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How importers get scammed by Chinese suppliers

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Sourcing New SuppliersI have received more and more emails from importers who got scammed by a Chinese supplier. And it seems like I am not the only one to notice this trend.

A good article on the China Law Blog (China Scam Alert: The Different Company Bank Account. Again.) describes a typical case:

Chinese Company secures orders from foreign company. In the past, these orders were almost exclusively secured over the internet, but we have recently been hearing of many cases where the Chinese company actually goes to a trade fair (and not just in China) to secure its orders. Foreign Company starts feeling good about Chinese Company. The person who allegedly works for Chinese Company (I say allegedly because it is quite possible, nay, even probable, that the person at the trade fair who claims to be with Chinese Company actually has no connection with Chinese Company) speaks good English and is a quite reasonable person. The person who works for Chinese Company offers reasonable (but not amazing) prices and, most importantly, he or she (unlike most of their competitors) is willing to ship the product with only a minimal (typically 20% to 30%) down payment.

So foreign Company really likes Chinese Company, which has been responsive as all get out. Foreign Company then places a large order (to secure the greatest discount) with Chinese Company and then sends the money as instructed.

This is where the problem begins. The person who Foreign Company believes to work for Chinese Company instructs foreign company to send the funds to a bank account (oftentimes one outside China) that belongs either to an individual or to some company other than Chinese Company. The person who claims to work for Chinese Company usually says that Foreign Company must send the money to that other company for “tax reasons” or because that other company owns Chinese Company.

Foreign Company sends the money to Chinese Company and never receives a thing. It then wants to sue Chinese Company but it has a really tough case. It has a tough case because Chinese Company will claim that it never communicated with Foreign Company and it certainly never contracted with Foreign Company either. Foreign Company has a great lawsuit against the actual scammer, but by this point the actual scammer is, of course, nowhere to be found.

So, how to avoid scams?

  • Make sure they are not “two guys in an office”. If you can’t visit them, pay for a factory audit or for a background check.
  • Avoid suppliers that don’t use a company email address. Some legitimate suppliers use @yahoo.com.cn or @163.cn addresses, but generally it is not a good sign.
  • Call the number you see on their website and ask to talk to your contact (bad sign if you try 3 times and they never understand your English).
  • Google [the company’s name + scam]. If you find several complaints from other buyers, be careful.
  • Pay the first order by letter of credit, if possible.
  • Only wire money to a company account, and to the account of the supplier.
  • Issue a purchase order, and get it chopped by the supplier.

Oh, and please note that being a “gold supplier” on Alibaba does not mean anything. Some companies have been gold suppliers for years and still scam importers.

Comments

  1. Zhejiang Bode Industrial Co., Ltd.
    PROFORMA INVOICE
    Proforma Invoice Number:ZJJHHD20130318027
    Consignor：AlvinMa Consignee: TyroneMullins
    Address: Changcheng Industry Zone, Yongkang
    City, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
    Country: CHINA
    Address: 3250 Marbill Farm Roa
    Montgomery, Illinois 60538 United States
    Country: United States
    Phone (contact): 86-15018937621 Phone (contact): 1-630 888 1892
    PAYMENT TERM: ADVANCED PAYMENT 50%，T/T
    Payment Via Bank Transfer

  2. Thanks for your re3ply. Is there any one who is trying to get these scammers to either refund their

    money, or get them prosecuted?

    • In the absence of a legally enforceable contract (in China), forget it. And it is even more unrealistic if you have paid to a personal account.

  3. If you have international calling plan, here is the # to the bank…0018602083338080. The BOC in NY sent this to me. I’m not giving up on this scammer. He has blocked the email address, so I can’t email him. I’m using other email addresses, but I’m simply ignored. It’s not about the money, but if I can show him that you will pay for your wrong doings, then that’s sufficient enough.

  5. if you are dealing with a new supplier, how do you minimize the risk that they ship a bad/fraudulent shipment? best way would be to have part of the payment (say 20-30%) made after goods are received and inspected by the buyer but i note a lot of chinese suppliers want 100% f.o.b. when they deliver to your freight forwarder.

    one option would be to be present in-person at factory to do quality inspection and seeing for yourself the goods getting on a truck arranged by your own shipping agent?

    just wanted to know what is generally the practice to reduce this type of risk as i’m new to this and am a bit concerned after reading all the scam/fraud stories from china.

    • Generally, the buyer inspects the products (or has a third-party QA firm do it for him) in the factory, when 100% is packed.
      Supervising the loading of the goods is mostly useless if you have done a proper final inspection. Cases of scam at that point (swapping the goods and shipping bricks, for example) very seldom happen in China.

  7. Has anybody used this company or a shipping company call Guarantee trust shipping line? As I am having problems with extra charges on scooters I ordered.

    • Did you work with them in FOB terms? Or did the supplier sell the goods to you in CIF and use this shipping company?

  8. Please be careful with fake Chinese supplier, company named China Greatwall Petroleum and Chemical (sounds big!). Scammer Bill Yu (using name Bill Zhou, we suppose his real name is Zhou Guangzhe) is using two more companies Aoer and Servetal Industrial. As we checked none of them has real address, also fake line phone numbers. Only two, three mobiles are connected with him. He offered my customer PP and PE raw material. They ordered 3 containers. His company was using fake documents and fake license. They loaded contianers with cheap industrial salt. He stole 77000 USD. Please check our website to find out more and see photos at https://www.greatwallpetroleum.com , his fake companies are registered on many b2b websites like made-in-china.com , ecvv.com , ttnet.com , hktdc.com , ec21.com and so on, even some USA and India b2b databases. Be careful!

  9. Can anyone tell me about hostrader(WUHAN HOSTRADER CO. LTD.) based in Wuhan,china … Is this company reliable and honest ?? Or this company is fruad or scam ??

    They has offer me memory cards SD cards on very cheap rates .. Please tell me that they are honest or they are fruad ??