419 spammers use Holocaust to boost credibility

A spammer has bombarded at least 75,000 inboxes with an e-mail scam that offers recipients a share of US$35m from a World War II Holocaust victim's bank account, experts say.

In what appears to be similar to a Nigerian 419 scam, the fraudster has used legitimate organisations to plead his case. The supposed author, Ronald Lauder, said he was a member of Swiss organisation the Independent Committee of Eminent Persons (ICEP), which he said tracked down bank accounts that have been dormant since 1945.

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