The first Valentine's Day scam is already known

The first Valentine's Day scam is already known

They have struck again, Italian fraudsters who operate from Sicily. Every year it is well prepared and tackled on a large scale, unfortunately with several victims again. How do they do it? We explain the method.

The method is the same again: business has been done with suppliers, service providers and transporters for about 6 months, often against advance payment and without problems. There are regular orders for small or medium amounts. No problems and clear communication. Payments always come in on time. A few weeks before the holidays the orders became larger, but they were also paid properly, a small credit is created, but no reason to panic. Until large orders come in for Valentine's Day. Payment receipts are sent for large amounts, suppliers trust it, after all the payments have been coming in on time for months. Some of the payments come in, but the large payments are still pending. The customer indicates that the flowers must be transported on time, otherwise the flowers will arrive too late for Valentine's Day. The flowers are sent and the scammers have achieved their result again: hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and that is only what we know after 3 weeks, usually there is more to come.

Could this have been prevented? Yes! A relatively new customer who suddenly starts ordering a lot for the holidays, especially when they are located in risky regions/countries, is already a signal that you should be careful. A thorough credit check shows that almost nothing can be found about the company: no website, no social media and even the address cannot be found. The annual figures show a turnover of a very small wholesaler, the results are positive, but that is all that can be said. Enough reasons to be cautious about issuing high credit limits. And a proof of payment? These are worthless. If in doubt, only deliver when the payment has actually been credited to the bank account.

So do your homework before you start delivering to a new customer and ask for a debtor report. Then you still do not have a 100% guarantee, but you know more about the customer and you have an indication of what an acceptable credit limit is.

AgroCheck members who would like to know which debtors this concerns can contact us. We advise non-members to consider an AgroCheck membership. From only $ 495,- per year you can prevent a lot of trouble.