1 April 2005

Freight scam alert

We would like to alert members to a scam that may target your business and that has been recently employed in the Toronto region. We have been advised by a member firm of the dangers that can arise within the following freight export scenario.

A freight forwarder is contacted by someone who wants to book a large number of containers for export. Payment is made with a travellers cheque or money order directly to the forwarder’s account, perhaps even directly by the client so that the forwarder does not see the cheque/money order. The client maintains regular contact with the forwarder and within a week or two explains that fewer containers are needed than expected and a refund of the difference is requested. Pressure is exerted to have this done quickly because, of course, the initial deposit turns out to have been made with a fraudulent instrument.

Obviously this scam can only work if the forwarder issues a refund or credit before verifying that the initial cheque/money order has cleared, which, in some institutions, requires a thirty-day period. Beware!