Policy & Compliance
One Member has been approached by fruit fraudsters for the second consecutive year. What are the warning signs you should look out for? Short- fi rm fraud warning – the great mango scam
disappeared, leaving the freight forwarder out of pocket. In late 2023 the commodity was mangoes, and the shipments originated from Dubai and the Indian sub-continent. We have recently been contacted by a Member who was a victim of the 2023 scam – luckily, they had a long memory. The company received an enquiry regarding the importation of fresh fruit, including mangoes, this time from Bangladesh. Due diligence Its due diligence revealed a UK Midlands-based company with very few assets, a ‘no credit’ financial rating and a Belgian director. The level of business proposed appeared to be out of proportion to its ability to finance it and a check on Google Maps indicated that the company address is actually a Regus office. The Member who reported the matter to us provided additional useful information regarding similarities between the business offered by the Preston-based
T he added pressure of the Christmas season gives commit certain scams and activities, and our sector is the victim of too many such crimes. As BIFA has warned over the past criminals more opportunity to year, this takes many forms, although usually theft from vehicles and fraud. The majority of businesses operate legally but there is a minority that do not, and in some cases these are actually established as a front for criminal activities. About this time last year, we highlighted the case of a Preston-based importer, with
Belgian connections, which accumulated large bills in a relatively short time with BIFA Members and then simply
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16 | December 2024
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