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Cruel email scam targets Holocaust 'heirs'

May 13, 2010 12:58

ByRobyn Rosen, Robyn Rosen

1 min read

An email fraudster has been targeting the community claiming that people with the same surnames as Holocaust victims can collect millions of dollars.

The email tells the recipient there is a dormant bank account belonging to a Holocaust victim with the same name, and urges them to reply within seven days to receive the funds.

The writer claims to be an executive director at the Swiss Banks Settlement, which in reality retrieved $1.25 billion from Swiss banks in 1998. The banks had retained and concealed assets of Holocaust victims.

The settlement was distributed among survivors, slave-labourers, those who had assets looted by Nazis, and the heirs of those who had deposited money in Swiss banks and had not been repaid.