Receiving funds with MT103

[Moh1]

Well known scam which many of the Nigerian scammers are doing very often. They fake a person, even pictures and video so you believe it is the person sitting in front of you behind the webcam. Once you send them money they keep approaching you until you don't send more money.

 

[Igemon]

Unbelievable. So there really are at least a few folks who send money to complete strangers and hope to get them back?

 

[Martin Everson]

The problem is these scammer guys know who to target. They communicate with small deliberate spelling mistakes in emails and bad grammar. The logic is that if someone engages after reading the poor quality of the communication then that person has to be a fool or not diligent and they can begin the scam .

You can ask them for different documents and they will produce them all (fake of course). They even use other people to front the scam with a promise of a large cut of the proceeds. Just never engage or reply to anyone talking MTXXX nonsense.

 

[erni]

I never heard of this before. There are scams in all angels of this live it seems.

 

[bobbychow]

We had a proposal to receive funds for investment via MT103 and MT202. The sum is large. Is it safe to receive such payments via SWIFT? How can we protect ourselves? Where is the catch?

I had the same issue. I was potentially doing an import business and they "buyer" wanted to use the same terms. I heard of SWIFT but never MT etc....

 

[erni]

believe this is a "hidden" scam which not many know about, even better some posted about here.

 

[bobbychow]

"

believe this is a "hidden" scam which not many know about, even better some posted about here.

'hidden' scam? check my post

Question - Need advice about potential business- New to the language "SWIFT MT etc..." involved

Hello everyone! First and foremost, what a great site! A plethora of great info: Here is the short story. I have known this person for over 15 years and he lives overseas. We had the same condo in DR and we moved apart but kept in touch. I was at his wedding and knew his family so when he...

www.offshorecorptalk.com

can you help me with this?

 

[GiGoGo]

I wasted so much time with MT103 scams. Basically these transactions in some banks appear as deposited but later on can be cancelled.

 

[mronewtwo777]

Add here VisaNet as well here is a good info for those who leave in "imaginary world" this is my personal experience.

Offshore business bank account with Visanet

Hello everyone, Does any one here have a clue about Visanet ? I'd like to open an Offshore business account and i want to be able to perform Visanet transaction. So if someone here has ever experienced working to that, Need more informations

www.offshorecorptalk.com

 

[bobbychow]

I wasted so much time with MT103 scams. Basically these transactions in some banks appear as deposited but later on can be cancelled.

Stupid question: how can someone recall a wire ? I didn't know that was possible. I thought a wire transfer is confirmed or sent it can't not be retrieved? I apologize for my ignorance..

 

[Coin]

Stupid question: how can someone recall a wire ? I didn't know that was possible. I thought a wire transfer is confirmed or sent it can't not be retrieved? I apologize for my ignorance..

I would like to know that too. I had it happen multiple times that someone tried to "recall" the wire. Request to refund the wire was sent to my bank and bank asked me whether I agree to refund it or not. If I did not agree then bank would freeze funds from the transfer for some time, ask me for details about the transactions and eventually unfreeze the funds.

The same thing can be done with SEPA transfers and bank handles it the exact same ways. It happened to me 10+ times and I never lost the money.

It could work different way in other countries I'm not really sure but in my country banks can't move your funds without your approval. The only way for sender to reclaim the wire would be to take you to court and of course he'd have to win the case.

But again that's just my experience and banks in different country could take different approach.

 

[Martin Everson]

I wasted so much time with MT103 scams. Basically these transactions in some banks appear as deposited but later on can be cancelled.

Yup a lot of time money appears on your account from an account that has been compromised. Real customer recognizes this and wire recall is requested to your banks. Basically these cyber criminals use your account as a mule to pass through stolen money. Be careful. A lot of people used to send stolen funds to Bunq. They used to have next to no compliance controls back in the day and money that came on an account could be sent onwards instantly.

 

[bobbychow]

Martin E!! You are the man. Thank ya again..

 

[mronewtwo777]

This is called money laundering. All these schemes are idiotic, silly and full of pile of s**t. Leave this people alone they believe in legends, unicorns, fairtailes.

 

[bizniz]

Yes, MT103 is the basic standard SWIFT message for sending wire transfers. Everybody with a normal bank account can accept MT103 without any special arrangements.

But when people start using these terms they are normally scammers. For sure they will be talking about prime banks, SBLCs, etc and sending millions of dollars for no good reason. Then you can be sure it is a fraud.

 

[Dubsize]

Unfortunately, lots of misleading information here - I see that almost no one understands something in how a money transfer works.

your former banker speaking.

let's talk about "money transfer"

1. You are sending money from country x to y and one of this country is not from the E.U, then the wire is sent by SWIFT. The swift message type used to transfer money is an MT103.
2. You are sending money from country x to y and both countries are inside the U.E? then the money transfer is made by SEPA. outside of the SWIFT messaging system
3. You are sending money from the U.S, inside the U.S? then you have two options: 1. ACH (takes 3 days to arrive) - 2. Wire (should arrive same day)
4. There used to be another way called T/T (telegraphic transfer) in the past (the grandfather of SWIFT) - still used in east Asia but tends to disappear.

basically, every time you guys are sending money as described in point 1, your bank is sending a message swift type MT103 - are you all scammers? well I don't think so.
by the way, respectable banks provide you a copy of the MT103 they sent. it shows the sender, the receiver, the currency, the amount, the value date, the beneficiary, the corresponding bank used etc...ask your bank for the MT103 copy next time you send a payment to someone !
In any case, talking about scam when someone mentions MT103 is funny... then all bank's employee should be in jail!

now, let's talk about recalling a wire.

Technically, a bank that issued a payment, can ask the receiving bank to return the wire. they can ASK. they can't take it back on their own.
imagine one second the number of people that would recall their wire. the all system of sending money would collapse:
I am sending you US$ 10,000.00 - you are shipping my products and hop ! I am recalling the wire. no... please... does not make any sense.

Recalling a wire is a procedure that most bank will not do, why ? simple.

why would a bank recall a wire ?

1. just because you changed your mind ? no, they will not do it. it's enough for them to start this procedure
2. because the information you provided had a mistake ? (beneficiary's name, beneficiary's bank account number?) they will not recall the wire. they will wait for the receiving bank to return it. in any case, this money will not show in the beneficiary's bank account, the receiving bank will return it without crediting the beneficiary's bank account.
3. you made a mistake in the amount ? you wired 10,000 instead of 1,000 ? well, they could start a recall procedure but it would need to be accepted by the beneficiary. this kind of mistake are very unlikely to happened as you have several lawyer of validation when making a wire.
4. the banker's made a mistake ? yes, they will start a recall procedure, but again it must be approved by the beneficiary and the beneficiary's bank. It's very unlikely that a banker will make a mistake.

I hope these technical explanation makes it clearer in your minds.

someone even mentioned MT760 as a scam. an MT760 is a bank guarantee or a Standby letter of credit. it's used as a collateral or in trade finance transaction. why would this be a scam? it's dedicated to people involved in import/export business.

it's better not throwing the word scam after any concept we don't know/don't understand.

now, regarding the scam part.

people turn anything into a scam. paying by credit card can be a scam, paying by cash can be a scam... buying a counterfeit product, buying a defective car, contracting someone to do renovation in your house can be a scam... absolutely anything can be turned into a scam.

Why would someone send you millions of dollar for no reason? Especially someone you ‘met’ online ? why would you receive money from someone, keep a cut and wire the money somewhere else?

Common sense should always be leading your mind.

A client offers you to pay by mt103 ? then why not ? he’s offering to pay by money transfer. let him initiate the wire, see the money in your account. double check with your bank that money is in, calling them if you want to. once you see money then do the work you were paid for.

Someone is asking you to send money for him to send you money after? then it's obviously some bulls**t scam... why would you pay someone first that wants to pay you? Stay away and don't do it. common sense... always.

also, ppl offering crazy amounts, often, higher than their country's GDP... stay away.

 

[mronewtwo777]

Mt103/23 - The Sender Scam

Scammers con people into believing that there is such a thing as a "conditional" Mt103 named a Mt103/23. They claim that with a "conditional" Mt103/23 the beneficiaries bank will not release the funds to the beneficiaries account until the beneficiary completes specific documents or the sender has provided confirmation that the funds can be released by the Beneficiaries bank to the beneficiary.
The truth is..... The Mt103 is NOT designed for ANY type of conditional transaction and you CANNOT send a Mt103 or a Mt103/23 with any type of condition attached!

The Field 23 Instruction Code used to be used where the sending bank (at the request of the sender) puts a simple code instructing the beneficiaries bank how to effect payment. Field 23 is VERY LIMITED and is designed solely for basis short text like: "Telephone Beneficiary on Receipt" or "Credit Account Immediately". There was no space to enter "conditions". So there was NO POSSIBLE WAY to send a Mt103/23 or a Mt103 with any type of "condition"

Transactions that involve the conditional release of documents are administered by lawyers, escrow and trustees, NOT BY BANKS!

Today Field 23 is no longer used and any reference to a Mt103/23 is false. That field is now defunct and no longer used by ANY Bank. Today any person offering you a Mt103/23 transaction is committing fraud by offering an impossible transaction that has no technical way of ever being keyed into the SWIFT System.

 

[samarasekarawire]

Unfortunately, lots of misleading information here - I see that almost no one understands something in how a money transfer works.

your former banker speaking.

let's talk about "money transfer"

1. You are sending money from country x to y and one of this country is not from the E.U, then the wire is sent by SWIFT. The swift message type used to transfer money is an MT103.
2. You are sending money from country x to y and both countries are inside the U.E? then the money transfer is made by SEPA. outside of the SWIFT messaging system
3. You are sending money from the U.S, inside the U.S? then you have two options: 1. ACH (takes 3 days to arrive) - 2. Wire (should arrive same day)
4. There used to be another way called T/T (telegraphic transfer) in the past (the grandfather of SWIFT) - still used in east Asia but tends to disappear.

basically, every time you guys are sending money as described in point 1, your bank is sending a message swift type MT103 - are you all scammers? well I don't think so.
by the way, respectable banks provide you a copy of the MT103 they sent. it shows the sender, the receiver, the currency, the amount, the value date, the beneficiary, the corresponding bank used etc...ask your bank for the MT103 copy next time you send a payment to someone !
In any case, talking about scam when someone mentions MT103 is funny... then all bank's employee should be in jail!

now, let's talk about recalling a wire.

Technically, a bank that issued a payment, can ask the receiving bank to return the wire. they can ASK. they can't take it back on their own.
imagine one second the number of people that would recall their wire. the all system of sending money would collapse:
I am sending you US$ 10,000.00 - you are shipping my products and hop ! I am recalling the wire. no... please... does not make any sense.

Recalling a wire is a procedure that most bank will not do, why ? simple.

why would a bank recall a wire ?

1. just because you changed your mind ? no, they will not do it. it's enough for them to start this procedure
2. because the information you provided had a mistake ? (beneficiary's name, beneficiary's bank account number?) they will not recall the wire. they will wait for the receiving bank to return it. in any case, this money will not show in the beneficiary's bank account, the receiving bank will return it without crediting the beneficiary's bank account.
3. you made a mistake in the amount ? you wired 10,000 instead of 1,000 ? well, they could start a recall procedure but it would need to be accepted by the beneficiary. this kind of mistake are very unlikely to happened as you have several lawyer of validation when making a wire.
4. the banker's made a mistake ? yes, they will start a recall procedure, but again it must be approved by the beneficiary and the beneficiary's bank. It's very unlikely that a banker will make a mistake.

I hope these technical explanation makes it clearer in your minds.

someone even mentioned MT760 as a scam. an MT760 is a bank guarantee or a Standby letter of credit. it's used as a collateral or in trade finance transaction. why would this be a scam? it's dedicated to people involved in import/export business.

it's better not throwing the word scam after any concept we don't know/don't understand.

now, regarding the scam part.

people turn anything into a scam. paying by credit card can be a scam, paying by cash can be a scam... buying a counterfeit product, buying a defective car, contracting someone to do renovation in your house can be a scam... absolutely anything can be turned into a scam.

Why would someone send you millions of dollar for no reason? Especially someone you ‘met’ online ? why would you receive money from someone, keep a cut and wire the money somewhere else?

Common sense should always be leading your mind.

A client offers you to pay by mt103 ? then why not ? he’s offering to pay by money transfer. let him initiate the wire, see the money in your account. double check with your bank that money is in, calling them if you want to. once you see money then do the work you were paid for.

Someone is asking you to send money for him to send you money after? then it's obviously some bulls**t scam... why would you pay someone first that wants to pay you? Stay away and don't do it. common sense... always.

also, ppl offering crazy amounts, often, higher than their country's GDP... stay away.

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