Profile on Nigerian Scammer Edomwande Austine

I would like to draw your attention to a Mr. Edomwande Austine (or Austine Edomwande, as he often reverses it) of Benin City, Nigeria, a scammer who has defrauded me out of several hundred dollars and a number of new Bibles and religious materials. It began like this: posing as a man named Israel Osawe (address: P.O. Box 78, Ore, Ondo State, Nigeria), he sent me a letter requesting free Bibles for him and his church (see here). I replied with a box of Bibles and other Christian publications and we started a friendly internet correspondence that lasted over a year. During that time I sent more Bibles to "Brother Israel" as well as to other people that Edomwande was posing as, receiving letters from other identities which he assumed, or which others in his network assumed. At one time, I had set up a website myself to help these people (now removed) because at the time I had no cause to doubt that they were sincere. I hadn't realized at the time that some of these 'poor Nigerians' needing Bibles were sending letters from within the United States!  

In email correspondence sent to me, Edomwande, posing as 'Elder Israel Osawe', claimed to have gone to the Holyland with his church and had a Godsent vision there which applied to me and people close to me. Had he not made some very lucky guesses, I would have caught on to his game in time. However, he told me three things that the Lord supposedly showed him, all of which happened to be somewhat applicable to some people I knew: there was a woman I knew that was having severe lower abdominal pains, another person I knew was contemplating getting a divorce, and yet another whom I didn't know, but my friends knew, was suffering from arthritis. I began to trust that the Lord had spoken to this person "Israel," forgetting that the devil speaks to his servants too, and they do mask themselves as servants of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:14-15). There's no telling how many people he sent this letter out to before I bit on it. "Brother Israel" then said it was God's will that he and his wife come to America and meet me and pray for me and the needs of my friends, as the Lord had showed him that all these situations will be 'healed' (he emailed me this picture which was supposed to be of him and his wife, Sarah). I don't know the true identity of these people. 

He was making arrangements to fly himself and his wife over here and did not need any money for tickets -- at first. Isn't that how it always goes? He developed very convincing stories of how he was doing everything within his power to raise the money for the tickets, including selling his bicycle. He sent me detailed flight schedules and kept me apprised of his personal fundraising efforts within his church and village. By this time, I was totally duped into believing he was sincere. When he at last appealed for $420, the final amount for the tickets, I sent  the money (which my younger brother provided since I could not afford it) via Western Union to Edomwande Austine (see here) as "Israel" had requested, allegedly being unable to pick up the money himself. Here is the letter he sent: 

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From CHURCH RESOURCES Wed Aug 3 00:35:41 2005

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Subject: THE DEVIL IS A LIAR 

To: "James Whisler" <jamesers_99@yahoo.com>

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Dear Brother James,

Greetings in the loving and saving name of ou faithful father, I am sorry for sounding to hard on you in our last mail, I was abit harsh not beuase of the money I have spent but becuase  the vission of God was going away just like that.Please undertand that I dont have any personal grushes against you but to make corection with love .I don,t know, the lord has put your love in our heart, even my wife asked me everyday "how is Brother James doing ?"

My Brother you know the Devil is not always happy seeing us going about our fathers Bussiness ,I think what just happend was a manipulated and a calculated attempt by the devil just to hinder the cuase of Christ, but he has been defeted Amen.I am so happy that Brother  Mickey will be helping with the remanaing fund, A faithful servant and a preciouse son to the church here has a bank account in the city he said you can send the money via Western Union Money transfer ,which is the fastest and most reliable means of sending fund to our country,his name is Brother Edomwande Austine , Please send it in His name and furnish us with the Western Union information, we will go with him to the city to pick it up.

My Brother we are looking to hearing from you and seeing you soonest.Thanks

With Love & Prayers

Elder Isreal Osawe

__________________________________________________

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The email address that Edomwande provides (ministration_inc@yahoo.com) for Israel Osawe's church called the Word of Truth Bible Church is also inexplicably used by a 'Christian' woman locked up in prison requesting Bibles (see here). Coincidently, this "Sister Ruth Eze"  also provides the same address for her prison that Mr. Osawe does for his church: PO BOX 78, ORE, ONDO STATE, NIGERIA.  Mama Faith Ogbede and the Salvation Bible Church also use box # 78 in ORE, ONDO STATE (see here). My goodness, box 78 is getting quite a workout, being simultaneously used for several churches and prison ministries.

Claiming to have bought the tickets, "Israel" gave me his flight plan going from Lagos, Nigeria to Los Angeles, involving a layover in London, Heathrow Airport, which is from where he allegedly sent the following email:

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Thread-Topic: WE ARE STRANDED

From: "AirPort Authority" <hetroairport@mail2Uk.com>  Add to Address Book

To: jamesers_99@yahoo.com

Subject: WE ARE STRANDED

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 00:18:39 -0700

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Brother James,

iTS ME ELDER OSAWE i AM AFRIAD THERE IS A PROBLEM HERE, WE ARRIVED HETRO AIRPORT SUCCESSFULLY, JUST AS WE WERE CHEKING IN, THIER LOCAL CUSTORM OFFICERS HELD US RANSOME FOR BASIC TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE REASONS(BTA). THEY SAID WE MUST HAVE A MINIMUM BTA OF 1,000 POUND BEFORE WE CAN TRANSIT FROM LONDON TO USA AND OUR BTA IS JUST 150 AMERICAN MONEY.PLEASE HELP WE ARE IN HETRO AIRPORT HERE, AND THEY WILL BE DEPORTING US BACK TO NIGERIA IF WE ARE UNABLE TO MEET UP WITH THE BTA OF AT LEAST 1,000 BEFORE 3 WORKING DAYS. WE ARE A BIT STRANDED HERE YOU CAN REACH US VIA THE AIRPORT RECEPTION HOTLINE +44 7031905092

YOURS IN CHRIST

ELDER OSAWE 

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At this point I obviously didn't believe him and knew I had been taken, and so began investigating what clues I could. The number he provides for 'Hetro', +44 7031905092, traces back to a 'ministry' based in England and Africa called Salvation Prison Ministry International (located on prisonministry.net), which claims to distribute Bibles and necessities to African inmates. He gives the name of a  'Pastor Raymond Williams' as the director, and the following address in England:

12 Marine Court

Sussex

TN38 ODX

England

United Kingdom

Under the website's statement heading of "Who We Are" he describes the organization as having  "a supretended mandate to reach the untreached people...", etc. He likes the words "supretended mandate" ('supretended' does not exist in the English language). These words also coincidentally appear on Edomwande's spurious Bible Bookstore website (where he requests that customers send payments via Western Union -- bad advice: see here) and on another website in his own name, located on the same prisonministry.net site, called Ministration Prison Fellowship (see here). The physical address he gives for his Christian Faith Book Store is: 63 Siluko Road, Benin City,Edo State, Nigeria    Tel +234 8033557029 -- he gives the same phone # for his 'Prison Fellowship' but a different address.  The domain name he uses for his Nigerian Bible Book Store traces back to an address in El Paso, Texas.

Domain Name:CHRISTIANFAITHBOOKSTORE.ORG

Created On:21-Jul-2005 07:18:06 UTC

Last Updated On:20-Sep-2005 03:48:07 UTC

Expiration Date:21-Jul-2006 07:18:06 UTC

Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)

Status:OK

Registrant ID:7A4DF624A3C8F08E

Registrant Name:Mr Edomwande. A

Registrant Organization:Mr Edomwande. A

Registrant Street1:12 Raymond Dr

Registrant Street2:

Registrant Street3:

Registrant City:El Paso

Registrant State/Province:TX

Registrant Postal Code:79924

Registrant Country:US

Registrant Phone:+1.9157513866

Registrant Phone Ext.:

Registrant FAX:

Registrant FAX Ext.:

Registrant Email:info@christianfaithbookstore.org

Admin ID:5577BB7F5962A432

Admin Name:Mr Edomwande. A

Admin Organization:Mr Edomwande. A

Admin Street1:12 Raymond Dr

Admin Street2:

Admin Street3:

Admin City:El Paso

Admin State/Province:TX

Admin Postal Code:79924

Admin Country:US

Admin Phone:+1.9157513866

Admin Phone Ext.:

Admin FAX:

Admin FAX Ext.:

Admin Email:info@christianfaithbookstore.org

The phone number in El Paso traces to:

Vanecek, B E

5009 Vulcan Ave

El Paso, TX 79904-3822

(915) 751-3866

Email,Maps and What's Nearby

Find Classmate B E Vanecek

Edomwande Austine provided a picture which may be of himself and fellow scammers (reproduced below) on his Ministration Prison Fellowship website.

Edomwande Austine and fellow Nigerian scammers.

Among the other phishing outlets that Edomwande Austine (which may or may not be his real name) has  established  on the web is:

HOPE OF ZION MINISTRIES

12 OKUNDOLOR STREET,

BENIN CITY,

BENIN, EDO, 234 

(with same phone # previously cited+2348033557029).  Email HOPE_ZION@YAHOO.COM

Other names he uses associated with his "ministries" include :

1. Evangelist Blessing Osawe or Elder Israel Osawe

2. Evangelist Alex Ajilo

3. Evangelist Faith Osahon

4. Evangelist David Ade

5. Youth Pastor  Osaze Obasogie

6. Pastor Raymond Williams

Some of the email addresses they use: ministrationprisonfellowship@yahoo.com , info@salvationoutreachmission.org, ministration_inc@yahoo.com, hope_zion@yahoo.com ,  ausbee4life@yahoo.com

I've probably gone into more detail than is necessary, but  I do so in hopes that Christians who have been contacted by Edomwande or his associates will find this to be a thorough enough account to convince them to steer clear of these petty crooks.

--- James Whisler