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China’s Money Mules – And Why You’ve Lost It For Good

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

China Scam – Money Mules – And Why You Will Never See Your Money Again.

I’d like to point out to you, in very clear and marked terms, just why it is you will never see your money again, should you happen to lose to a scam in China; particularly those of you who lose money to companies whilst trying to buy iPhones, Nintendo, etc. Last week, I wrote about Mr. Stefano Carboni’s apparent involvement in the money mule scam; that is, getting other people to transfer funds through their personal bank accounts, as a means of laundering it to a final destination. Then only this week, I discover, through certain of my contacts here in China, the reason you won’t ever see your money again is based on similar grounds. Here is how it works: There are approximately 300 million agricultural workers in China, and approximately 40 million migrant workers travelling from city to city in attempts to find some kind of living. So, no shortage of potential mules! A quick review of salaries in China may provide you with a glimpse at the motivation behind the actions I’m about to describe.

A Chinese Farmer

A Chinese Farmer

In 2007 the average farmer in China earned around 4,140 RMB (Yuan) or approximately $605 USD per annum; the average salary for a construction worker in China is approximately 1, 064 RMB (Yuan) or $122 USD per month; whilst the average factory worker is earning around 1,100 RMB (Yuan) or $ 160 USD per month. As can be seen, by the above figures, the 300 million farmers in the agricultural sector earn less than 30% of what construction and factory workers can earn in a year. This fact is widely known in China, and it is to this sector of the community that the scammers go with their offer. So, what is their offer? It’s very simple, actually. They say to the peasant farmer, something along the lines of, “Look we have all these foreign clients, but we don’t want to pay tax and stuff, and so we need an alternative account for the funds to be transferred to, as a means of avoiding the tax. You open a bank account for us using your ID, our foreign clients transfer funds to it, and then move the funds on to another account, the details of which we’ll give you (usually Taiwan); and we’ll pay you a nice fat commission, and you and your family will be much better off. Your child will be able to go to a better school, and then on to university, and the whole future of your family will be changed for the better – forever.” Of course, from Taiwan, the money is then transferred to other destinations. So, the peasant, knowing a good thing when he or she sees or hears one; and who is always willing to make extra money for the family, says, “HaoDe!” or “HaoLe!” (Good! or Fine with me!). I mean, why wouldn’t they? People in the West do exactly this when they get involved in fake cheque scams, and act as money mules for a variety of mafias. In actuality, the Chinese peasant farmer, quite probably has a better excuse than the greedy money-grabbing buggers in the West, who regularly sign up for this kind of business, as their lifestyles are a millennia apart, and is clearly documented and attested by many more than myself. So, personally speaking, I can’t really blame them; you make your own decision on that. Anyway, of course, eventually the whole thing gets tumbled, and the account closes, and the scammers recruit another peasant farmer, and start the whole operation again, with barely a blip in their action. The previous peasant farmer account holder is questioned by the police, and the police learn nothing, as the peasant farmer was him or herself duped anyway, and has absolutely no idea of the true identities of the people they’ve been dealing with. And, naturally, a physical description isn’t going to help much. I understand that to many foreigners, everyone may look the same here, but, that isn’t true, of course. People here do have very distinct personal physical attributes. However, without wishing to sound racist, and by sticking to reality, whether it pleases us to do so or not, the general physical characteristics are certainly much of a muchness; in as much as hair, skin, and eye colour, or whether he or she looked like an East European, had a certain Latino appearance, or shocking red hair and green eyes. I mean, can you imagine the interrogation of the peasant? Policeman 1: So, what did this man look like? Peasant: Well, he was maybe 30 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches, had short black hair, yellow skin, slanted dark brown eyes, and a wide or flat nose. Policeman 1: O.K., So we can rule out all the women and men under 30 years of age in the country. That just leaves the rest of the population. Hold on! What Kind of accent did he have? Peasant: He sounded like he came from Henan Province to me. Policeman 1: Ah ha! From Henan you say. Well, that’s a lucky break for us, as there are only 100 million people in Henan. So, if we discount all the women, that brings us to about 70 million males. O.K. that’s god, that’s good… Then we discount those under 30 years of age. and those above 40 years of age… Let me see… Yes…, that leaves us with only… Great Scott! Only 21,000,000 men to search through; By George! We’re on to them now. You can tell Mr. Stupid Bugger in England, that we’ll soon have his $300 dollars back for him. Policeman 2: But, Sir. What if the perpetrator doesn’t live in Henan anymore, and is living… well… …somewhere else in China? Policeman 1: Damn it, Caruthers, you’re right! Stop that telegram to Mr. Stupid bugger in England. Now, (He paces the room thoughtfully, clenched fist, arms folded and thumb to top teeth, looking into nothingness on the floor before him) Mmmm… yes… Yes, this really puts the cat amongst the pigeons. I think this may take a little longer than I at first thought. And that’s it basically.

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

That’s why, if you lose your money here, the chances of you  ever seeing it again, are about the same as you taking a bath, and a nuclear submarine surfacing in it, raking you with machine-gun fire, stealing your rubber duck, submerging, and then going back to base for debriefing, a plate of hot and crispy cod and chips (fries) with brown sauce, washed down with a warm cup of  hot cocoa, and all before bed-time. Now, if you’re sensible, then you’ll go back to the OLD FASHIONED WAY of doing things, and hire an agent, like me, to protect your interests, and to ensure that you don’t find yourself taking a bath with a submarine. The choice is yours. You’ve been warned. Again! Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 04:05:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 13%

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Posted in General Information, Scams And Scammers | 1 Comment »

More Anti-Scam Tips

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Further Tips On Dealing With China.

Here are a few extra notes on safely sourcing products in China, from the Safely Sourcing China blog. Learn what you can from your prospective ‘supplier’s’ website, or lack thereof.

Web Presence.

Firstly, if they don’t have their own website, drop them like a hot rock. That includes those “companies” in possession of the rubbish little “pages” on Alibaba, etc. No Domain – No Hope! Although, personally I do know of companies in China who are real, but their marketing sucks so badly they haven’t managed to organise a web presence. But, I’m a graduate of the ‘better-safe-than-sorry’ school, when it comes to this particular aspect of doing business in China. If your prospective “supplier” owns a website, then check that the area code, given in the contact section, matches the postcode, or town or city name, given in the address. You can check postcodes here. If they don’t match, drop them like a hot rock. The following mobile telephone prefixes will allow you to determine which mobile telephone network is being used by your “supplier”, in case you need to connect with the service provider, to check if the number is still working, when calls fail to be answered  by the person you’ve gone sent your money to, whilst failing to perform any of the checks given here. The service provider name follows the prefix number. 130/1/2 . - China Unicom, 133 . – China Telecom , 1340 -1348 – China Mobile, 1349. – ChinaSat, 135/6/7/8/9. - China Mobile, 150. – China Mobile, 151. – China Mobile, 152. - China Mobile, 153. -China Telecom, 155. – China Unicom, 156. – China Unicom, 157. – China Mobile, 158. -China Mobile, 159. – China Mobile, 185. - China Unicom, 186. – China Unicom, 188. – China Mobile, 189. – China Telecom. You can visit this very nice page on WikiPedia for a more complete listing of area codes by major municipality and province. If they don’t have an address on their contact page, forget them. After all, if they aren’t willing to disclose their address, then you must ask yourself a one word question – “Why?

”.

On The Subject Of Addresses.

My business is registered in a residential property, as we are a Small Office Home Office (SOHO), as we neither manufacture, store, stock, and we very rarely have business visitors; due to the fact we supply nothing more than ‘information’, we go out to visit Chinese companies, and our foreign clients are just that – foreign, and live abroad, and so we needn’t waste money on having an actual office. My computer is my office. However, someone claiming to manufacture, stock, or supply must have an office, for the same reasons I don’t need one. An office will normally be in a building with a name, for example: Room 602, Floor 5, Great Dragon Bldg., Haidian District, Beijing. Whilst a SOHO, like us, will run as above, but minus the building name, and is indicative of a residential area.

About Us.

If they haven’t included and about us page in their website, or it is very sparse, then drop them. Obviously, if they have little to say about themselves, there’s a reason.

Google Them.

The next thing to do is Google their company name + scam, and also their company URL + scam. That alone should give enough of a heads-up on who you’re dealing with.

Mono-Lingual Websites.

Finally, as mentioned in my previous article Quick Checklist For How To Spot A Chinese Scam Site, if the website is devoid of Chinese, and only has an English language page, the chances are they’re scammers. Well, that’s it for today. Trade Safely!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 02:44:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 18%

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Mr. Stefano Carboni And Wholesaledeals.co.uk

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

Isn’t fate a strange and flirtatious creature?

Here I am being ripped-off by Mr. Stefano Carboni, and his “Trade Portal” eSources; when I check out search terms on my blog and see that someone has arrived at my pages through a search in Google for the following string, “stefano carboni scam“.

I think to myself, “Hello, what’s this?“, and follow the link to the Google search page where I find a number of links connecting Mr. Carboni’s name to the word “scam“, and not in a very positive way. Actually, in a very negative way.

Interestingly the first two listings are mine. One I published on the RipOffReport website immediately after I lost my first money to him in April; and the other directing people to my previous eSources article in this blog.

Another Of Mr. Stefano Carboni's Sites.

Another Of Mr. Stefano Carboni's Sites.

The third link connected me to a site called UK Fraud Forum, where I found an article simply entitled “wholesaledeals.co.uk“. In which article an individual describes his or her attempts to get the goods for which they’d payed £ 476.80. This individual had tried to email the site, for support, backup, and information; however this was apparently nothing but a send message function, not a real email address, and so simply bounced back.

Additionally, no one answered the phone, as is also the case with eSources, where they provide a phone number to make the page look legitimate, but don’t “offer telephone support“. Meaning, absolutely nobody to talk to at any point in the event of anything going wrong.

This person, then got on to the police, their bank, and also the Trading Standards Office, but eventually got Mr. Carboni’s attention by ordering goods to the value of £ 30,000, but didn’t complete the payment schedule section.

By which point, it had now been three weeks that this individual had ordered their goods, without them having arrived, and had been unable to attract Mr. Carboni’s attention by any of the usual media.

Now, however it would seem, that since Mr. Carboni could see the potential of reaping a £ 30,000 windfall, as it flickered across his screen, or shot him off an email warning him of a failed transaction of  £ 30,000; within a mere hour of seeing this failed transaction notice, Mr. Carboni himself called the victim. Isn’t greed a wonderful motivator? Evidently, he hadn’t checked the details of this “client“, and wasn’t aware that he was in for a bit of an ear-bashing.

In the complainants own words, “it went on from there. a few excuses followed. delivery never turning up and another excuse, and on and on. they turned up in the end but some things were broken, items were of a cheaper nature then what i ordered. i definately will not use them again. one of the worst companies i have ever had to deal with.”

I think this individual was extremely lucky to even get these things. It’s quite possible that Mr. Carboni’s own greed for the possible £ 30,000 was behind this individual getting anything remotely resembling his or her actual order.

Another point to note is that the street address, as published on this website  is different from the eSources address; moreover, the complainant, in this particular case, did a little research, and discovered that the post code for the address given, was not actually in concord.  A fake address? They didn’t match. I haven’t confirmed this myself, but I’m quite interested to try the same with the eSources address. Although, I have recently been informed another victim of Mr. Carboni’s unusual business practices, that the address for the eSources business is merely a postal address, and the business doesn’t reside there in actuality. Indeed, this former victim is in doubt as to whether Mr. Carboni’s business enterprises are actually located in the UK.

Why not publish a real address? What’s he got to hide?

So, what do we have here?

We have faulty addresses, no phone, no proper email service, failure to deliver, and only contacting the client in the hopes of getting his hands on £ 30,000.

Another interesting connection to Mr. Carboni is to be found on the following link to a page on Data Wales’ website entitled:

“The fake job offer fraud. They promise a percentage, but you would lose money (and possibly your liberty). The checks they send are forged!”

Where they list the following, “Stefano Carboni, eSources UK, esources.co.uk, 27 Old Gloucester Street London  WC1N 3XX, st.carboni@yahoo.com.hk.” as being an alleged perpetrator of such an email scam or fraud.

It’s interesting to note that, Mr. Carboni doesn’t use his eSources email address, as one would expect from a respectable business person, but uses  instead a Yahoo, Hong Kong email address.

Why is that I wonder? Something to hide perhaps?

Moving on, I next find Mr. Carboni’s name connected to the Antifraud International website, where his name is listed at Number 286 on the Representative Fake Cheque Scam (RFCS) page.

Sprinting on, we next find Mr. Carboni’s name mentioned on the Scam Baiter website in connection with the RFCS cited above; and again on the 419 Scam site, and on.

So, it certainly seems that Mr. Carboni has a history of fraud and scamming; unless he has been the victim of identity theft himself?

Check it out for yourself at Google.

If you have had any problems of this kind with either of Mr. Carboni’s websites, please email your details to me. Thank you!

Keep you posted!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:05:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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China Sourcing Concerns

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Some Concerns About Sourcing From China.

The following are a list of some of the more common questions people seem to have regarding trading with China. I have sought to answer them as directly and frankly as I can.

Why am I worried about sourcing from or manufacturing in China?

Firstly, if you aren’t concerned, you might as well open your window, set fire to your money, and start shoveling it out of the window into the street. There is risk in anything we do in the world of business, and to think otherwise is to fool oneself into a false sense of security. Moreover, to believe that one can safely self-source from China is equally as absurd and dangerous. Your concerns are valid, as they would be even if you were sourcing from Israel, Portugal, or any other country; and trading or dealing with China is no different. China has its’ own set of cultural and business subtleties and values, to which you as a foreigner or someone unaccustomed to dealing with China, may be totally oblivious to; but to someone such as myself, having lived here for 8 years, are not lost to me. And it is precisely for these reasons that you need someone here you can trust, who is culturally familiar with those nuances of business and social culture, and who can operate in and on your behalf.

What about quality? Isn’t China famous for producing poor quality goods?

That may well have been true at one time. However, you need to ask your self whether you’re happy with the quality of your iPhone? Because Apple have been producing in China for a number of years, along with a plethora of other famous High Street brands. Of course, that isn’t to say that quality doesn’t or can’t suffer. It does, as with anywhere else in the world. However, if you ensure that random quality checking is employed before the goods leave port, then one can drastically mitigate this risk. Furthermore, when once you develop a successful long-term relationship with a manufacturer, they will understand the benefits of not cutting their own throats. To my mind, one of the reasons China has gained its’ reputation for poor quality, is also in part due to a failure of buyers to perform the necessary due diligence and oversight that they should. However, allow me to reiterate a point I’ve just made: Sound partners, and a representative presence in Mainland China, able to perform your due diligence, and maintain an oversight of quality, plus developing your long-term relationship with the producer, will go a long way towards drastically mitigating the issue of poor quality to a level acceptable in the West.

So, how many people will have their fingers in my, production and purchasing, pie in China?

Well, the people, or groups involved could be as few as one, if your goods are coming from one of the larger companies, such as TsingHua TongFang, whom I represent as Agent to Africa, Europe, and North America; or they could be several, for one of the smaller companies. Of course, the amount of fingers in the pie will play a very definite role in the cost of your goods, and sometimes even the quality. However, the role of ‘GuanXi’, or what we would term ‘relationships’, plays a significant role in Chinese society at all levels, and particularly in business; as it has done for several thousand years, and the power of which shouldn’t be ignored or underestimated, and which is an unavoidable necessity and phenomena. This is a deeply ingrained and necessary interpersonal skill, and which is tightly bound and woven into the fabric of the Chinese psyche. I’m sure that should you check your own embassy websites in China you will come across the term ‘GuanXi’ several times. No ‘GuanXi’, no help! It is precisely for this reason, that should you intend doing business in, or with, China, you need a mediator to act as a conduit to facilitate smooth and safe trading. Your conduit can form relationships on your behalf, that you are unable to form due to geographical distance, language, and cultural distance. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours; is precisely how it works in China.

What if my goods aren’t delivered on time or the quality isn’t what I requested?

Well, in that case we incorporate into the contract CIETAC’s model arbitration clause. NOTE: CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (A government department and Part of MOFCOM - The Chinese Ministry of Commerce). Here’s the clause: “Any dispute arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be submitted to China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission for arbitration which shall be conducted in accordance with the Commission’s arbitration rules in effect at the time of applying for arbitration. The arbitral award is final and binding upon both parties.” The same clause can be used for the safety of your financial transaction, in addition to opening a Letter of Credit (L/C) rather than a Telegraphic Transfer (TT) of funds. Of course your letter of credit can dictate additional terms before funds are released; these terms can be specifically directed at shipping windows and parameters, levels of acceptable quality, processing of any and all necessary certificates and forms, proper and correct carton and packaging markings, and any necessary Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Standards compliance. Consequent to which, should the terms not be met as defined in the terms of the contract and in the letter of credit, then it will be up to you to decide or determine whether the funds be made available to the seller. So, that’s it for today. Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:10:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 7%

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Fighting Cyber-Crime

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

YCTP – Fighting Cyber-Crime And Online-Fraud In China

Due to the increase in claims by small, medium, and even some quite large foreign firms, complaining of having been the victims of cyber-crime or cyber-fraud, Your China Trading Partner – Beijing (YCTP) have decided to open a new area of service for foreign clients, as a means of minimising or eliminating such risk.

YCTP Fighting Fraud

YCTP Fighting Fraud

YCTP is a small product sourcing company based in Beijing, China, and predominantly servicing small to medium sized foreign enterprises seeking to source products, or to have a representative presence in China.

As far back as November, 2006, the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum, held in Busan, South Korea, China endorsed the APEC Privacy Framework along with representatives of the other 20 member countries and territories, as a means of combating threats in the form of a then growing gang of highly-organized cyber-criminals.

Since then the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China has taken proactive steps in a targeted and co-ordinated approach, by bringing together a group of the World’s most practiced IT experts to devise and discover ways and means of mitigating cyber-crime. Yet still this form of crime is still prevalent on the mainland today.

In 2009 the Internet Crime Complaint Centre released its latest annual report on victims’ complaints received and referred to law enforcement departments in the US.

YCTP Fighting Cyber-Fraud

YCTP Fighting Cyber-Fraud

Between January 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2008, the IC3 website was in receipt of 275,284 complaint submissions. This being a 33.1% increase on those of 2007 when only 206,884 complaints were received. The greater part of these submissions was composed of complaints primarily related to fraudulent activities perpetrated via the Internet.

Non-delivery of merchandise was the most predominantly reported offence, and which comprised a total of 32.9% of the total referred complaints.

To meet the necessity for security in trade, and its’ accompanying growth in demand from foreign businesses, YCTP have now incorporated a new background checking and referencing function into their business, as a means of assisting foreign buyers, private or B2B, in protecting their investments, or purchases, against cyber-fraud; this being achieved through on-the-spot face-to-face due diligence services.

Queries or information requests may be directed to Mr. Ken Stone via the YCTP company website on: www.yourchinatradingpartner.com

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 01:15:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Parallel or Grey Importing And The Scammers Behind It

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Parallel or Grey Importing & China

Firstly, with regards to a basic explanation of Parallel  or Grey Importing, and the scam effect, allow me to direct you to an article of mine which discusses this matter in the Scams & Scammers Category of my blog; the article is entitled “Games Consoles & XBOX in China” I assume you’ve been and read it, and have now come back to continue. So let’s get to my point. Every region has its’ own official distributor(s) who are licensed and engaged to distribute for the producer into a given region. That means, that even if you were to contact the relevant distributor for the Chinese market, that distributor would not allow me to purchase from him/her with the foreknowledge that you planned on having them shipped out of China, for fear of losing that very valuable license.

Parallel or Grey Importing - Worth the Risk?

Parallel or Grey Importing - Worth the Risk?

Even if they took that risk you’d only get them at wholesale in China, and by the time you’d payed for shipping, you’d probably have them held-up at customs at your end, or even impounded or confiscated, as companies are now on the march, with government assistance, to batten down the hatches on parallel or grey importing; as is evidenced by the rate at which these actions are now taking place in EU ports. However, I don’t believe a genuine distributor would allow you to do that in the first instance. Not for a heart-beat. But that, in and of itself, isn’t the major issue – there’s more. If he/she did agree, particularly with that foreknowledge, then you would have to suspect something dodgy was going; more dodgy than your request to the licensee to parallel or grey import these products into other regions of the world, not under his or her license mandate.

Want To Risk Your Money On Parallel Or Grey Imports?

Want To Risk Your Money On Parallel Or Grey Imports?

As you are perhaps aware, or perhaps not, China has a problem, in that foreign mafia regularly send people into China masquerading as representatives of very large corporations such as the Apple and Sony Corporations, and many others. These people, then give product plans to their targeted Chinese companies and, after inspecting their factory, issue them with a fake license to produce and manufacture on behalf of these big names. The Chinese companies genuinely believe that they are licensed to do so, as these mafia are very good at there jobs and have a strong financial backing to support their claims. They’re professionals. They then go on to set up or give people (probably there own) “license” to act as “official distributors”. However, when once YOU buy these goods (because that’s what even many chain stores end up buying) and sell them on, your own prospective client may find, should a problem arise, that their product identification codes do not coincide with those on the company database, and will be left without warranty, on a product that is a clone; and so will be left without recourse, but to turn back to you, who would then look back to the “distributor or licensed agent“, who in turn would have to look back to the “licensed manufactory” here. ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT YOU, AND THEMSELVES, HAVE BEEN DUPED! And that is exactly what is happening, and, morally speaking – in terms of the duty we owe to our prospective buyers, I really think you’d be better off out of it. It’s a morass. It really isn’t a fun pool to swim in. There are, however, a lot of legitimate high quality, great design, top of the range, as it were, “no-name” OEM/ODM products available, which compare technologically very well with many of the “big brands”. Anecdotaly, I have a nice little Chinese made no-name 1 GB USB memory stick I bought here in Beijing, in a tech market, about two years ago. It’s great. I was shocked to discover one day that I’d had the thing in my pocket when my trousers went into a 3 cycle wash and spin.

That’s buggered then!

That’s buggered then!

When hanging out my clothes to dry I discovered it with a yelp, thinking, “That’s buggered then”. I put in a shelf for a day or so, then picked it up and stuck it in my computer in the forlorn hope that it might just work. To my surprise, it opened up a window in the blink of an eye, as it usually did. In fact, a large number of clients have brought data on USB sticks with big brand names, and they all open slower than my little no-namer, which is Blitz fast. Anecdotes aside: My moral sense of what is right and wrong, in respect to the end user or buyer, baulks at the idea of even considering the potential risk to them as buyers, and to my personal sense of honour. Yes, some of still hold onto that old fashioned notion. Quaint, huh? For me, it has always been about the road I take, and not simply attaining the final destination, without due consideration as to how I get there. I have always wanted to arrive at, or achieve, my destinations and goals – whole, intact, and more of, NOT LESS than, a person than I when I started out on the journey or undertaking. International mafias are very pervasive and convincing. Not my cup of tea I’m afraid. The above mentioned scenarios are equally true for big brand apparel, trainers, cameras, and computers etc. “Welcome to the real.” Or…. not….

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 06:52:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Something You Need To Know About Us

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

Something You Need To Know About

Your China Trading Partner.

Your China Trading Partner

Your China Trading Partner

The increased influx of emails we’ve received, from people who’ve been burnt in their China dealings, has prompted me to write the following. Here are some things you need to know about us before you contact us.

Who are we?

We are product sourcing agents, and are focused in sourcing whatever products you need, and covering a very wide scope. We have close associations with a number of Chinese companies whom we trust, and are constantly developing new relationships with new suppliers. Whatever it is that you want, we can find it, as long as it’s being produced in China. Although, we are somewhat different to other sourcing agents, because we also assist in debt recovery, and also take an active role in warning the purchasing public, of the potential dangers of self-sourcing products from such a distance; whilst at the same time, providing the purchasing public with guidelines aimed at helping them avoid the potential pitfalls of dealing with China – such as being scammed, and losing their money.

Why Should You Deal With Us?

  • Because, we are principled business people who believe in putting people before profit.
  • Because, we are the good guys who think of others before ourselves.
  • Because, we demonstrate this by having a starting commission rate of only 5%, and falling according to size of order.
  • Because, we don’t charge any commission from the Chinese side, as other agents do, and so increase YOUR costs; our aim is to try to get you the best price we can.
  • Because, of the two previous points, you have already saved a minimum of 50%, and a maximum of 150% on agency commission costs, when compared to what other agents would charge you. We prefer turnover, and customer satisfaction, by making you and the Chinese supplier happy on cost.
  • Because, we believe in business fairness, balance, and harmony in all our transactions.
  • Because business doesn’t always have to be shady and knife-in-the-back.
  • Because, we, having a far better handle on the language, can source a wider range than simply logging into Alibaba, or some such website.
  • Because, we understand business culture here, and can spot a scammer before we even go face-to-face.
  • Because, if you don’t use us, you’ll more than likely get burnt.
  • Because, if you do get yourself burnt, it better be for a large amount, because if you come to us after the event, and you’ve only lost a couple of hundred, or a couple of thousand, we just won’t be able to help you.
  • Because, we get a mountain of mail from people having lost less than $10,000 USD, on a daily basis, and we know, what you DON’T know, and that is this – you’re never going to see your money again.
  • Because, if you got burnt for an iPhone and a couple of Dell computers, we aren’t able to help you; our sympathy you have, our help, you do not.
  • Because, if your case is for more than $10,000 USD, the chances are you probably did some research and due diligence, and the company stands a chance of being ‘real’, and they’re simply chancing it with you; and that means we stand a chance of getting your money back.
  • Because, our recovery service fee, is the same as our sourcing fee – 5% of the order value.

What Are The Benefits Of Sourcing From China?

Well, generally speaking you should find that you can reduce your average costs of manufacturing by up to 30%, and even as high as 60% on European and North American manufacturers. For example: Scares aside, due to failure to quality check goods at port before leaving customs, pharmaceuticals can be produced, and synthesised in China at greatly reduced costs. In certain cases costing only 1 tenth of what the same product would cost to produce in Europe or the US. Now that’s a saving! These types of savings are par for the course for a wide range of , but not all, products in China. Well, with so many companies making money from this – Why Aren’t You?

What Quantity Are We Talking?

Well, most genuine suppliers have a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ), which can vary, depending on product, from 3 to 3,000 pieces.

So, How Can You Avail Yourself Of Our Unique Situation?

Your problem is one of trust. You have nobody here on whom you can rely. Quite simply, you need to have a third party here in China you can trust, and to ensure that you get the goods you want, shipped to your market of choice, when you want, and at a the price you want. But China is so far away, and you don’t know the culture, the people, or the language. But you do know, that all of the aforementioned can cause you problems.

How can you resolve these issues without going to China?

Easy, develop a relationship with somebody you can trust, and allow them to handle things for you.

Connect With The Right People – Not With The Wrong People.

Allow us to be your prime contact in China. I’m a British expatriate, married to a Chinese citizen, and have been living and working here for 8 years. Quite simply, my China qualifications are way superior to yours. Take advantage of me – before someone takes advantage of YOU!

Here’s My Hand, And My Offer.

Accurately specify what it is you want, and we’ll find a source for you. We don’t charge a fee for inquiries, and you should immediately, or within a few days, be presented with a series of offers, from which you can choose what appeals best to you. If the source is new to us, and you can guarantee you want to take that offer, then we’ll go down and verify the source first, before you make the payment, at no extra cost to you, as we consider a new source to be a new RESOURCE for us. Give us the stress you just don’t need – and don’t feed the greed! Safe Trading!

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eSources Innitiate Smear Campaign Against YCTP

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

eSources Attempting To Smear Your China Trading Partner.

It has recently come to my attention that eSources.co.uk, owned by the now infamous (to many of us unfortunate enough to have had any dealings with the company or the individual) Mr. Carboni, have now attempted to smear Your China Trading Partner, quite probably due to our unflinching stance on the the truth of the issues surrounding him and his company; as well as our unwillingness to back down in the face of earlier threats for legal action. Many of you out there have already communicated to me that you have backed down under these threats, whilst many fora have removed negative comments regarding eSources out of fear of these threats. It would seem that since these threats have failed, as I have enough documentary evidence to take to any court should I be called to do so, which demonstrates the voracity of my claims, and is supported by many others out there who have lost money to eSources, that Mr. Carboni has now, as of the 19th August 2009, decided to attempt to attack my credibility by making false statements and slanderous remarks on sites such as the RipoffReport, and which you can view by clicking the link. In which short statement, and without any corroboratory evidence whatsoever, Mr. Carboni states that I have, “…committed numerous contract infringements and failed to cover his payments” None of which, strangely enough, he has ever presented to me either by email, or by telephone. And all of which I have documentary evidence for, including the fact that my bank is currently getting a reversion of funds back from his for taking money from my account when clearly not entitled to do so. I refer you to earlier articles on this site, and which you’ll find in the Scams and Scammers category. Mr. Carboni goes on to say, “We believe his behaviour is an indication of the values this person adobts in his business dealings and invite potential customers to evaluate this person’s full business practices before considering trading with him“, which sounds more of an indictment upon himself, rather than upon me or my company. I too invite you all to make the following searches of Google: “your china trading partner scam” and “yourchinatradingpartner.com scam” and finally “david kenneth stone scam“. From such a simple search you discover nothing negative about either myself or my company. Indeed, I find it interesting that Mr. Carboni also cites our full company address, albeit with a couple of minor errors, as: ChangPing Qu, HuiLongGuan, LongTengYuan 3Qu, 2HaoLou, 2DanYuan, 201 Beijing – to which you are more than welcome to pay a visit, or have someone you know, or an embassy official here, make a call to determine a suitable time to come and pay me a visit; whilst, on the other hand, Mr. Carboni uses the address of: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London – WC1N 3XX, United Kingdom, and which is a mere postal address, and little more than a PO BOX, as his company’s formal HQ address. In fact, however, should you run a Google search on “27 Old Gloucester Street, London – WC1N 3XX“, you will discover that you get 64 pages, and a grand total of 16,200 hits for that address, all with a wide diversity of companies claiming it as their UK registered office; companies as diverse as cleaners to clairvoyants. Strange that Mr. Carboni has no wish to have made public either his personal or a genuine office address. Who is hiding what from whom? It may interest you to know that the following search strings are regularly used and bring visitors to this site (visitor search percentage included): esources scam 5%. esources stefano carboni scam 3%. esources co uk scam 3%. wholesaledeals co uk scam 2% (Another of Mr. Carboni’s Companies). esources co uk 1%. wholesaledeals co uk 1%. stefano carboni  1%. stefano carboni wholesale 1%. carboni-company 1%. what do you think of wholesaledeals co uk 1%. esources co uk membership 1%. wholesaledeals uk 1%. whats wrong with esources 1%. who is registered on esources co uk 1%. e sources taking money from my account! 1%. In fact, I receive more visitors in search of  his company than for any other individual company via my website; and, as you can see, more than a few are connected with the word ‘scam‘. I have, of course, written to rippoffReport (please do take the time to visit their website and lodge any grievance you may have against eSources with them) and explained the situation, and post my email below for your edification: EMAIL BEGINS: Dear RipoffReport, Firstly, I would like to thank you for the valuable service you pose to the community in general. However, I would also like to say that your service is also being abused by known scammers to damage the reputation of honest business people who’ve made genuine complaints against those scammers. Me, for instance. Recently it has come to my attention that you posted a warning against my company Your China Trading Partner (YCTP), and which has been posted by eSources.co.uk. Article Here This company is a known scam company and regularly rips people off via the internet, and has even been involved in the fake check scams and money mules as far back as 2006. If you run a simple Google search on esources.co.uk and the owner’s name Stefano Carboni you will find a plethora of results from Fraudwatchers.org, scambusters, etc. regarding the perfidy of this company. Now, I do have a genuine grievance against this company, as I was actually ripped off by them to the tune of $ 345 USD; and indeed, it was I who first lodged a report with you when this happened, and which you have now modified to be a retaliatory response by myself. http://www.ripoffreport.com/e-trade/Stefano-Carboni-ESou/stefano-carboni-esources-co-7y5we.htm By doing so you have fallen directly into the hands of this long-time scammer, and are causing genuine harm to a genuine business. Indeed, my business is not only product sourcing, but to wheedle out scammers, and warn people away from them, as can easily be seen if you visit my blog at www.safelysourcingchina.com, and where you will find the following reports directed at eSources.co.uk, my experiences with them, and what my research has shown: Be careful when dealing with esources co uk. More on esources how dirty is their laundry? I strongly recommend that you read the above two listed articles, where you will discover enough information, external to my website, which will demonstrate clearly just who is scamming who. On the other hand you will find hundreds against Mr. Carboni and his company eSources.co.uk, some of which have been published by me, but the vast majority are in fora and on anti-scam websites scattered across both the globe and the internet. Really, it isn’t a difficult task for you to prove this to yourselves. It is a tragedy, and a travesty, that you publish such material without first having made a background check against my company or his. May I suggest that you take a moment to perform a Google search on the following three sets of terms:  Those search terms include my company name, my web address name, and my full name, plus the word scam. I assure you that you will not find one single bad word against either me or my company. I would like to say that the following search terms hit my blog, which is a new blog, in the following percentages: esources scam 5%. esources stefano carboni scam 3%. esources co uk scam 3%. wholesaledeals co uk scam 2% (Another of Mr. Carboni’s Companies). esources co uk 1%. wholesaledeals co uk 1%. stefano carboni  1%. stefano carboni wholesale 1%. carboni-company 1%. what do you think of wholesaledeals co uk 1%. esources co uk membership 1%. wholesaledeals uk 1%. whats wrong with esources 1%. who is registered on esources co uk 1%. e sources taking money from my account! 1%. One final search you may wish to carry out is to search the company address on Google, and look at the quantity, and the quality of companies registered at this very same address. 27 Old Gloucester Street London – WC1N 3XX Do the same with mine, and you will find, but one company, and no negative comments. Finally, in response to Mr. Carboni’s allegation, on Ripoffreport, that, “The owner David Kenneth has since committed numerous contract infringements and failed to cover his payments.” This is in itself a patent absurdity, as I have all my accounting data to demonstrate otherwise. Indeed, I have more than that, in as much as my bank is currently claiming back monies which Mr. Carboni’s company took from my credit card without permission, and with no right to do so, as he’d actually suspended my account several months before, and less than 14 days after receiving my payment, as the copies of his communications, which I have kept, and which I also have logged on PayPal, will attest. I refer you to my blog for full details of this particular issue: Be careful when dealing with esources co uk. RippoffReport and Your China Trading Partner, are partners in the same battle; we are allies in the field. And as such I would like to ask you to remove the revision from my first posting, and to delete Mr. Carboni’s report about my company. I am not really a litigious kind of man, and have always fought my own battles, and I really don’t want to threaten an organisation I respect with a case in court; however, I do expect you to do a minimum of research before you allow postings to be made. Dear Ripoffreport team, you have participated in a great injustice, and are now standing against an innocent party, indeed, a fellow justice seeker, and backing a company known, easily known if one simply performs a quick Google search, for defrauding people of their monies, failing to answer their calls, and hiding behind a postal drop address, rather than a genuine reachable address. I shall be publishing this letter on my blog, as will I too the fallacious and slanderous (as I can prove every word of my testimony) article and the link to it on your own website for my own readers. Kind regards, David Kenneth Stone EMAIL ENDS: I encourage all my readers to carefully follow the suggested searches above for their own piece-of-mind, and at the same time I invite anyone who has had troubled dealings with Mr. Carboni or eSources to send me their detailed information, which I will file for later use against this company and individual; below is a special email account where you can send me your details. Thank you for your time, folks! carbissue@yourchinatradingpartner.com Safe Trading!

Some Sources For You In Your Search Regarding eSources
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Originally posted 2009-09-13 19:25:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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The China CEO Gift-Giving Scam

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Municipality of Tianjin
Image of Tianjin via Wikipedia

I was recently contacted by Eric Vermaas, the CEO of PT Team Wood (www.teamwood.org), a Dutch-Indonesian timber and furniture partnership based in Jakarta, to run a background check on an Import Export company based in Tianjin, China, and which had just placed an order for $915,000 USD in speciality wood furnishings. Fortunately, for Eric I just happened to be in Tianjin at the time, as I was visiting family for the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the two main traditional festivals along with Chinese New Year, and therefore checking them out was a fairly simple process for me. The Chinese company details are as follows: Tianjin Tanbo Import & Export Trade Co., Ltd., Address: 43 Nanjing Road, Heping District, 300350, Tianjin, China Web: www.sjzdingsheng.com.cn Tel: + 86 228 143 92 09 Fax: + 86 400 67 61 100 ext 1010 Email: heiyexingguang8@126.com, tanbo_2003@yeah.net Trade Manager: Chen Jinliang I quickly discovered that telephone number is not a land line, and is actually a mobile number known as a xiao ling tong, and which looks like a land-line number, can’t be easily traced, and is very cheap to buy. The fax number isn’t in Tianjin and seems to be out of town, and is perhaps a fax service somewhere, hence the extension number; quite probably a big room in a cheap building with a number of fax machines in it – linked to a PBX if the extension number is anything to go by. I visited the address provided on the website and discovered that it doesn’t actually exist. Basically the numbers on that street jump from number 35 to number 57 Nanjing Road, with nothing but an abandoned construction site between these two numbers, and therefore no sign of number 43. Of course, all of this seemed somewhat suspicious at best, particularly more so since I further determined that they allegedly scammed a businessperson from Europe out of 8,000 Euros on or about the 22nd or 23rd of September 2009 (you can find the details here), and have also placed large orders with several other companies, in one case up to $600,000 USD in value, and all since the 31st August 2009. I further discovered that Tianjin Tanbo Import & Export Trade Co., Ltd., also operate under the name of Hebei Dingsheng Import & Export Company, and have the same non-existent address. In consequence to all of the above I strongly advised PT Team Wood to have nothing whatsoever to do with this “company“. Tianjin Tanbo also failed to respond to my repeated phone calls or emails. Particularly when once they realised they had Chinese speakers, currently resident in China, on their tails. The only call we had, and which I instigated, was brief, and led to their prevarication and a lot of stuttering, particularly when I asked for their address, and they said it was the same as the website – to which I responded that I’d been to visit the location, and it didn’t exist. Whereupon they responded that they’d just recently moved. How convenient and how odd they’d forgotten to mention this when first asked, or even to update their website. Finally, I asked them to have a senior executive call me back, and have had no response in the three days since that call – and neither do I expect one.

The CEO Gift Scam Works in the Following Manner:

1. The scammer places a large order with you. 2. They then invite you to China to finalise the contract. 3. When you arrive, they will tell you that in traditional Chinese business culture you should buy the CEO a gift commensurate with his position. This in the case of the last person I found scammed by them was for gold bars worth 8,000 Euros. 4. After you have signed the contract and returned home, they then contact you again and tell you the contracts must be translated and stamped and sealed by a notary, and that the fee for this is 1,350 Euros or something of the type. 5. If you pay that then the next step would be for them to cease contact with you, as they are in no way interested in a purchase.

Gift-Giving In China

Gift-giving in China is common in business, but a bottle of wine or a treat from your own country is usually more than acceptable, and I know of no CEO who would expect me to buy them anything expensive. Moreover, since you are a foreigner you’re usually expected to be ignorant of gift-giving in China, and so are exempt from this. Most gifts between Chinese businessmen are cigarettes, Chinese white spirits (baijiu – a strong clear alcohol), or a good tea; certainly never in the form of gold bars, unless you have plans on bribing your way into a contract. In conclusion, and as a rule of thumb, you should never feel obliged to buy anybody any kind of gift in China during the pursuance of your business interactions. However, out of politeness, a small gift of not-too-great an expense from your own country or culture will be gratefully received and appreciated. Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-10-07 22:50:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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SafelySourcingChina.Com Is Launched

Monday, August 9th, 2010

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same – When Is A Blog Not A Blog?

Well, I decided that although I like the look of the blog here at yourchinatradingpartner.com/blog, and that WordPress has a great deal to say for itself, as a very manageable blogging tool; I just felt it was a wee bit slow. I mean, you come to the YourChinaTradingPartner.Com page, and you get a very nice fast load. However, when you drop down a directory into the blog, I found it to very often take a monumentally long time to load the page, and it was driving me nuts. So, to solve the problem, and generate a lot of new work for myself, I built an HTML version of the blog, and slapped it on its’ own host at www.SafelySourcingChina.com. Of course, this has presented me, the novice, with certain issues, such as how to make an RSS feed of my new HTML version of the blog. However, after a little searching I managed to find a way of doing it which suits me down to the ground. Indeed, once I’d organised my RSS, I then went and tried feeding it to FeedBurner, and it went through far more smoothly than the horror story that was my feeds, here on the blog, just a week ago, when i had to hire someone to sort it out for me. CLICK! and I was done. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I’ll continue to post here, but I’ll also post the material on the new blog too, for those who prefer a speedier, if less glossy, access portal to my stuff. If anyone’s interested in how to set up an RSS feed for their blog, then I suggest you simply go where I went, and all will be made clear. Here’s the link: rapidfeeds.com By the way, I just tried putting the annimated feed link bar in here from FeedBurner, but WordPress just wouldn’t have it, and I’ve had to rewrite, and delete this article 4 times to try and dump the scramble of code left here. I like the UTILITY of WordPress, but I prefer the ease and speed of HTML. For me, WordPress has presented me with a number of issues, a few of which are still unresolved. That’s it for now, folks. UPDATE I managed to get an HTML blog sorted quite nicely, but found updating feeds to be a bit of a drag, and so finally decided to move the WordPress version of the blog here, as you can now see, and have probably noted.

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 03:03:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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