Scam No. 1
We have been informed of another scam and we want to share some of the details with you.
First, let us begin with the good guys: Les Paradis Des Les Primates is an organization based in North Kivù in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Les Paradis specializes in conserving gorillas, chimpanzees, and other ape species.
A few years ago Mr. Davin Dalley, Director of Les Paradis, got in touch with an organization based in Italy called Poaching Prevention Academy (PPA). PPA offered to support Les Paradis. Mr. Dalley initially believed PPA was a kind and generous organization which would provide Les Paradis with much needed support. Mr. Dalley issued PPA a formal “support letter” (see picture). PPA subsequently published the “support letter” and began raising funds for Les Paradis. Witnesses at PPA’s conventions in Italy reported that PPA raised thousands of Euros in cash under the pretext of using these funds to provide Les Paradis with much needed gear. However, Mr. Dalley did not know anything about these funds raised by PPA. Additionally, PPA was also selling “Gorilla Adoption Certificates” (see picture) on behalf of Les Paradis. However, Les Paradis does not keep any gorillas in captivity and didn't know anything about it; therefore, PPA’s “Gorilla Adoption Certificates” were sold to uninformed supporters under a false pretext. Many years after raising these funds and selling “Gorilla Adoption Certificates,” Les Paradis never received any of the money which PPA raised on Les Paradis’ behalf. In fact, PPA used Les Paradis to raise funds that have disappeared. PPA’s failure to send the promised funds and support to Les Paradis likely affected Les Paradis’ ability to carry out its ape conservation efforts because Les Paradis relied on PPA’s promises.
On the left the fake adoption certificate,"Certificato di Adozione" in italian.
The aforementioned occurrence made us suspicious about the nature of PPA. Therefore, we decided to provide you with some facts about this organization. PPA is based out of Italy. It claims to be a “conservation charity.” However, PPA is not registered as a non-profit organization (check this link: https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it/portale/Schede/Istanze/Iscrizione+allanagrafe+Onlus/Nuovo+Elenco+Onlus/?page=schedeistanze. This link provides a list of all the non-profit organizations and ONLUS in Italy. After checking all of this information, there is no organization called Poaching Prevention Academy). Formally registered organizations exist as legal entities and are regulated by the government. Legal entities must follow certain rules which are designed, among other things, to
protect the legal entity’s supporters from fraud and deceit. However, unregistered entities generally fall outside the realm of regulations that apply to such registered organizations. An unregistered entity, such as PPA, falls outside the realm of these rules. This led us to ask ourselves: what is PPA?
A captivating logo to promote something that never happened.
PPA’s official website is located here. For a “conservation charity” we found it interesting that PPA’s online “donate” button was not working. It is possible that PPA did not pass the verification checks PayPal carries out on charitable organizations. Furthermore, there is not a single charity evaluator or charitable organization transparency watchdog that lists Poaching Prevention Academy. Again, it is possible that PPA did not meet the requirements of these charitable organization transparency watchdogs. PPA’s website also lists the following North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and United Nations (UN) numbers: NCAGE AN161 and UNGM 39829. NATO and the UN assign these numbers to any legit entity willing to take part in their tenders.
However, a closer look at these NCAGE and UNGM numbers on PPA’s website shows that they are registered to an organization called “Squad SMPD.” These numbers are not registered to Poaching Prevention Academy. Additionally, a search of NCAGE AN161 on the NATO website also reveals that this number belongs to “Squad SMPD” and not to Poaching Prevention Academy. Similarly, UNGM 398296 is also registered to “Squad SMPD” and
not to Poaching Prevention Academy. PPA’s website declares that the training it provides is “NATO STANAG” compliant and lists these aforementioned NATO and UN numbers as a source of legitimacy for its training program. However, PPA cannot claim that its training programs are NATO compliant when the only published source of legitimacy for this claim are registration numbers linked to an entirely different organization. What purpose does PPA have in saying that its training is NATO certified but only backing up that statement with NCAGE and UNGM numbers belonging to another organization? We believe it is important for the public to know that these NATO and UN numbers are not registered to Poaching Prevention Academy. Therefore, it is possible that PPA has been using these numbers to falsely advertise itself because unaware supporters could believe that PPA was a legitimate organization simply because it had these NATO and UN numbers listed on its website. In reality, PPA’s website does not point to a single source of legitimacy for its charitable or training services.
"I had no idea they were taking money on behalf of our organization..." - Dalley-Divin Saa-Sita
After discovering this fraud, we decided to delve into who is behind PPA. PPA’s non-existence as a formal registered organization makes it hard to check any of the most important information pertaining to its activities. However, PPA seems to be very active on Facebook and such social media activity provided us a good opportunity to figure out who is behind this organization.
One name that we saw over and over again was Davide Bomben. Mr. Bomben is referred to as PPA’s founder. However, Mr. Bomben is not a biologist, a conservationist, nor a military veteran. However, it seems Mr. Bomben enjoys dressing as a mercenary, handling weapons, and claiming to love animals. When we delved deeper into Mr. Bomben’s identity, we discovered that he is a businessman who sells tours to Africa through a company called il Diamante (based in Turin, Italy). After discovering this piece of information, PPA’s scams make more sense. In conclusion, we believe that Mr. Bomben exploits anti-poaching efforts with the excuse that tourism is the solution to deal with the poaching crises throughout Africa. Mr. Bomben sells Africa tourism travels to people who wish to protect our planet’s biodiversity by convincing them that partaking in his tours will help solve the poaching crisis. However, this could not be further from the truth because African countries with a significant tourism industry (such as South Africa and Tanzania) are also hit hard with the scourge of wildlife poaching. Tourism and poaching are not necessarily related, but we believe that Mr. Bomben attempts to link the two in order to profit through his tourism company. The Les Paradis funds that have disappeared, the fake “Gorilla Adoption Certificates,” and the misused NCAGE and UNGM numbers all make more sense once we realized that Mr. Bomben’s primary interest in Africa is to use anti-poaching in order to profit through il Diamante, and not to carry out charitable work.
If you want to help Dalley, feel free to contact him on Facebook and make a donation directly to Les Paradis or click here.