Beware Of Alibaba Frauds And Scammers

[zhenshou]

I have just been scammed out of $1100 on alibaba.com by a Gold Member. I have dealt and still deal with 2 genuine Alibaba sellers, so I do know that there are decent guys out there in China.


The details of the name of the scam person I sent money to was Deyou Chen in Putian City, Fujian, China. The fradulent company was Xiamen Zhongpin Technology and they are no longer registered on Alibaba, but I am sure that they are still on there using some other name.


Anyway, I have greatly analysed myself to see the signs that I could have picked up to indicate that I was dealing with a scammer/fraudster.


I have prepared a list below of all the current Gold Member sellers on Alibaba who I believe are scammers. There are a few clues:


1. These sellers list many items in many different product categories, normally the highly desirable items such as Laptops, Ipods, top or the range mobile phones, PDAs, GPS Navigation systems, Nike trainers/sneakers, bikinis, jewellery, watches, handbags.... This is a big clue that they are out to scam you. Also, some of them state that they are a clothing company yet they are listing products for electrical goods....


2. They are all from Putian City, Fujian Province, China. I have since discovered that this place is rife with fraud.


3. They all request payment via Western Union or T/T (Telegraphic Transfer), where they have bank transfer details it is in the name of a person not a company name. (Please note that I do send money via Western Union to a company that I have been dealing with for 2 years in China, so sending money via Western Union does not necessarily mean that someone is scamming.)


4. They claim to have been trading since before 2007 yet they have only been registered on alibaba since 2007. This is another sign of a scam.


5. You will frequently find them available to chat to on Alibab's TradeManager, Yahoo Messenger or MSN at unsociable hours in China. (i.e when most people and legitimate businesses are sleeping in China they are up trying to ensnare you and get you to wire them money. They will give you excuses like they work hard - yes this is correct because they work hard to try to scam you!)


Some of these companies will send you a non-existent tracking no. after you have made payment. The sad thing is that alot of them have been reported to alibaba for not sending anything and Alibaba has done absolutely nothing to remove these gold member scammers from their site. I feel like someone with more resources should take some legal action against Alibaba and yahoo for aiding and abetting rampant fraud. Yahoo owns part of alibaba and they get a fee everytime someone registers as a gold member) The way I see it, Alibaba should require extra verification and proof of stock from people applying for Gold membership in Fujian Province, China.


So, I hope I will help prevent others from being scammed too by providing more information on the internet - information which I myself did not have before I sent my money to the female alibaba scammer.

[doydegala]

Yes! beware of GOLD members on Alibaba.
According to Alibaba:
Gold Supplier is a premium type of membership for suppliers on Alibaba.com. To qualify for a Gold Supplier membership, a supplier must undergo and pass authentication and verification procedures conducted by a reputable third-party security service provider appointed by Alibaba.com. Once approved, Gold Supplier members are authorized to display the icon to demonstrate their authenticity, which means they are a legitimate entity in existence whose identity has been verified.
If you're looking for suppliers whose identities are verified, choose Gold Supplier members.

What is the purpose anyway of Gold membership and all these checks of Alibaba if we, the buyers need to check if the supplier legitimate or not? We are in some part of the world and don't have time to check on this SCAMMERS.

What's the logic behind this Gold membership?

Something must do to prevent this Gold membership business of Alibaba. It is use only to scam people.
I am astounded before when CNN interviewed the owner of Alibaba on how successful this site is and made big-time. I hope Alibaba would do something on this scammers. Or Should the CNN dig into this too?

[jonn655]

I think that there should be a verification system that will distinguish the genuine ones and the fraudsters on these trading sites.

[kaito]

zhenshou> Sorry to hear about what happened. I used Alibaba for almost all my wholesale purchases from China. I have not yet been scammed but I do watch out for signs of a scammer as well. You had a nice list of things to watch out for but I would like to add some of my own:

1. Check their company website. If the place of business has their own website, check with them and see what products they carry, how the site layout looks, etc. If the site seems dated or has only a page of two of information, it may be a good sign that it is a scammer. The reason is because many scammers don't take care of a site that doesn't make money so make sure to check! Also, a who-is search may yield when the site was created, if it's recent, it's a bad sign.

2. Call them. I always call and make sure I speak to a real person. I call the number on Alibaba and also check the phone number listed with the seller's website to make sure they match.

3. Samples. I always ask for a sample from my suppliers. The samples are usually expensive and have high shipping cost but if the product you were talking about comes, it's a good sign. Many scammers wouldn't go the extra mile to buy and ship out a product even if it is just a sample order. If it was indeed a scam, at least you only lost your sample cost.

That's it for now but I'm sure there's a ton more. Again, sorry for your loss but I hope you have a bright future ahead.

[Marco Santori]

Exactly! Samples, samples, samples. When I first imported from China for my textile company I was burned as well. It didn't take long for me to tighten up QC and demand samples regardless of their protestations. Carefully gauge any 'sampling fees' they demand.