ICEP Holocaust money

The Holocaust is being used as a lure to steal money from the greedy in this version of an advance fee fraud scam.

A letter or email arrives from a person claiming to be a member of the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons (ICEP).

ICEP conducted a major investigation of Swiss bank accounts to identify dormant bank accounts probably or possibly owned by victims of Nazi persecution. It published a list of these account holders in 2001 and 2005, to allow the victims or their heirs to claim the money.

The email goes onto to explain that the Claims Resolution Tribunal is responsible for processing all claims on these accounts.

The email states that the ICEP member has found a dormant account holding millions of US dollars.  The account holder was killed in the Holocaust and no heirs exist. Unless claimed, the money will be transferred into the Swiss Treasury.

The ICEP member claims to know secret details and necessary contacts to get a person validated as a claimant. The ICEP member needs a partner outside of Switzerland to process the claims and will give you 40 per cent of the money.

Like all good scams, this has a grain of truth in it. The ICEP and the Claims Resolution Tribunal exist. Check out the tribunal website at www.crt-ii.org. The letter writer has also used the name of a legitimate ICEP member.

However this is where fact ends and fantasy begins.

The Holocaust victims mentioned are not on the list of account holders and, anyway, the deadline for these claims has closed.

If you respond to these emails, the scammers will start requesting money to process the claims and before you know it, you will have handed over thousands of dollars with no hope of getting any money back.