12.05.2026 - Whether it's an inheritance, a lottery win or a generous donation, you're told that all you need to do to access the promised money is pay a few fees in advance. What may sound tempting at first turns out, on closer inspection, to be a classic advance-fee scam. This scam is nothing new. Criminals have been deceiving their victims in this way for centuries. The reason it is still successful today is largely due to its constant adaptability. Scammers repeatedly draw on current topics and events to make their stories seem credible. Currently, cybercriminals are deliberately exploiting geopolitical crises to create an impression of legitimacy, build trust, and ultimately scam people out of money.
Advance-fee scams date back to the 16th century. In the "Spanish prisoner" scam, an alleged nobleman claimed to have been wrongfully imprisoned and unable to access his fortune. He asked the recipient to advance money to help secure his release, promising to reward them handsomely later. The same principle is still being used centuries later. Only the setting has changed: what used to be sent by letter now lands in email inboxes, professionally worded, personally addressed and, at first glance, barely distinguishable from a legitimate enquiry.
Geopolitical crises as a backdrop for scams
The NCSC has received reports of scammers posing as wealthy businesspeople from crisis regions – currently including Iran and the Gulf states – who claim to urgently need to transfer money abroad. These messages typically follow a similar pattern: the supposed sender describes a dangerous situation in their region, emphasises the urgency of the matter, and states that the recipient has been specifically selected due to their impressive background. They are asked to act as a partner in carrying out important projects and are promised generous compensation in return.
The messages are personalised and written in a professional and serious tone. They contain no obvious spelling mistakes, are coherent in terms of content, and at first glance appear to be genuine business enquiries. Given the current geopolitical tensions being reported in the media every day, many recipients find the situation described understandable and plausible. This is precisely what makes this type of advance-fee scam so insidious.
How it works
As soon as the recipient responds to the initial message, a carefully orchestrated process begins. First, the scammers build trust by maintaining regular contact, sharing seemingly confidential information, and promising a lucrative partnership. Once trust has been established, they make their demand for advance payments to cover supposed fees, taxes, legal costs or administrative expenses, which they claim are necessary to enable the money transfer or formalise the partnership.
Once the initial payment has been made, new obstacles emerge, along with fresh demands for money. The promised payout is pushed further and further into the future, while the demands for payment keep coming. But the promised fortune does not exist. The only aim of the cybercriminals is to get as many advance payments as possible before cutting off contact.
Why victims keep paying
Scammers specifically design their messages to trigger emotions such as greed and hope, or the feeling that you are in the right place at the right time. If you believe that you are on the verge of a significant windfall, the initial fee may seem insignificant compared to how much money you stand to gain, so you might not hesitate to pay it. This is exactly what cybercriminals are counting on.
Once the first payment has been made, another mechanism comes into play: if you have already invested money, you do not want to write it off. The more you have paid, the stronger your hope becomes that you will eventually get what was promised. This is known as the sunk cost fallacy. Cybercriminals deliberately exploit this by inventing ever more obstacles and fees to pressure victims into making further payments. The deeper you have been drawn into a scam, the harder it is to cut your losses and break off contact with the criminals.
Recommendations
- Ignore such messages.
- If you have already made contact, end all communication immediately and do not make any payments.
- If you made a payment, immediately contact the bank through which you made it. They may be able to stop the payment.
- If you have suffered a financial loss, we recommend that you report it to the police. You can find your nearest police station on the Suisse ePolice website (available in German, French and Italian).
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Last modification 12.05.2026
