How to deal with online scammers located in China?

Quoting from [Business in China]:


Replying to [lawyer_He]:


Good point!

Let's work together to fight against scammers in China. They really ruined the good image of reliable Chinese businessmen !

We hate scammers worldwide!

I GOT SCAMMED , IF ANTONE CAN TYPE CHINESE AND EMAIL THE POLICE FOR ME THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC PLEASE , AS IM VERY DISTRESSED I LOST 3749 us dollar to

Quoting from [Mihai]:


Hello,


I am Mihai a sale manager from a company named LMV MEDIA, Romania.

From the beginning of the year we are doing bussiness with suppliers from China.

In the last time we are focused on only 1 supplier. His name is MAC CON ASIA LIMITED.


MAC-CON ASIA LIMITED

Room 702, LiJingXuan, XianTongYuJing, GuoWei Road, LianTang, LuoHu District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Telephone: 86-755-2577-5980 , 86-755-2577-5925

Fax: 86-755-2577-5450


After 4 orders with mp3 players, baby monitors etc, we made on 18.10.2007 an order of 52 mp3 players.


When we received the goods we found the following problem.


We found in the packet the following goods:

1. 41 boxes of mp4 players (instead of 52 boxes)

- from which: 1. 10 boxes with everithing inside, player and accessories

2. 31 boxes just with accessories, player missing

2. 12 charger adaptor (which are not good for Romania)

3. 3 headphones

4. 9 player socks


So there are:

1. 11 boxes which are missing

2. 42 players which are missing

-------------------------------

Totaly the loss is arround 2200 USD



We contacted MAC CON ASIA LIMITED and from that moment our relation was practicaly stopped.

I only received from them the following information: "Wenxiang International Forwarder" stole the products and that all.

Mac Con is not answering to phone, to emails, to MSN. They let us with a loss of 2200 USD.


We can provide, and we provide also to MAC CON the following papers.


- a paper which was completed by EMS in CHINA with the weight 9.9 kilos, which i can mention is the same here in Romania 9.9 kilo. So the point is that the colet left from China with the goods missing.

- declaration of goods from customs (what we received, what is missing etc)

...etc


I mention also that we paid for shipping to be made with TNT, but MAC CON ASIA decide by themself to send the goods with EMS.



Mihai


LMV MEDIA

 

     i am sorry to hear that there  was something wrong in your trading with chinese supplier, to be frank , there are some scammer active in the foreigner trading ,however, there are still more honest suppliers who is diligent and intelligent to  serve for the buyer as you and contribute to the rising of  motherland. so to solve the problem you mentioned above,i personly suggests you do as following:

   1 chose the  tyoe of payment which is favorable for you,especilly deal with the new supplier.

   2 get more infomation like TEL or FAX about the supplier before giving the order,we can find out the supplier by TEL or FAX.

 3    if you can not come to China personly,you can consult the information from your embassy in China  or  ask someone who is in china to have a look.

 4 make a contract before paying to be as a proof  to get refund  from the supplier , but make sure that the contract is clear and no violation to the law or rule of china. Then, you can apply a lawsuit to against the defendant.

  i am in the hope of these suggestions above mentioned will be helpful for you and be carefull in the subsequent trading in China.

GOOD ARTICLE

BUT IS NOT ENOUGH , JUST TALKING .

ALIBABA IS NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT , WITH ALL THIS MONEY THEY MAKE , THEY SHOULD HIRE SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS TO PROTECT THERE USERS , BUYERS AND SELLERS ?!!

I EXPECT ALIBABA WILL SHUT DOWN SOON , IF THEY KEEP THIER SITE INFESTED WITH A VIRUS CALLED ((SCAMMER)) , SPREAD ALL OVER IT .

AND THIS GOLD SUPPLIER THING ?!!! , ITS A PIECE OF CRAB GIVEN TO EVERYONE INCLUDING SCAMMERS , AND THERE HAS BEEN CASES OF SCAMMERS THAT HAVE "GOLDEN SUPPLIER" THING ,

THAT'S WHAT I THINK .

WISHING ALIBABA WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT .

Great article.

But prevention is still better than cure.

Being scammed and then wasting money to chase down scammer is like being double scammed sometime. From experience it is not an effective solution. China is a very big place even if you do catch-up to them which is rarely, there is very little that can be gained.

As with any place with great opportunities there will always be those who will try to take advantage of it and exploit the weakness.

I am still amaze that so many are willing to do business with someone who they have never met and those who try to save the cost of an air ticket to visit their supplier. One scam can ruin years of hard work.

No one person or company can provide you with everything. Even Large corporation such as IBM, Boeing, Nike can not say they can produce everything. If this is the case, then why do so many people still trust those who claims that they can help you with everything or provide all of your sourcing needs?

Good to see that some people are trying to get even. But in my own personal opinion i still believe prevention is better than cure.

Quoting from [spaander]:


Replying to [lawyer_He]: hello, I like your article, for me personally, this article brings me at least 3 steps forwards in my efforts to deal with Chinese companies. But I also like to know the other way, Me selling something to a Chinese company, than travelling to them, signing an agreement and than........................nothing, only expenses and frust.


I have been to China to sell my products. I went to 2 different cities (Guilin and Zhen zhou). Not only I paid for airlines tickets (10 one way), hotels, gifts (cigarettes, alcohol, chocolate, I even gave the tie I was wearing that one VP (?) liked), I gave cash as well, and I had to buy a worthless painting that I was supposed to offer to the President when he shows up in the US. $35,000 later I can tell you that the Chinese Embassy in the USA did not want to get involved, and the US Embassy in China gave us the rule of thumb about suing in China. The scammers web sites have different names. They still scam people and there is no end to it. Scammers are available in the whole world. It seems that the US citizens are more vulnerable to get conned seen the structure of the way business is done in the US. I came back with $1.2 million contracts that will be a paper to hang on the wall. It the price of a hard learned lesson.