What tricks do those international criminals use in online foreign trade activities? The following is a summary of common tricks, hoping to serve as a warning to the majority of foreign trade enterprises.
1. Set up bait.
Foreign trade scammers will pretend to do big business, first through e-mail and MSN and other online communication tools, gradually communicate, gain enough trust from you, and then ask you to pay some fees first, such as translation fees, inspection fees in China, and other various items that you can accept. After receiving the money, some disappeared, and some people continued to ask you to remit money under various names until you wake up. For example, a Shanghai netizen revealed on the Alibaba forum: A person claiming to be a Nigerian government official contacted him and said that the Nigerian government would provide T-shirts for African refugees, a total of 950,000 T-shirts, a total of 650,000 US dollars, and said that it was possible to win the bid with his help. The official also kindly introduced a lawyer to him. However, before starting his work, the official asked him to pay $1,650 in lawyer fees. That is actually a typical scam of setting bait to defraud money, and everyone must be vigilant.
2. Karate.
Scammers take advantage of legal loopholes in some countries and defraud imported goods through formal channels, partially not paying or paying less. When the goods arrive in this country, they want to snatch the goods. During this time, it is not enough for you not to even be in their possession. For example, the Turkish Customs has an executive regulation: if the goods are not collected for more than 45 days, the customs has the right to confiscate and auction them, and the original consignee has the right to get the goods first. If Chinese companies are stupid and wait, they will buy the goods at a low price and then sell them at a high price. Since Chinese companies realize and want to recover the goods through the intervention of the Chinese government, they are blackmailed by freight forwarding companies: first let you pay fees such as storage fees, and then continue to set up some other obstacles and traps to slowly defraud the ransom you bring. In these countries, there is usually such a practice: first register a shell company, and then deceive customers’ goods to Turkish customs through companies on the Internet. However, when it comes to paying the full amount of the goods, the fraudulent company delays and delays payment for various reasons until the statutory deadline of the customs expires.
3. Contract.
The most common is the contract trap, where scammers often use the “legal” signs on the contract to deceive the other party.
4. Written contract.
Article 11 of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods stipulates that “sales contracts do not need to be concluded or evidenced in writing.” The trap setters use this as an excuse to argue that there is no need to sign a written contract, as long as both parties agree.
5. Use of money.
In international trade practice, many trap setters use the imperfections of certain clauses or create imperfect clauses to commit fraud, mainly in terms of quality clauses, claims clauses, guarantee clauses, liquidated damages clauses, etc.