Page 25 - Logistics News July 2019

Fraud Prevention
you dearly in the end. If container pricing is
signifi cantly less with one company when
compared to others, this should immediately
raise some red fl ags. Find out the average market
price of what you are looking for and if you are
quoted well below that, you are most likely being
taken for a ride.
Do not be fooled by a website or Google ads.
These days, it has become so easy to register a
domain or run an advertising campaign online,
so you should not be fooled by these into
thinking that you are dealing with a legitimate
company. Many fraudsters do this, and just
copy content from a reputable company and
even register a domain that is closely linked
to a reputable company’s name by just adding
an extra letter or word to it. For example,
CIT’s website is www.cit-intermodal.com;
fraudsters might copy the content under the
domain www.cit-intermodals.com or www.
cit-intermodal.co.za. Just because it looks
legitimate, it does not mean it is. On their
website, they will even copy the physical
address of the company they are pretending
to be.
If the only contact number is a cell phone
number, beware! A reputable business should
at least have a landline number as well. If your
only means of verbal communication with the
company you are dealing with is via cell phone,
this could be an indication that you might be the
next victim of fraud. Most of these fraudsters
operate out of west Africa, so they will not
necessarily have a South African landline number.
After you have made payment for a container,
they will simply destroy the SIM card they have
been using and you will never be able to track
them down again. Even if you try and track their
IPS address, you will fi nd that most work out of
internet cafes.
Fraudsters do not always operate alone. In most
cases, they are syndicates working together.
Therefore, even if you deal with more than one
person, do not be fooled.
Do not be fooled by documentation. It is so easy
to fake information on documentation so that,
once again, it might look legitimate, but looks are
deceiving.
July 2019 | Logistics News
What you should do
Ask, ask and ask more questions. Do not be shy
to ask as many questions as you want to. If you
are purchasing a container, ask if you can meet
the person you are dealing with, ask if you can
go and view the container that you are buying.
If you are being pushed to pay some kind of
deposit before they agree to this, run!
Ask for proof of ownership of the container you
are purchasing and where it is. If they cannot
prove ownership, then you should be very wary.
Also, 99 percent of the time, containers are
stored at a depot, so the people working at that
depot should be able to vet the company you are
dealing with for you.
You should be depositing money into a business
account. Be very aware if you are asked to
deposit money into an individual’s bank account
and not a business’s. Any reputable company will
have a business account.
Ask if the container is customs cleared. Any
container should be domesticated when entering
the country (when purchased) and SARS will
then issue the necessary documentation to state
that it has been customs cleared. Proof of this
should be provided to you.
Kobus Lombard of Container Fraud, a
newly established online tool that can now
be utilised as a public awareness site for the
consumer industry to check whether they
might be scammed or not, echoes Schroeder’s
sentiments. “Container fraud in South
Africa has become vicious. Container Fraud
Prevention therefore provides a linked service
to all registered service providers and off ers a
verifi cation service on this public domain (at
www.containerfraud.co.za).”
He adds, “This will provide tools for the public
to check, verify and make informed decisions
about the container company they want to
deal with. We provide the correct company
details, verifi ed logo, verifi ed contact details
and a unique company page that matches and
backlinks to the correct website of the container
company you’re interested in. We’re more than
happy to assist and support anyone who feels
they may be scammed or aren’t sure if they’re
dealing with the legitimate company.” •
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