. I hope someone traces the IP source and presses charges or shuts them down. I wish we had more enforceable laws to prevent and punish these scammers.

    Reply

  19. Thanks for post, now it’s clear for me.
    I got the same letter from rbfsummit@ca.rr.com on 08 november and they got 2 responses from jigsaw of the saw movies using a fake account.
    The senders IP address 41.203.67.149. is located in Nigeria near highway A235 between Kufana and Kachia according to the email tracker website that uses the source code to filter out the IP addresses.

    Reply

  22. In regards to your email dated 02/05/2015, with the content of your project proposal to our foundation, we are glad to inform you that our foundation has approved the sum of $380,000.00 (Three Hundred And Eighty Thousand United States Dollars) for you to facilitate your project.

    Also be informed that we will assign a project monitoring personnel to you for a period of three weeks as soon as we allocate the funds to you. The duty of the personnel is to report back to us on the progress of your project. The personnel does not have the right to interfere with your funds or how you use it. The foundation will cover the expenses incurred by project monitoring personnel for the period in review. We deemed it necessary to appoint a project monitoring personnel to grant beneficiaries because we have had cases in the past where beneficiaries do not use their grants to execute the project it was intended for.

    Please provide us with the following information as it is needed before we can disburse your funds to you.

    1. Preferred means of funds transfer

    a- Bank wire transfer

    b- Bank draft/ Cheque

    c- Others (Please specify so that we verify from our accounts department)

    2. Complete Name of Person/Organization, the funds will be in favour of.

    3. A scanned copy of International Passport, drivers license or approved identity card of the person or individuals representing the organisation as stated in option number 2 above.

    4. Corporate Clearance Permit (CCP) or Individual Clearance Permit (ICP) as an individual (contact our legal department for instructions).

    The ICP or CCP is an important clearance and is required before we can transfer your grant to you according to the Payment systems requirement in the United States (PSR). You can read more about it on the internet link below.

    Click to access UnitedStatesComp.pdf

    You are to contact Mr Harrison Orifice in our legal department who will be responsible for the provision of your corporate Clearance Permit (CCP) or Individual Clearance Permit (ICP). with the information provided below.

    Mr Harrison Orifice

    Email: orificelaw@outlook.com

    Our legal department will also handle the terms of agreement and all legal matters as associated with your grant.

    Note that you will be responsible for handling the (CCP) or (ICP) charges in cases where it applies. Contact our legal department to have all the legal documentation sorted out and update us with your dealings with our legal department as we need to have it filed in your transfer file here with us.

    Regards,

    Joanne Kendrick,

    Project Co-ordinator,

    Robertson Foundation.

    United Kingdom Office

    Tel / Fax (+44)2036740958

    ©Robertson Foundation 2015.

    http://www.robertsonfoundation.org/index.html

    Reply

  23. Apparently, this scam is still alive and kicking… I just received the below message on “April Fool’s Day”:

    From: Robertson Foundation
    Subject: Robertson Foundation
    Date: April 1, 2015 at 7:38:21 PM GMT+2
    Reply-To: rbfsummit@ca.rr.com

    You have been short-listed for the Robertson Foundation development grant. Contact this email: rbfsummit@ca.rr.com for more information.

    Reply

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