Spam of the Week: Fake UN Agency Job Advertisement

I got some interesting email this week from the "U.S. Committee for the U.N", an organization that :

1. "supports the work of the United Nations to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world by promoting democratic governance, poverty reduction, rural development, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and environmental issues, and reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic"
   
2. offers high-paying jobs in such glamorous locales as the Bahamas, the Solomon Islands, Italy and the United Arab Emirates
   
3. doesn't exist.
   

The job descriptions seem like a cut-and-paste from some other position descriptions at the official UN human resources website, jobs.un.org. And the organization has a plausible enough name, since there is indeed a US Fund for UNICEF, a US Committee for the UN Development Programme , and a United Nations Association of the United States . 

But even a cursory examination reveals some fishiness here.  For one, the contact email is jobs@un-usa.fr.st.  That's ".st" as in Sao Tome, a tiny island country of the Central Africa coast.  There's no website listed for the supposed organization.  The address is listed as "2 UN Plaza" which contains no such organization, although a number of other UN agencies are based there.

The real question is what is the point of this scam?  To get people to send in their CVs?  Do they ask you for an application fee?  I don't know, but I'm going to apply and find out.  I'll report back if I hear from them.

Here's the complete email:

From:   helenprest@universia.net.mx
Subject: Job Openings in UN Committee
Date: April 7, 2006 7:15:41 PM EDT
Reply-To:   jobs@un-usa.fr.st

The U.S. Committee for the U.N  supports the work of the United Nations to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world by promoting democratic governance, poverty reduction, rural development, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and environmental issues, and reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

It accomplishes these aims by building a broad-based American constituency that educates for international development and by identifying U.S. resources for specific UN  projects that support U.S. national interests.

Position: Environmental  Officer
Location: Canada and Bahamas
Salary: $169,600.00 USD.
Contract: Full time

They are responsible for development oversight, management, and evaluation of programs in the following areas:bio-diversity, conservation, forestry, wildlife management, water and coastal
resources management, environmental education, environmental policy, environmentally sustainable agriculture, community based natural resources management, urban and industrial pollution
reduction, urban planning and management (including such areas as housing, water and sanitation), urban and housing finance, energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy applications, clean energy technologies, energy sector planning and  global climate  change.

Environment Officers apply both a technical knowledge of their program area and a variety of management and program evaluation knowledge in order to  ensure that projects meet the needs of UN-USA 's partners and customers in a cost-effective manner.

B. Financial Management Officer
     Locaton: France, Italy and Switzerland
     Salary:$172,678.00 USD
     Duration: Full time

They direct the accounting and payment operations worldwide. In addition, they provide significant , levels of advisory services to all levels of the mission and host country governments. This includes administrative, operational and  program matters concerning financial, budgetary and resource management and implementation issues.

C. Program/Project Development Officer
     Location:Netherlands, United Kingdom
     Salary:$182  ,000.00 USD
     Duration: Full time

They are responsible for strategy development, policy formulation, performance reporting,project management, and public outreach. They are looked upon to ensure  that the Mission's operational procedures are designed to elicit  teamwork, emphasize shared values, make known programming priorities, and reward innovation. Program/Project development officers  must be  able to apply leadership and management skills in order to ensure that program activities are designed and implemented to achieve  stated objectives, within resource constraints and in a timely manner.

D.Population/Health/Nutrition Officers
  Salary:$142,678.00 USD
Location: Solomon Island and Japan

Responsible for development, oversight, management (staff, financial, and technical resources), and evaluation of PHN programs that may include any or all of the following areas: primary health care
(including immunizations, acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases), maternal/child health (including safe motherhood), population/family planning (reproductive health). HIV/AIDS, sexually
transmitted diseases, infectious diseases (including malaria, TB, antimicrobial resistance, surveillance), nutrition/micronutrients, water and sanitation, environmental health, social marketing, demography, population, health or nutrition policy, operations research in population, health or nutrition, biomedical/clinical research  (including vaccines, antimicrobial resistance, malaria, TB, neonatal, contraceptive technology), epidemiology, logistics management, national pharmaceutical management and health
economics.Population/Health/Nutrition Officers apply both a technical knowledge of their program area and a variety of management and program evaluation expertise in order to ensure that projects meet
the needs of UN-USA's partners and customers in a cost-effective manner.

E.Executive Officers
Salary:$175,678.00 USD
Location:South Africa,U.A.E

Oversee a wide range of administrative and logistical support functions including personnel management, contracting, procurement, property management, motor pool management, travel management, employee/family housing and maintenance management. In addition to having direct
responsibility for providing the daily support of the agency's field mission, duties include planning for future personnel and procurement requirements at the assigned duty station.

F. Education Development Officers
Salary:$149,678.00 USD
Location:Cayman Island and Comoros

Analyze, advise, and assist with the development of host country education human resources and manpower planning systems. Strategies are designed to improve existing education programs as well as to promote organizational competencies and skills acquisition related to both individual
and institutional development. Duties include participation in Agency policy formulation, sector analysis, program and project design,  program monitoring, and evaluation of activities in education and human
resources.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS/SELECTION
Applicants are selected on the basis of academic credentials,  experience and other relevant factors. Successful Applicants are invited to come to Washington, for an interview/ Training.  Candidates are interviewed  on their related knowledge, skills and abilities. Application is open to all interested  applicants from any nationality.

RETIREMENT AND ANNUITIES
New Entrants employed with UN-USA may retire voluntarily after 20 Years of service. Retirement is mandatory at age 65. The maximum period   of Creditable service is 35 years.

HOW TO APPLY
Please send your resume/CV  to:   jobs@un-usa.fr.st OR Fax:1206-984-3618

Dr. David  Cameron
Recruitment Officer
U.S. Committee for UN
Two UN Plaza, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Comments

[Ken]

Hello,

I received the same from "helen prest" .

Would be interested to hear what it's all about. Can't say I've ever been pleased to receive spam, but it did allow me to get to your site. Nice...

Regards
Ken

[rikomatic]

I'll be sure and report about it if I find out more!

[Bubba]

You can see the same .st email address on another U.N. job scam used last fall at Joe Wein's site, about 3/4 ways down the page:

http://www.joewein.de/sw/nigeria-job-scams.htm

[James S]

And the fun continues. Seems the phone number listed as a fax is to a cell phone in Richmond Beach WA (Yes I got the same mail in one of my spam catcher accounts.) This was to me what sent up my radar. An ST tld with a washington state phone number and a UN address... hmmm

http://tinyurl.com/qv8zf

[Michael]

I've been hit with these .st fake job postings from the UN as well. What makes it worse is that I work in development and spend a mind numbing amount of time in the UN. Whoever is doing this know what he/she is up to because the language is actually a dead on imitation of UNese. Its the salaries that give them away.

[rikomatic]

I like how long the job descriptions are without actually saying anything. It looks to me like a poor cut-and-paste job from some official UN job listings.

[Gabi]

I got the same email today from Winifred Blair. It looked sketchy to me because at the bottom of the email it said "Visit http://www.thecouponclippers.com for all your coupon needs." Doubt you'd see that on a real UN job listing.

[Robert]

I too received the UN job e-mail. I then received follow-up docs with interview questions and application form. It all seemed so fishy: the address given belongs to the Italian Mission, the telephone/fax area codes are not listed and are from Washington State, the e-mail address is from St. Tomae, etc. I look forward to hearing what you find out.

[himesh]

I too receive this UN JOB OPENINGS mail and follow up documents like interviw forms etc . I then tried to did furher, I even received Offer letter, contract agreement, alien employment authorization etc. I did not probe furhter

[himesh]

I too received this UN JOB OPENINGS mail and follow up documents like interviw forms etc . I then tried to dig furher, I even received Offer letter, contract agreement, alien employment authorization etc. I did not probe furhter

[Boka]

I too received the UN job e-mail. I then received follow-up docs with interview questions and application form. After that I received the letter of job, employment contrat term and alien employment autorization. I completed all and I send all with my passeport photograph. Now I just receive this e-mail:

Dear New Entrant,

This is to confirm the receipt of the requested documents signed by your
good self.

In furtherance with your employment processes,you are advised to write to
Dr.(Mrs.)Blessing Libi,the training Manager for your registration and
training guidelines.Her email contact address is as stated on our offer
letter to you.

All other documents and information shall be forwarded to your goodself
after you have fully registered for training.

Best Regards,

Dr. Christy Owens
Head,Legal & Admin
U.S. Committee for UN
Two UN Plaza, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

What I do now É

Can they make something of bad with my signature and my photos É.
I need Help!!

[rikomatic]

As far as I have discovered, the main scam appears to be related to getting you to pay an application fee or a training fee. After you pay this, the job disappears.

So as far as I know, there isn't anything bad they can do with just your signature and photo. However IANAL (I am not a lawyer) so take that into account.

[Manish Gupta]

I got the same email. they are asking ~$2300 for the training. they had given few phone numbers .. but they all are fax numbers.. I tried to leave a voice mail to call back but no-one ever did. can't anyone take a legal action on them ?? I assume one can figure it out who are the people doing it ( technically)..

[ZF]

I got the job offer today as well as form for working visa application. After my friend check out via internet finally I got all are scam.........They'll ask money next, whatever for training or something, don't catch further anymore!

[Khaled]

Dear All,
I see that I am not the only one who believed this bad joke which made all of us very busy with. I am happy that I did no sign and send my photo too but I hope we can work on announcing to all our friends that no one would make such mistake and pay something for this un existed organisation. my story is very simillar to rikomatic too.

[Annick]

I applied to the UNASG offer and was recruited in less than two weeks. I was happy but needed more information. I found your blog and think we should spread the information. What will they do with all the information we gave them? This is scary!

[rikomatic]

Folks at the United Nations tell me that they are aware of the problem and have alerted the authorities. So there is probably more going on than we will ever know.

[Kumi]

This scam is engulfing more and more. I was gullible to a point. Applied but found it strange that I would get a lucrative offer without an interview. Massaging my ego..I thought its due to my qualifications and CV. I did not take any decisions for a while and asked for more information. NO REPLY.

Before I send in my photo and signatures, I asked a friend in NY to check out the office as I did not find a website. Then I did a google on every person whose name was any of the documents...and discovered this website and blog..that it was a scam.

They do not give any phone numbers to call. Very strange. They only give fax numbers which have area codes different from UN plaza.

Learning tips on warning bells:
1) Big offer ...view it with suspicion
2) Job offer without interview
3) No response to further inquiries
4) All signaturies whether in HRD or Admninistrative offices are doctorates for eg. Dr.Donald Duke, Dr.Alice Owen, Dr.David cameron, Dr.Adam Rogers (he is a real person at the UNDP)..according my source of information, Dr.George Giggs.
5) No phone numbers to call. And wrong fax numbers.

Time wasted but a good learning experience !! A google search on United States Committee for the U.N could lead to this website which indicates it is scam.

They use authentic leterheads with authentic UN address. It could have security problems so the US government and the UN should track this down. They could use well qualified honest people's photos and CV information to make false passports for illegal immigrants, false bank accounts to park african money etc.

[Kumi]

This scam is engulfing more and more. I was gullible to a point. Applied but found it strange that I would get a lucrative offer without an interview. Massaging my ego..I thought its due to my qualifications and CV. I did not take any decisions for a while and asked for more information. NO REPLY.

Before I send in my photo and signatures, I asked a friend in NY to check out the office as I did not find a website. Then I did a google on every person whose name was any of the documents...and discovered this website and blog..that it was a scam.

They do not give any phone numbers to call. Very strange. They only give fax numbers which have area codes different from UN plaza.

Learning tips on warning bells:
1) Big offer ...view it with suspicion
2) Job offer without interview
3) No response to further inquiries
4) All signaturies whether in HRD or Admninistrative offices are doctorates for eg. Dr.Donald Duke, Dr.Alice Owen, Dr.David cameron, Dr.Adam Rogers (he is a real person at the UNDP)..according my source of information, Dr.George Giggs.
5) No phone numbers to call. And wrong fax numbers.

Time wasted but a good learning experience !! A google search on United States Committee for the U.N could lead to this website which indicates it is scam.

They use authentic leterheads with authentic UN address. It could have security problems so the US government and the UN should track this down. They could use well qualified honest people's photos and CV information to make false passports for illegal immigrants, false bank accounts to park african money etc.

[nikki]

This is a big shame for UN. how it is possible that someone can manipulate with this kind of organisation.
I have sent my CV, I have also sent a copy of my passport to this training agency, I am now worried about my passport copy even though I doubt it can be used. About the signature I don't think its a problem. But thanks God I haven't been so crazy to pay for training. I've noticed that soemhting is worong because I have asked for few times to sned me contract terms, finally I tired to call tehm today and noone responded. Than I was courious to find some more informations about all this on google, and tha's how I found this web site.
This world is getting crazy and it is really shame that people are trying to work abroad are getting into this kind of trap!
In UN you should be more hard on this happenings and cut this track if possible.

[Chitalu Musonda]

I wasted a whole day trying to find the website for this UN organization without any success. But thank goodness I came across this URL after before submitting the interview and Employment forms. I must say that the money was really tempting, but what can I say, I was really disappointed with the actions of this group of individuals. At least I wont need to lose $2300 in training fees!

[Vikram]

There is a similar mail from United States Center for Development(USCD). I got the offer and after googling for the website I found out its hoax.

[Alexandra Ilie]

the weird thing about this was that i got their e-mail adress from my school advisor. Luckily I found out about this scam early enough so I didn't send any private information to them. Good experience though. I wonder if anyone actually paid for the training...

[Ash]

Dear All,
It was indeed very surprising to see such a mail in my mail box. I got this mail a week back and sent my cv and stuff. After the offer letter it was indeed very heart breaking to see this website.
But anyhow, such spams should be controlled.

[Raj]

Dear all,
The same incident occured to me. i sent all the stuff along with my passport photo, visa application form, employment agreement form but thanks to the god that i saw this link. now i m alert. u know the US police department should take strong measures to control such indivisduals so that the innocent people don't get harmed.