Dear All, I have a bad feeling about a trade already made and need your advice.

I've found a Thai manufacturer on alibaba.com and after a few emails I placed my first order. He required a 50% deposit, about 3000 USD. The bank details for transfer were not in his name/company name. The order should be ready by now but he's not answering my emails. I'm in EU right now but I'll be in Thailand next month. I want to find out if the receiver of the money is the manufacturer or just somebody impersonating him. Would the police investigate this kind of scam if I give the receiver's name and bank details? I know bank-to-bank transfers are not reversible, but in case of a scam maybe bank/cops will look into it.

Thank you for your feedback!

Cheers

Not going to help you now but use Aliexpress in future. Your payment is withheld until you receive the goods and approve it.

I don't know if the police can help you, but I would report it in any case. If your contact is not replying to your emails any more, you might be in trouble. You might need a lawyer, but the lawyer's fees might be higher than the amount you want to recover.

But thinking about it, I am not sure why you would transfer to a private bank account if you make a deposit for a commercial transaction. What did your contact say was the reason that the account is not a company account, and not even in his name? Wouldn't that make all alarm bells go off in your head?

I don't know if the police can help you, but I would report it in any case. If your contact is not replying to your emails any more, you might be in trouble. You might need a lawyer, but the lawyer's fees might be higher than the amount you want to recover.

But thinking about it, I am not sure why you would transfer to a private bank account if you make a deposit for a commercial transaction. What did your contact say was the reason that the account is not a company account, and not even in his name? Wouldn't that make all alarm bells go off in your head?

Unfortunatley no, because I did business with many Thai SMEs before. You transfer a deposit to the owner, or his daughter's personal bank account, or something like that. Or you pay in cash. I think it's fairly common. Nothing similar to how business is conducted in EU.

I don't know if the police can help you, but I would report it in any case. If your contact is not replying to your emails any more, you might be in trouble. You might need a lawyer, but the lawyer's fees might be higher than the amount you want to recover.

But thinking about it, I am not sure why you would transfer to a private bank account if you make a deposit for a commercial transaction. What did your contact say was the reason that the account is not a company account, and not even in his name? Wouldn't that make all alarm bells go off in your head?

Unfortunatley no, because I did business with many Thai SMEs before. You transfer a deposit to the owner, or his daughter's personal bank account, or something like that. Or you pay in cash. I think it's fairly common. Nothing similar to how business is conducted in EU.

Having done business in Thailand for over 20 years, I don't consider this normal at all.

Maybe this is your long overdue wake-up call. You were lucky in the past.

If you have a full record of documentation and communication then you can hire a lawyer to file a criminal action against the person- the police won't take up such a case on their own. If you have the scammer's personal details then a letter from the lawyer may be enough to scare them into reimbursing you.

In future never TT money into a personal account. Even small manufacturers always have a business account and substituting bank details is a common scam among even those employed by large corporations.

Assume you've done this already but if the listing was made under a corporate name and that company has contact info then you ought to be contacting the company directly to follow up on the status of your order. Also you can lodge a complaint with Alibaba.