Last reviewed: · Curated by Ohmyfin Organisation editorial.
A fake MT103 is a fabricated PDF or image made to look like a SWIFT payment confirmation, used by scammers to trick beneficiaries into releasing goods or services before any real payment is sent. Spot them by tracking the UETR on Ohmyfin — if the UETR returns 'not found' (and isn't recently sent or recalled), the document is fake.
Fake MT103s are extremely common in trade-finance, real-estate, automotive and high-value goods scams. The scammer often uses a real bank's letterhead and SWIFT field structure copied from a genuine MT103, then fabricates the routing and amount.
How to verify: paste the UETR (field 121) into the Ohmyfin tracker. If the payment is real and recently sent, you'll see live status. If the UETR is not in the SWIFT network, the document is fake.
Common signs of a fake: UETR doesn't match the 36-char format; UETR is missing entirely; field formatting is slightly wrong (extra spaces, incorrect block delimiters); sender pressures you to release goods immediately; sender uses webmail (gmail, outlook.com) instead of a corporate domain; bank named on the document doesn't match the BIC's actual location.
What to do if you receive one: do not release goods or services; report to your local fraud authority; if you have already shipped, report to the bank named on the document so they can flag it; warn your supply chain.
Ohmyfin runs a free public scam-alert hub — see /scam for ongoing alerts.
A fake MT103 is a fabricated PDF or image made to look like a SWIFT payment confirmation, used by scammers to trick beneficiaries into releasing goods or services before any real payment is sent. Spot them by tracking the UETR on Ohmyfin — if the UETR returns 'not found' (and isn't recently sent or recalled), the document is fake.
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