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False bills of lading have been used to defraud buyers in five cases of
trade fraud in the shipping of paper and board products from Indonesia
uncovered by ICC’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in the past three
months.
IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan said: “All five of the frauds recently
reviewed by IMB have involved the same exporter and Non Vessel Operating
Common Carrier (NVOCC). In each case, buyers paid for goods that were never
shipped. We suspect there are several more such cases that have gone
unreported.”
The scheme is being run out of East Java by fraudsters who lure potential
victims with attractive prices for paper and board products.
Once the buyer is prepared to make a purchase, the seller persuades them to
open a letter of credit, often on a deferred payment basis.
It is then claimed that shipments - averaging half a dozen full container
loads - have been arranged via a NVOCC.
When contacted about the missing shipment the “exporter” then defers
responsibility to the NVOCC and denies any accountability.
“The containers are purported to hold products from legitimate Indonesian
paper and board companies, but the bills of lading issued are fraudulent and
the goods are never shipped,” stated Captain Mukundan.
“IMB has been in contact with buyers from the Middle East and Canada who
have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars through this scam,” he added.
IMB’s investigation has revealed that the fraudsters had developed a
convincing website that could lead buyers to believe they were dealing with
an authentic company.
However, the bills of lading used do not list any street address or
telephone number for the NVOCC - only the website address.
“This is highly irregular and leaves the buyer with no means of contacting
the NVOCC once the goods fail to arrive,” said Captain Mukundan.
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