August 17, 2007	Friday	Sha’aban 3, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 16: The United Nations system in Pakistan on Thursday warned the general public against impersonators posing as UN officials and fleecing them on the pretext of providing jobs or some other financial benefit.

The UN establishment here has reported such incidents to the government and requested them to investigate the matter.

The UN resident coordinator for Pakistan, Jan Vandemoortele, told Dawn that several incidents had come to his notice, where individuals posed as UN officials and took payments from people for providing jobs, certificates of grants or service contracts but then disappeared.

“Since these people seldom left behind phone numbers or contact addresses, it is difficult to trace them,” he said.

A statement advised the general public against being taken-in by the “professional confidence tricksters” and said the UN had no way to stop such practices.

Explaining the modus operandi of these swindlers, the statement said, they frequently used letterheads and official titles, to establish their credentials as bone-fide UN staff. In most cases they identified their targets by either directly approaching them or through accomplice intermediaries.

It further said the impersonators often called their targeted subject to restaurants, cafes or hotels near a legitimate UN office, to convince the targets of their authenticity.

The impersonators, it warned, may also use cars with fake or stolen UN registration plates. Eventually, they demand the subject to advance money to facilitate pre-job training, issuance of cheques or establishment of contracts.