BBC tricked by fraudster pretending to be Pakistani ex cricketer!
- By Shahjahan Khurram -
- Mar 16, 2015
And guess what? Nadeem Alam even got paid by the BBC for giving views he wasn’t an expert on and appearing to be Nadeem Abbasi, which he wasn’t! The act has left BBC red faced and still in shock as to their blunder and non-thorough approach as regards to their panelists.
Nadeem Alam appeared as Nadeem Abbasi on a couple of shows such as BBC World News, BBC Asian Network and Radio Five Live. The man never played a match except one for his hometown of Shudderfield. He posed as Nadeem Abbasi, who is a former Pakistani test cricketer, having played three test matches for his country. Regarding the incident, he stated that “I am no longer pretending to be Nadeem Abbasi”, adding: “I like to think I have been talking good cricket.”
The act has however, infuriated Nadeem Abbasi who not only threatened to assault Alam physically, if the two ever get to meet, but also blasted BBC for their extremely silly mistake.
He told The Sun:“”My only media work was with Pakistan Television during the 1996 World Cup. If I ever find Nadeem Alam, I will punch him in the face for damaging the country’s reputation. The BBC is a big institution and surely they must check?”
Abbasi, 46, now coaches a team in Rawalpindi. BBC seemed to be aware of their mistake and apologized via their spokesman.” We apologize to the real Mr Abbasi and we will be looking seriously into what has happened.”
The incident has embarrassed and certainly put a question mark on the credibility of BBC, which is known throughout the world as one of the best news channels. The fact that a gigantic, silly error such as impersonation of another man went by undetected by such a professional organization, has left everyone baffled and laughing at BBC!