Fraud Prevention: Case Study 10 - Fake Courier Website

Problem:

“I finalized a deal with this Chinese company and we both agreed that the total cost of the order will be divided into 3 payments. First payment of USD $300 before shipment, second payment of USD $800 after the verification of tracking information and the third and final payment of USD $1000 after the order is received. The supplier told me that he would send the package through a local and reliable courier. He gave me the URL of the courier's website along with the tracking number.

I visited the website and when I saw, “Package in Leicester - On Hold” I sent the payment of USD $800 as we had decided earlier. As soon as he received the payment, he contacted me and told me to pay in full. He said I won't receive the package if I didn't send the rest of the amount immediately. See, he is a fraud. He built a fake courier website. He operated it and made me believe that the package was on the way, but on hold until the supplier received the payment. This is how he is committing fraud online”.

Evaluating this Case:

1. Refrain from using courier websites you have never used or heard about before. It is not a good practice to rely on an unknown courier website for the shipment of your goods. When a supplier forces you to use a particular courier, find out about the reputation of that courier via search engines and see what others are saying about it.

2. Visit http://who.is to get information about the domain of the courier website, like domain name owner, when the domain name was registered, and so on. If the domain name of a particular courier website was registered only a few months ago, then exercise caution.

3. When a supplier asks for additional payment to facilitate the process of product shipment, be cautious as it's most likely a sign of fraudulent activity.
 

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Fraud Case Studies:

Fraud Prevention: Case Study 5 - Fake Purchase Orders by Dishonest Immigration Companies

Fraud Prevention: Case Study 6 - First Meeting with the Supplier in Person

Fraud Prevention: Case Study 7 - Extremely Low and Attractive Price

Fraud Prevention: Case Study 8 - Be Cautious! Even with Old Trade Partners

Fraud Prevention: Case Study 9 - Supplier Sent Wrong Products and Disappeared

Escrow:

Introduction to 'Money Transfer via Escrow'

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Tips to Remember When Using an Escrow Service