This initiative has allowed the survivors of conflict to be persuaded not to be fooled by unscrupulous people who offer to manage the procedures before the entity, which are free and do not need intermediaries.

The head of the Legal Advisory Office of the Victims Unit, Vladimir Martin, led the talk on the antifraud issue with officials belonging to the municipal administrations in the departments of Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda, the Public Ministry and collaborators of the territorial direction, with the aim of showing them the changes and advances in the anti-fraud campaign "Don't believe everything you hear"

Anti-fraud strategies were officially launched in 2013 when the campaign “Beware of fraud, don't believe everything you hear” was launched, the main purpose of which was to prevent victims from committing irregularities that become crimes in criminal law.

“This initiative has allowed the survivors of conflict to be persuaded not to be fooled by unscrupulous people who offer to manage the procedures before the entity, which are free and no intermediaries are needed. It has also served for the general public to denounce events that could affect the victims or the public resources destined for their reparation”, assured Vladimir Martin.

Some of the results of the strategy show that to date, a total of 7.896 complaints have been received at the Victims Unit nationwide, of which 2.710 complaints have been filed.

Of this total universe of complaints, 203 have been filed in Risaralda, 65 in the department of Quindío, and 79 in Caldas.

40 cases have been reported to the Attorney General's Office in Risaralda, in Quindío 25 and in Caldas 21; the most common crimes are those of false testimony, procedural fraud, fraud in the Single Victims Registry, fraud, falsification of documents, fraud of subsidies and personal falsification, among others.

“This anti-fraud issue and campaigns such as those that have been promoted by our entity, are fundamental aspects to be able to persuade the victims of armed conflict not to be fooled by people with malicious intent who want to keep their resources. I invite you to become multipliers of this valuable information to prevent victims from falling into fraud”, stated Laura Moreno, territorial director of the Unit.

Officials and citizens in general who are aware of fraud within the entity, can make their complaints through the email grupocontrafraude@unidadvictimas.gov.co and can also do so through the free line 01800911119 or in Bogotá by phone 4261111. 

(End/EHB/CMC/LMY)