RESIDENTS in west Belfast have been warned to be on guard against bogus callers posing as collectors for the National Graves Association.
The NGA maintains republican graves throughout Belfast and is the organiser of the largest Easter Commemoration parade in the city.
In recent days Sinn Féin and the Beechmount Residents Collective have warned that callers claiming to be from the association were attempting to obtain money from residents.
Several social media users said a man and a woman, carrying images of the 1981 Maze hunger strikers, had called to their door since the weekend appealing for money on behalf of the organisation.
In a post on Facebook, Beechmount Sinn Féin said: "We've been contacted by residents regarding a male and female holding a door to door collection in the area claiming to be from the National Graves Association."
Urging residents not to hand over money the post continued: "These people are not the NGA, they are bogus callers that are seeking to capitalise off the back of the vibrant and equally generous republican community in our area.
"Their motive is not to fundraise to maintain the graves of our patriot dead or any other NGA event, it is personal profit."
