Sandra and I received this email today. I visited their website and found it interesting, but am not completely comfortable with the registration aspect. Am I paranoid?
I can see their point though. So please read the letter below, visit the website, and let me know what you think. Did you register?
Dear Ms. Rafaela, Dear Ms. George,
I am writing on behalf of Madame Ndioro Ndiaye, Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who has requested that I contact you concerning our database for African women.
Madame Ndiaye would like to bring to your attention an interesting program here at IOM- Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA). MIDA is a comprehensive framework for migration and development that mobilizes highly skilled and willing members of the continental African Diaspora as agents for development.
Thus, IOM has developed databases of African Diasporas living in Europe, North America and Africa, for people willing to contribute to the development of their country of origin. Given the potential of Diaspora women to contribute to gender equality and the empowerment of women both at home and abroad, IOM created a special database for African women Diaspora members.
The information in the database will enable IOM, as well as governments and civil society, to contact these individuals with opportunities for networking, learning, service, investment and consultation. This is a crucial component of the MIDA initiative, and we are excited to involve African women of various talent and leadership capacities.
For this reason, we would like to encourage interested members of Women of the African Diaspora (WAD) to check out our website and take just five minutes to register in the women’s database here: http://www.iom.int/jahia/Jahia/pid/1904
We would be grateful if you could share this information with the members of your organization.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Kind regards,
Ahuoiza Baiye
Ahuoiza Baiye
Office of the Deputy Director General
International Organization for Migration
+41 22 717 92 77
Unfortunately, the enormous number of e-mails I get from African-sounding organizations that propose to put a million dollars in my bank account (or take a million out) is something that makes me particularly suspicious about requests for personal information about myself.
I often feel sure that the “organizations” and individuals requesting this information will eventually ask me for credit card and banking details that would enable them to raid my accounts and ruin my credit (such as it is).
So, I ain’t giving my address, social security number, date of birth, city, country or any other information to ANY organization until I’ve fully researched them. And whatever information I decide to give, I’ll be wary of subtle or bold requests for additional information, like my bank account numbers and codes and credit card information (for “a small donation”).
A friend of mine lost his business and was forced to file for bankruptcy because he was too guileless and insufficiently skeptical when he got an e-mail request that, ultimately, turned into a request for his personal and business secret banking information.
Francis, what did your research turn up on the International Office of Migration? I know you are thorough.
Hi there!
This smells funny.
Hmmmmph.
Lisa
Thanks !