Case Description:

Mr. Thomas posted his resume on a website. Later, he received a job offer from a European trading company looking for US personnel to intermediate marketing transactions overseas. This company claimed to be a broker company through Alibaba.com. They also claimed that the job was to help their company collect payment in the US and that they would pay 10% commission to Mr. Thomas. The company sent him a business cheque, which Mr. Thomas deposited into his account. The European company then instructed him to purchase Western Union money orders, and send them to the UK and other locations in Europe. Some time later, Mr. Thomas's bank contacted him to inform him that the business cheque he had deposited was a fake. Unfortunately, Mr. Thomas had already paid the Western Union money order expenses and lost his money.

Analysis of this case:

1) This is an example of a cheque fraud scam that works on a massive scale. The fraudster will look for people to act as their so-called “representatives”. The “representatives” will then be asked to help them collect payments in various countries, and a high rate of commission will be promised as a reward.

2) The “representatives” will receive fake cheques to be deposited in their personal or business accounts. Often, these are written on blank cheque forms stolen from legitimate businesses. Once the cheque is deposited, the “representative” wires the money to a **** in another country. However, by the time the fake cheque bounces, the “representative’s” money is already out of the country and they are left to pick up the losses.

3) In this case, the European company claimed to be a broker company of Alibaba.com. In fact, they have no association with Alibaba.com, whatsoever. However, this didn’t stop the European company from conducting fraudulent activities in Alibaba’s name. If members suspect a company of fraud, they are suggested to check Alibaba’s partnership list at: http://www.alibaba.com/aboutalibaba/partner_list.html.

4) If your potential business partner claims to be a partner of Alibaba.com or they claim to have a special relationship with Alibaba.com, make sure you check the partnership list or contact our service team at alibaba@alibaba-inc.com to avoid any financial damage to your company.