Supplier Fraud & Global Trade: 2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Recover Funds from a Fraudulent Supplier

We offer Supplier Verification Reports to help importers and people sourcing from overseas to avoid being defrauded. Nevertheless, we frequently receive emails from buyers who have already sent funds to a fraudulent supplier. So, we've decided to try to offer assistance to buyers who have already been cheated. Learn more here: How to Report a Fraudulent Supplier (Scam Company)

Posted via email from isafetrade's posterous

Monday, April 19, 2010

On-Site Verification Services: Factory Audits, Product Inspection, and Quality Control

If you are sourcing products from Asia and you want a qualified verification agent to perform on-site inspection services, how do you find them and how do you find the right price?

At iSafeTrade.com, we're now offering a marketplace for services where you can receive bids and quotes from multiple, qualified service providers for on-site services. You will be sent quotes from each service provider and you can choose which one, if any, meet your needs. This is all provided to you entirely free of charge.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Alibaba Gold Supplier and TrustPass Impersonators

There are many examples of fraudulent suppliers with Alibaba Trustpass or Gold Supplier status (here, here, here). If these suppliers are supposed to verified by an third party verification service, then why are there so many scammers with this "trusted" status? Let me explain why this is happening...

Here is an example of a scam we try to detect:
1. A scammer finds a legally registered Chinese company which has been in business for many years but doesn't do foreign trade (and therefore doesn't have an Alibaba profile).
2. Obtains a copy of the Chinese business registration certificate and related documents (for example, by approaching the company as a prospective customer).
3. Sends this to Alibaba to obtain a Trustpass / Gold Supplier status in the name of that company.

An unsuspecting Western buyer then finds this Alibaba Gold Supplier and assumes it's safe to trade with given its Trustpass or Gold Supplier status. Only later do they discover the person who created the Alibaba profile was only impersonating as a real company. Alibaba's third party verification services don't really detect this. Alibaba's third party verification service just verifies that the company is legally registered and do not verify that the person requesting the Trustpas or Gold Supplier status really works for the company.

Learn more about iSafeTrade's Supplier Verification Reports