In July of 2018, a damn funding system was initiated by the Pakistani Government to collect money in order to build the much needed Diamer Basha And Mohmand Dams. PM Imran Khan further took it upon himself to encourage overseas Pakistanis to come forward and donate for the good of the country. This proved to have triggered quite a lot of expatriates from around the globe and the money started pouring in almost immediately.
People also took to social media to announce their donations and boost others to do so as well.
I just made my contribution $1000 – God Bless IK / CJ / Pakistan. #DamFund pic.twitter.com/vu5FHesDnH
— shahnawaz adenwala (@SAdenwala) September 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/akif786/status/1038163427787722753
It surely is a very positive response from our community, national and abroad. In a country where corruption prevails, it is inevitable that a number of fraudulent activities would emerge from this. Earlier, the top court had warned the public to remain vigilant while donating and ensure that the money wasn’t going to a trap or fake account.
Unfortunately, Muhammad Sattar Yousaf reported a scam attempt on the facebook group ‘Halaat Updates’. He mentioned how his colleague went to deposit money in the fund at a UBL branch. The appropriate method was followed up until the colleague requested a confirmation slip as is customary and was denied.
They decided to follow up on the money transfer the next day and called up the Manager of Operations in that branch who ensured them that the standard procedure had been followed successfully. Unsatisfied with the response, they went on to donate to another UBL branch where they have issued a slip and informed that the previous cashier’s actions were suspicious.
Upon further querying at the initial branch, it was revealed that the money had been transferred to an anonymous account ‘by mistake’ and that actions were being taken to retrieve it.
Such is the state of our country; where dams are built through donations requested from tax-paying citizens and even then legitimacy can’t be assured.
