Is this a scam? Is this fraudulent?

Please be very careful when asked for personal information or money by people who you do not know! Check the UN Fraud Alert for more information.

Many fraud schemes falsely claim association with the United Nations in order to try to get money or personal information from well-meaning people who would like to help the organization. These schemes may come through social media, email, phone calls, postal mail or be posted on websites. 

Common scams include:

• Romance scams: an individual claims to be a UN peacekeeper or humanitarian aid worker and quickly develops a deeply personal online relationship, then asks for help getting vacation pay, hardship leave,  care for a sick child, removal to home, or other personal or financial assistance.
• Employment scams: if you have applied for a job with the UN, please note that the UN does not ask for money at any stage of the recruitment process. Be careful to use only official websites to apply for UN jobs and be cautious about providing personal information. False vacancy announcements may be created to extract personal information from job seekers.
• Confidence scams: the UN will not spontaneously contact you to transfer large sums of money out of a country or provide an individual grant.

Be aware that scams are not limited to these-- new schemes are appearing with increasing frequency.