Fake MT103 / pacs.008 PDFs: how to verify authenticity
Scams & Fraud
By Ohmyfin Organisation Editorial Team · Published 2026-05-22 · Updated 2026-05-22
In any given month Ohmyfin sees thousands of UETR lookups for what turn out to be fabricated MT103 PDFs sent by scammers to victims. The pattern is consistent and the verification is fast — once you know what to look for.
Check 1: format. A real MT103 has colon-prefixed numbered fields (:20:, :32A:, :50K:, :57A:, :59:, :70:, :71A:, :121:). Fake MT103s often invent fields, miss mandatory ones (no :121:!), or mix formats.
Check 2: UETR present and well-formed. Real MT103s since November 2018 have a UETR in field 121 — 36-character UUIDv4 with four hyphens in fixed positions. Missing or malformed = fake.
Payment Located
SWIFT GPI Network · Real-time status
Payment Not Found
No record found in SWIFT GPI or any correspondent banking data
Fraud Awareness Notice
If you received a payment document from a third party, verify directly with your own bank before releasing goods or funds. Fake MT103 / pacs.008 confirmations are widely used in advance-fee scams. See our fraud guide →
Monitor for 7 Days — Free
We re-check every few hours and notify you the instant this payment appears — no account, no spam.
Watching — we'll email you the moment it appears.
Not sure what to do next?
Ask SwiftMate, our SWIFT assistant, for guidance on payment delays, rejections, and next steps.
Payments can appear hours after initiation — try again later
Check 3: UETR resolvable. Paste the UETR on Ohmyfin or any other public tracker. Real recent UETRs resolve. Persistent "not found" plus a payment that "should" be visible = fake (or out of the 124-day window — but most fakes are dated recently).
Check 4: bank brand consistency. Real bank confirmations match the bank's actual letterhead, colour palette, contact details, footer disclaimer language. Compare against any genuine confirmation you have from that bank.
Check 5: verify via the bank directly. Call the bank shown on the confirmation using a number from their public website (NOT a number on the document). Ask them to confirm whether they sent the MT103 referenced.
Check 6: who is asking for money? If verifying the MT103 involves you paying anyone anything — a "release fee", a "tax", a "clearance certificate" — it is a scam. Legitimate inbound MT103s require zero payment from the recipient to release.
Key takeaways
Colon-prefixed numbered fields — no fields = fake.
UETR (field 121) — missing/malformed = fake.
UETR resolvable on a public tracker — persistent not-found is suspect.
Bank brand consistency — phone the bank to verify.
Anyone asking you for money to "release" the wire = scam.
Frequently asked questions
A friend sent me an "MT103" showing they paid me — should I trust it?
Trust only what is in your bank account. An MT103 PDF is just a piece of paper anyone can fabricate. Wait for the credit to land.
Can the scammers fake a UETR that actually resolves?
They can pick a real UETR from someone else's legitimate payment, but then the tracker shows that other payment — different amount, different parties — which itself is the giveaway.
My bank confirmed the payment was not sent — how do I prove it to the other party?
Ask your bank for a written statement. That + the absence of credit in your account is conclusive proof.
Should I report fake MT103 fraud?
Yes — to your local police cybercrime unit. In the US: IC3.gov. In the UK: Action Fraud. In the EU: Europol via national contact.
Payment Located
SWIFT GPI Network · Real-time status
Payment Not Found
No record found in SWIFT GPI or any correspondent banking data
Fraud Awareness Notice
If you received a payment document from a third party, verify directly with your own bank before releasing goods or funds. Fake MT103 / pacs.008 confirmations are widely used in advance-fee scams. See our fraud guide →
Monitor for 7 Days — Free
We re-check every few hours and notify you the instant this payment appears — no account, no spam.
Watching — we'll email you the moment it appears.
Not sure what to do next?
Ask SwiftMate, our SWIFT assistant, for guidance on payment delays, rejections, and next steps.
Payments can appear hours after initiation — try again later