Fraud Prevention
Fraud prevention relates to the actions taken and procedures followed by an entity to avoid falling victim of fraudulent activities. While the internet has accelerated the pace of internationalisation and globalisation of trade, it has also created opportunities for unscrupulous people to engage in illegal activities.
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Traders and brokers are advised to be very vigilant and conscious of widespread fraudulent and fake business offers posted on the internet. Fraudsters use elaborate, professionally designed, and sometimes cloned, websites to solicit export and import businesses. CTL strongly advises all parties to familiarise themselves with the internationally accepted ICC rules and regulations that are used in the conduct of international trade.
All ill intentioned entities regularly advertise fake offers for goods and services on all the well known B2B platforms using well thought out tricks to try and defraud their unsuspecting victims. Some of the most common methods used by fraudsters are:
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Creation of fraudulent physical and/or electronic documents and files.
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Deliberate alterations of legitimate physical and/or electronic documents and files.
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Cloning of legitimate companies' websites with the fraudsters' contact details.
CTL would advise all parties to do their due diligence properly before committing to any business transactions. As part of its fraud prevention process CTL carries out rigorous checks and verification on all business transactions and in depth due diligence on all prospective counter parties to ensure that the company is dealing with legitimate, registered and properly regulated entities. This is to ensure that we always protect our assets and interests and those of all our stakeholders.
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Due Diligence
A rigorous due diligence can be a lengthy process but is very important to maintain the integrity of every transaction for several reasons.
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Risk Management
The evaluation of potential buyers' financial ability to make payments and suppliers' ability to supply and their respective creditworthiness and business reputation.
Compliance and Fraud Prevention
Every business transaction will entail the involvement of banks who are required to comply with various strict legal rules and regulations such as anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) regulations. Banks will also have a duty of fraud prevention by ensuring that the funds being used in any transaction are legally and legitimately obtained and that they are not illicit or associated with fraudulent activities.
Appropriate Documentation
All parties need to exchange accurate and complete documentation to process transactions seamlessly and efficiently. This will greatly reduce the risk of errors and avoid undue delays in the shipment of goods and the payment process.
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If you have concrete evidence regarding any suspicious business proposals made to you, we would encourage you to report it to the relevant authorities. You can get more details on how to report any suspicious activities by following this links:
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https://www.gov.uk/guidance/crime-and-fraud-prevention-for-businesses-in-international-trade
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“For years, incautious investors and traders have fallen victim to fraudulent proposals involving paper documents quoting non-existent ICC rules, and often they have been cheated of large sums. Now it appears that the Internet is being used as a vehicle for these schemes. The terminology changes constantly, but the risk is always there,”
ICC First Director Martin Wassell.