This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade alerts pertaining to my particular product. However, on two occasions I was contacted by two prospective buyers; one from Benin and the other from Lome, Togo respectively. They sounded like serious buyers, very professional and knowledgeable about their market. They were very impressed with the price and the product. They requested Pro-Forma invoices outlining CIF and payment terms. Note carefully; the payment terms were T/T 50% down and balance due prior to shipping. Both buyers signed pro-forma and sent back saying they will pay T/T 100%. (1st reason to suspect a scam) However, one buyer told me the Product will need NAFDAC certification and the seller will have to pay for it, before his bank can release the funds. (2nd reason to suspect a scam). The other buyer requested a copy of our business registration before his bank can release funds; which I sent to them. Then, someone from the bank contacted me saying that I will need to get the copy of certificate legalized and gave instructions to contact a specific lawyer to get this done. (3rd reason to supsect a scam). I contacted this person, who then informed me that I will have to Western Union US$600 immediately. I informed the buyer that it would be best if he took care of all expenses in his country and my company will process his order as soon as funds are received for the goods. He insisted that I will have to pay, so I asked him to send a copy of his business certificate and his personal identification. He sent me a copy of his Passport. I have not seen many forgeries in my life time, but this was the worst fake ID I had ever seen, a baby could tell its a fake. I halted correspondence to this buyer right away and forwarded the emails to fraudwatchers.org. I was still communicating with the other buyer who was from Benin. I told him I could supply samples and water analysis report to him,however he will have to pay to get the certificate. He agreed. He told me about a lawyer who could get the certificate in two days. The lawyer contacted me and requested samples and gifts.(?) I sent the samples and gifts to the buyer who supposedly passed on to the lawyer. The buyer later informed me that the lawyer was charging $2500 to get the certificate and he only had $1500, so he was asking me to pay the balance of $800 which was due after the lawyer received it. I started doing some research, I contacted the Chamber of Commerce. Two days later; the buyer claimed that the certificate was ready and I should Western Union $800 to the lawyer immediately. I informed the buyer that I prefered T/T and furthermore my company will not release any payments until I have confirmed his legitimacy. He got very angry saying $800 was a small amount of money and he was going to be sending a huge sum to my account and they will have to visit my country before the order is shipped. I informed him that I had no objections to them visiting, its only natural that they would want to make sure the product was up to standard before its shipped. I put in a phone call to the their local Chamber of Commerce and the person I spoke with said yes they had received my faxed enquiry and yes the the buyer was registered but they could not verify whether the business was active. He further advised me to not send any money to them until they can be certain. He also recommended that i ask the buyer to visit the chamber which I did. However, the buyer emailed me back and said he went to the chamber and no one by that name was working there and they had no clue about what he was talking about. I called back the person at the chamber and he to told me that the buyer must be lying because he did not visit them. He also advised me that he suspected a scam and I should not send them any money. So I emailed the buyer and told him the Chamber advised me against paying them so if he was still interested in purchasing my product, he should pay the lawyer and get the funds released so I can process his order. He informed me that he will have to put the transaction on hold so he can cancel a grant he was getting from the bank and get back his 40% deposit after which he can pay the lawyer and other debts and he will contact me in about two months to resume the transaction.


There are other details which I have left out, however there were so many clues which led me to believe these buyers are fake, yet I ignored the clues and continue communicating with them. The good thing is I did not pay them, but I did send them Product samples, T-Shirts, Caps and CD's.


Please beware of these fake buyers.

good guy , you are so carful and experienced, tks for sharing  

Quoting from [Business in China]:

Quoting from [Life]:



This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade alerts pertaining to my particular product. However, on two occasions I was contacted by two prospective buyers; one from Benin and the other from Lome, Togo respectively. They sounded like serious buyers, very professional and knowledgeable about their market. They were very impressed with the price and the product. They requested Pro-Forma invoices outlining CIF and payment terms. Note carefully; the payment terms were T/T 50% down and balance due prior to shipping. Both buyers signed pro-forma and sent back saying they will pay T/T 100%. (1st reason to suspect a scam) However, one buyer told me the Product will need NAFDAC certification and the seller will have to pay for it, before his bank can release the funds. (2nd reason to suspect a scam). The other

One of my Chinese friends also met a similar situation before. It is said that Benin and Nigerial has the most scams in Africa. Take care, every body!

It's a sad day when legit business people can't go to a forum and be able to conduct business on good faith without having to be worried. I am very new to this site, not even a month yet. My first transaction has turned out to be a huge disappointment. I thought that if I stuck to suppliers who were either "Gold" or "Trust" that these people had earned that designation and could be trusted.

I entered into a business agreement with someone with that designation and have NOT heard one thing from this person. Needless to say this who experience has totally left me with NOT wanting to do business with anyone on this site due to this one person. All I wanted were two blackberry units, all I end up with is being out of pocket and totally untrusting.

My only hope is that the Dispute process here is going to result in something being done and if not I intend to spread all the details I have of this person everywhere...including his ip address (assuming that is real) and anything else I can find on him.

I am very angry about this.

Quoting from[Life]:




This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade alerts pertaining to my particular product. However, on two occasions I was contacted by two prospective buyers; one from Benin and the other from Lome, Togo respectively. They sounded like serious buyers, very professional and knowledgeable about their market. They were very impressed with the price and the product. They requested Pro-Forma invoices outlining CIF and payment terms. Note carefully; the payment terms were T/T 50% down and balance due prior to shipping. Both buyers signed pro-forma and sent back saying they will pay T/T 100%. (1st reason to suspect a scam) However, one buyer told me the Product will need NAFDAC certification and the seller will have to pay for it, before his bank can release the funds. (2nd reason to suspect a scam). The other

NAFDAC certificates are required in Nigeria for regulated products (just like the FDA approval in the US). However, it is the responsibility of the importer (buyer) to procure this certificate locally and no seller should have to pay a dime for this. The seller is however required to provide documentations (like certificate of analysis) that will enable the buyer register the products and procure the certificate before the goods can be sold in the local market.

Generally, I would never agree to paying any money to a buyer for whatever purpose. Sellers send products while buyers send money or has the rule changed?

Quoting from [Business in China]:

Quoting from [Life]:



This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade alerts pertaining to my particular product. However, on two occasions I was contacted by two prospective buyers; one from Benin and the other from Lome, Togo respectively. They sounded like serious buyers, very professional and knowledgeable about their market. They were very impressed with the price and the product. They requested Pro-Forma invoices outlining CIF and payment terms. Note carefully; the payment terms were T/T 50% down and balance due prior to shipping. Both buyers signed pro-forma and sent back saying they will pay T/T 100%. (1st reason to suspect a scam) However, one buyer told me the Product will need NAFDAC certification and the seller will have to pay for it, before his bank can release the funds. (2nd reason to suspect a scam). The other

One of my Chinese friends also met a similar situation before. It is said that Benin and Nigerial has the most scams in Africa. Take care, every body!

Hi, I'm new to this, and I hear you all. I also received an email from Douala Cameroon. has anyone ever had dealings with a company named Ets Fibre Roi? How do i go abouts investigating their legitimacy? They also said that I would be paid through T/T 100%. And after I was awarded a government contract and monies received on my part I should pay them 2% of the invoice for the lead. Does this sound fishy to anyone? What should I look out for?

Any tips for the Newbie?

Thanks for listening.

Jorge Robledo- Robleczyk Trading Co.

P.S  What's wrong with being an Agent?

Our company are specializing in manufacturing grinding wheels,hangers and sewing machine. if you are interet our product.  please contact us. www.qytrading.com

Quoting from [Angel Jiang]:

Thank you for this information.   It is good to know that there are good honest chinese suppliers.  

I am a first time buyer of from a hong kong supplier by the name of:

HK Youngchangshun LTD. who are Gold Suppliers and Trust pass holders with Alibaba. 

I requested a sample of an HP touchscreen PC IQ506 and they forwarded me a pro forma invoice for the 1 sample including shipping.   Pricing is good.   However the payment terms are 50% T/T in advance and 50% after I recieve the sample.  

Is this a legitimate deal?

 

 

 

Quoting from [Life]:



This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade

 

I just met similar defraud last week. A buyer from the US inquired about PVC blisters; I quoted a high price as per his sample as the order qtty is only 30000pcs; and the payment Terms is T/T 50% down and balance due prior to shipping with tooling cost 100% prepaid.. He accepted both price  and payment terms immediately; and asked me to send him Proforma Invoice so that he could arrange payment. After I sent him Proforma Invoice, he told me there would be a strike at the Oakland Port and warned me we must deliver the goods before June 13th., which means we only have 2 days for production. I told him that's beyond our ability to deliver the goods within such short time; he responded as "you could just arrange production and wait my notation to deliver the goods". I think it's good way for both of the 2 sides, yet, we still need him to issue the PO and arrange prepayment. Hearing that, he did not answer me. 2 days later, he asked me to arrange production immediately and he would transfer the payment the next day. I said, it's ok, we can wait for 1 more day as we have materials on hand. No money entered our account at all. I asked but got no answer. Then he suddenly asked me to contact with his shipping agent in Shanghai to arrange shipment(sounds like a joke, huh?). I was so surprised and funny. I asked him: What for? We have no PO, no prepayment, no production... Then he got madly angry, blaming me as an "idiot" and told me I had much to learn. Hearing these dirty words, I just felt funny as it's such obvious defraud he's made. I told him, if I were not "idiot", I will help him to become a scammer. He got more angry, and shouted on the phone that "I would pay, yet I just need you to deliver the goods at the moment". See, no strike any more?? Wow, it's interesting. I'm sorry for poor old Jim.

Some scammers take advantages of Chinese suppliers' desirousness to develop new clients and markets, pretending to be very much mighty and insistent. No, they look down on Chinese suppliers but they're wrong. We're cautious as they are!

Much thanks.

Quoting from [kdcelectronicsinternational]:

The below situation sounds legitimate enough.  Do your due diligence and trust your instinct.

Thank you for this information.   It is good to know that there are good honest chinese suppliers.  

I am a first time buyer of from a hong kong supplier by the name of:

HK Youngchangshun LTD. who are Gold Suppliers and Trust pass holders with Alibaba. 

I requested a sample of an HP touchscreen PC IQ506 and they forwarded me a pro forma invoice for the 1 sample including shipping.   Pricing is good.   However the payment terms are 50% T/T in advance and 50% after I recieve the sample.  

Is this a legitimate deal?

 

 

 

Quoting from [Life]:




This is my first year as a member of Alibaba.com. I have responded to most trade

 

Quoting from [michaeltaller]:

Quoting from [grigo]:

Replying To  [Life]:

I take my hat off to you.



You certainly were cautious enough and checked things out, otherwise these scammers would have taken you for everything they could have taken you.



Let this be a Warning to everyone else out there, and make SURE you do your Due Diligence BEFORE parting with your money, especially via Western Union.



I have stuck this topic to the  top and recommended it as very well worth reading.

Hello,

How do I make a complaint against a Gold Supplier for stealing my Money?


Fraud, Etc..

 The company name is:


(name of the thief)


   Helen Yuan

Everest Digital Technology Co., Ltd.

Gold Supplier in Alibaba


 

http://Everest.En.Alibaba.com

http://Everest.En.Alibaba.com

 They stole $940.00 from me for samples, by sending me crap I did not order. She claims the shipping company sent the wrong order, yeah and I'm really stupid.


When I asked her to take back the phones, she insisted I sell them to get my money back. The are not worth $400.00 retail, a real stupid scam.

But she cheated me. After a lot of complaining and sending about 300 annoying emails to her, she wants me to  send the crap back to her, which leaves me with zero. I would not trust sending her nothing.

If anyone can help, I would appreciate it. It is amazing how many scammers are on Alibaba. Real sad.

 

Can I post the complaint against them on your site or theirs.

Thank You,


Michael

hi,Michael,

I`m sorry to hear that!  You should be care when you do with anything!

Nowadays,the scammers become more  and more crafty.

Hi there ,

I think I am about to get cheat by buyer from Togo , Lome .I can just feel it - they wants me send sample for free in order to get their big order like 20 foot container !

What do you guy think ?