Dear Friends I would like to share with you my real experience of a online scam and fraud.
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This online scam and fraud was tried on me by a scammer, but fortunately I didnt get caught in his trap.
I have been very much interested in the field of export and import since very early age.
Just after completing my schooling I started my export import company.
The most difficult and important thing about export buisness,I have experienced is getting a good and reliable importer for your product.
So like any other exporter i was also very much interested in finding new buyers from across the world. And the best way to find them is on the internet on various b2b sites like alibaba.com, indiamart.com, tradeindia.com or exportersindia.com etc.
But it would be even more exciting and great , if you can find a e-mail sent by a foreign company who is very much interested in importing your product or promising you to assist you in procuring a huge government order.
But any such huge orders should be seen suspiciously and one should not get carried away by the huge export order figures.
I was also carried away initially ,but fortunately controlled myself after a got suspicious about it and investigated from my own end.
The online scammer tried to scam me by sending an e-mail promising me huge export order.
It all started with a e-mail from the scammer. I got excited when i got an e-mail from a company who assured me of assisting me in procuring a huge order for the supply of tea and dry fruits.
I replied the e-mail and started the export negotiation since i thought it to be a genuine export order initially.
To check online fraud you can use the following website:-
The online scammer claimed to procure for me a huge order from the qatar government.
I considered the export order email as a genuine because they are promising me a export order for me which they would procure for my company from the government of qatar.
They convinced me that they have a very good contacts in the government and would easily procure the export order for me.
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The online scammer allured me with no advance money trick
The online scammer allured me with the promise that they dont need any money in advance for their service.
They just need 2% of the contract amount ,only after i receive the 100% advance money against the export order.
The following is the actual e-mail I got from them .By reading the language of the email you can get an idea of the kind of tactics they are using for online fraud and scams.They are very smart and clever and try their best to pretend to be very honest and cooperative in their communications , whether by e-mail or on phone call.
This scammer was claiming to be an accredited sourcing agent of the qatari government
This Scammer was claiming himself to be a accredited agent of the qatari government.To substantiate his claim of a qatari government accredited sourcing agent he has even designed a fake website mentioning his name as a sourcing agent of the qatari government.
How i got suspious of his claim and immediately blocked him from the call and whats app number.
The scammer asked me to send me my export performa invoice with the best rates (including his 2% commission in the quote.
I sent him the invoice and other documents.Till now I was not scared of anything as I thought that I had nothing to lose because I will have to pay 2% commission only after I get the confirm order from the qatari government .
But that was my mistake.
My perception changed when the scammer asked me to pay some amount as tender participating fees ,they requested 500 USD $.
I knew that if its a spam they will ask me advance money disguised as tender participating fees.That was the time i got alerted and started to research myself on the internet about its authenticity.
After a very thorough search and analysis everything got clear to me and I understood that he was a spammer and fraud and was trying to spam and commit fraud to me.
The website on which he was mentioned as an accredited agent of the qatari government was not the official website of the qatari government.
Please remember that the domain of all the government websites are basically with extensions like .gov.
The website of the spammer doesnt had the domain .gov and it was listed as a suspicious website on the website checker on the internet.
During the course of negotiation i had also exchanged my mobile number .So when i didnt replied his e-mail he contacted me over my whatsapp number.
I didnt replied him on the whats app.I blocked him and prevented myself from this scam and online fraud.
I learned the following lesson from this incident :-
When you get e-mail promising you huge export order , than dont follow it blindly and investigate it first .
Never give any advance money in the form of tender money or participating fees to any unknown company or person online.
Do a thorough search on the internet about the authenticity of concern company and if you can, take the advice of elders and experts in this field before taking any decisions.