There are so many scammers on this site, it can be downright hard work trying to find the legitimate ones. So let me give you the best advice I possibly can: I do not care what someone tells you, how many pictures of their "alleged" products they have, as soon as they mention the word "Western Union" or any other type of money wiring, IT IS A SCAM.
These types of services are for

1. People that do not have bank accounts

2. Money as a gift

3. To pay a bill (i.e. car payment).

If you send someone money this way, plan on never getting it back. Legitimate companies will NEVER EVER ask you to pay this way.(Ask yourself, when have you ever bought something from a store, and you "Moneygrammed" your payment for it?) If you need more proof, just browse through this forum of hundreds of people that are trying to find ways to get their money back.

This is my recent experience: I was dealing with a company I thought was legit. I checked them out on the internet, and it was an actual electronics company in Hong Kong. However, this guy had a free yahoo address(Why not have an email address from the company?) And when I checked out the IP address from the emails, they were traced to Nigeria. Then when he sent an email stating that method of Payment was Western Union, I knew he was a scammer. Also, the name he said to wire the money to was completely different, a 'Aletor Itua'; When I searched this name, I found endless articles of people being scammed from this same person. For fun, I emailed the scammer, telling him that I won't do Western Union, and recommended Escrow.com. This is the email I received back:

"this is my HONG KONG NATIONAL ID CARD,i have never done this before not even to the most trusted customer i will not send my ID card to that person the reason is that here in HONG KONG anyone could be easily located and arrested wherever you are so everyone here in HONG KONG do not give out there ID CARD but i have decided do this because of what you said in the content of your first mail and you wanted someone who could work with you to achieve success . The person that taught you and gave you all those informations are very correct but i want to inform you that if there are bad people in business there are also good people , 10 bad fruits on a tree does not make the whole fruits on the tree bad i want to assure you of a good deal you just wait and see also i want you to know that western union is not established for bad transaction western union is a legal means , but bad people just want to make it bad also do you know that there have been recent reports of cheat via paypal, escrow mr peter with this email bp20002003@yahoo.co.uk was cheated of about 13,000 dolars via paypal escrow but when he met me today he his happy as he bought goods worth 1800 dollars and he his happy in conclusion it is not method of payment that really matters what matters is the person that you wants to buy from , i have conscience oaky and i have promised myself to be good always and not cheat anyone i want to assure you that you are ina a safe hand just go ahead and send the money right now and give me the MTCN today and i will get back to your email with the FEDEX shipment tracking numkber today take me for my word i am expecting to hear from you N.B . please please please my national id card i send to you is my life please , i will send your item and also to the second address immediatelly i get the MTCN after you have your items i will require you to inform me . THANKS. Stephen Lai "

REMEMBER THEY ARE GOOD.....THEY MAKE A LIVING THIS WAY!

We are all keeping the scammers thriving by falling for their tricks. Please, please please do your research, and keep your money safe by only dealing with legitimate companies with legitimate payment methods, like www.escrow.com. I posted an ad for wanting to buy Nintendo Wii's, and I received over 40 responses- all fake. Be Careful and be Wise. I HAVE STARTED A WEBSITE FOR ALL OF US HONEST PEOPLE TO TELL OUR STORIES, GET HELP, AND STOP THESE SCAMMERS. Email me for more information at helpIwasscammed@yahoo.com, and visit my fraud website at http://www.helpiwasscammed.com NOTE: I have no idea why, but if you send me an email from a gmail account, I will not be able to respond to you. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Replying to [trexcorp]:

Thank you for your posting, and backing me up! I am absolutely FED UP with all of the scammers stealing our money.... last year consumers were ripped off for more than 590 million !!! I pray that newbies come to the forums first, and everyone doing business here uses caution in dealing with anyone through a computer. You wouldn't trust a stranger standing on a street corner with your cold hard cash, would you? Treat internet contacts the same way. Let's get the word out. Together, we can all make a difference!!

Replying to [inwilddreams]:
you are right the person must be attention when he pay his money through those methods

Replying to [inwilddreams]:


Thanks for your experience for this scammer.., now in China, few supplier accept paypal, western union, just because they don't believe it and never experience, but I believe that more and more suppliers will accept it as time goes by.

Replying to [inwilddreams]:

I willsay it is not complete true that all companies that uses WU or TT are scammers! We have used 3 Companies already and they er legit and honest.

So there will always be some scammers with TT and WU and some not.

Best regards

Alcaimport

Replying to [alichintock]: PayPal is fine to use. However, you will have a very difficult time getting money back from PayPal. The best way to use PayPal safely is to pay via a credit card through PayPal. If you have a problem, you have the credit card company do a charge back. Very simple.

Replying to [inwilddreams]: There is Gold Members on this site that are a scam, so who do you trust? I have e-mailed Alibaba about the scam with no reply.

Replying to [inwilddreams]:

very well said. at the end of the day we only have ourselves to blame for making it easy for con artists to keep on living in style. for me i only trust my grandma to hold my hard-earned money... but again she's not around anymore, and in fact i never met or knew her.

it's best to actually meet the person you're dealing with, conduct due diligence, talk to other people, or get an intermediary to look after your interest. and that can be tough too.

Can I send money to some one with credit through WU

Replying to [inwilddreams]:but which is best way to send money to china? they are quite reluctant on taking paypal; and we need those cheap goods from china. what is the best way out? pls help am about to send my hard-earned money through tt.

Please post my story on your website .

Thank you Buyer Beware!!! Do not buy from this scam company!!!!!

Contact Person: Mr. Paul Zhang (Accounting)
Company: Best Trading Co., Ltd
Address: Address: Shengli, Putian, Fujian, China
Zip/Postal: 351100
Telephone: 086-594-6938188
Fax: 086-594-6938188
Website: www.ainetc.com


I was scammed by Mr. Paul Zhang from “Best Trading Co., Ltd China “for $2000USD on my first purchase from him. I Send the money by Western Union; never receive the goods, no emails, no contact. In the last year I purchase over $20000 USD worth garments from few deferent Chinese online suppliers , all of my transactions went ok, slightly mismatched orders , few damages , but generally good for what I paid . I Report Best Trading Co to Trade Key ( advertising company like Alibaba ) , they suspend there account for few weeks and after that hi was allowed to trade again , I will not trust Trade Key to , looks like they don’t care for scammers as long they pay there membership. There is not a real protection for us the online buyers when we buy from China, any help or advise what I can do to this scam Best Trading Co will be appreciated .

Bobby from Canada