Pakistanis in Germany receiving threatening calls from Pakistan Embassy number

BERLIN: The Pakistani community in Germany is receiving threatening calls from a local telephone number of the Pakistani Embassy.

A Pakistani diplomat working at the embassy told Geo News that several members of the Pakistani community had lodged complaints mentioning that the caller had spoken in Urdu but had a mixed Urdu-Hindi accent.  The Pakistani diplomat further added, "We are in touch with the relevant German authorities on the issue".   

One Pakistani victim, Ahmed told local media that he had received a call from the Pakistan Embassy Berlin telephone number +49 30 212440 and the caller introduced himself as Pakistan Embassy's staff member.

Ahmed is living in Hannover since 1986. He had recently applied for passport renewal. The unknown caller threatened Ahmed for deportation from Germany and asked him to pay amount between 2000 to 3000 Euros (more than 300,000 PKR). The caller said that if payment was not made then Ahmed’s information will be sent to German deportation authorities. Hence, he will face legal problems. The caller wanted to be paid via codes of iTunes cards instead of bank transfer.

Another similar call scam was reported earlier when three different unknown male callers succeeded to get codes of iTunes cards worth 1100 Euros (more than 115, 000 PKR).  However, it is not clear yet if such calls have been only received by Pakistani origin immigrants or Pakistani asylum seekers.

The Pakistan Embassy in Berlin already issued an Alert Notice on their Facebook Page which is given below:

It has been noticed by the Embassy of Pakistan, Berlin through telephone calls from Community members that some misleading phone calls are being made by displaying Embassy’s phone Number +49 30 212440. The caller threatens the Community living in Germany with deportation/legal problems unless a certain amount is transferred to the account details provided by the caller.

We are in touch with the relevant German authorities on the issue.

Pakistani community is being advised that Embassy of Pakistan, Berlin does not solicit such calls. Please be careful of this scam and do not pay any heed to such calls.