Fraudulent groups claim UN membership

Victims never see their money again and the criminals who perpetrate these schemes are callous and cold-hearted

UNHCR warns of bogus organizations Criminals posing as UN agencies are using the internet to defraud and deceive, usually the most unprotected people, namely in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Promising to arrange jobs in Europe and North America, they charge their victims thousands of dollars for a service which will lead nowhere.

Spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis for the UN High Commission for Refugees described these attempts as “scams” and pointed out that UN agencies never charge refugees for resettlement or for jobs, or indeed for any other service. “Any websites claiming to be associated with UNHCR and charging for resettlement services are fraudulent.”

Typically, a website claims to be the UNHCR official page or else an agency associated with a UN organism, gives out wrong information about resettlement, redeployment or employment schemes and then charges administrative fees which vary from 100 to 1,000 USD. People who can manage to get a further group of applicants to join are offered discounts.

Of course, the victims never see their money again and the criminals who perpetrate these schemes are callous and cold-hearted, for they target the most desperate and weakest groups. For this reason, the UN urges media organisms to spread the news far and wide so that people do not fall into the trap and so that these criminals can be caught.