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HomeBill of LadingBeware of fake shipping line websites for tracking your cargo

Beware of fake shipping line websites for tracking your cargo

Yes there are fake shipping line websites based on the method of “phishing” just like fake banking websites.. The International Maritime Bureau is warning users of such sites (although names are not mentioned)..

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) is warning against fraudulent cargo tracking websites. 

Such sites have been created and improved over the years to add legitimacy for fraudsters to entrap their would-be victims. This is particularly true for containerised shipments, where convincing tracking websites highlight the degree of sophistication employed.

Two recent examples investigated by the Bureau illustrate how such online confirmations – whilst appearing convincing – cannot be always taken on face value and relied upon. These also further underline the need for independent verification of credit complying documents, particularly the bill of lading.

The first example covers what appears to be a valuable containerised shipment of copper cathodes from South America to the Far East. The Bs/L presented appeared on their face to be in order. The carrier’s website further attested that the cargoes had been loaded as per the two Bs/L referred.

IMB’s investigations on the other hand contradicted what the website stated.

The physical carrier had quickly confirmed to the Bureau that the vessel was trading elsewhere. Whilst the vessel had bunkered at the discharge port, no cargo operations had been performed in respect of this transaction. A number of mistakes on the fake carrier website were also present with regards to the vessel and further highlights the potential problem with reliance on such resources for cargo confirmation.

The second example relates to the purported shipment of a spurious urea cargo from Malaysia to Vietnam.

On this occasion, the carrier’s website bore a remarkable resemblance to the legitimate website of one of the world’s largest liner companies. In fact, the website pages had been replicated and presented in such a manner that at first glance may lead users to unwittingly believe that they are dealing with the legitimate carrier’s website.

Corporate logos resembling those of the liner company were also present throughout the web pages. The liner company subsequently had the offending website taken down. By this time however the damage had already been done and the unsuspecting victim had already paid out a considerable amount to those behind the fraudulent website.

A degree of caution must be exercised by banks and others when seeking online confirmation for certain carrier websites. Unless the carrier is well known, and the origins of the website verified, total reliance on website confirmations should be avoided. Like legitimate businesses, fraudsters have been quick to appreciate the value of a well presented website in furthering their “business”.

The Bureau is able to utilise a network of contacts and has built up expertise over the past 30 years to swiftly verify the authenticity of trade documents independently.

The above two cases are not the only examples where third party online confirmation markedly differs from the truth and the Bureau’s findings and responses to its banking members. We do not expect these to be the last.

For more information on the IMB and its services to members, please email imb@icc-ccs.org or call +44 (0)207 423 6960

Source : http://www.icc-ccs.org

Have any of experienced such fraud or fake websites..?? Please do share for everyone’s benefit if you have..

21 COMMENTS

  1. Can anyone tell me if cidetexpressdelivery in Damascus Syria is a legitimate co because they have got over 11,000dollars of shipping and INS and custom stuff off me I never even got my package .

  2. “Lonnie Radzinsky”, the charming young lady who is the “Accountant” of “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS” (https://ziktrustglobalcourier.com) and the “Finance Director” of “CIVAL LOGISTICS” (https://civalogistic.com/about-us/) at the same time, is even more versatile than this double function would suggest. She is also the “Accountant” of

    1. “Ventum Global Logistics” (https://ventum-global-logistics.com/about-us/our-people/),
    2. “Botch Pty Ltd.” (https://botch.com.au/about-us/our-people/),
    3. “Worldwide Express Shippers” (https://worldwidexpressshippers.com/our-people/)
    4. “Cosco Line” (https://www.cosco-line.com/our-people.html)
    5. “FastCargo Express” (https://fastcargoexpressdiplomatic.com/our-people)
    6. “Private Express Delivery” (http://pexpressdelivery.com/our-people.html)
    7. “Equity Couriers” (https://equitycouriers.com/about-us/our-people/)
    8. “Swift Direct Cargos” (https://www.swiftdirectcargos.com/our-people.html)
    9. “World Cargo Diplomatic Delivery” (https://worldcargodiplomaticdelivery.com/our-people)
    10. “Fast Above Cargo Delivery Service Inc” (https://fastabovecargos.com/our-people.html)
    11. “Express Global” (https://www.expresglobal.co.uk/our-people)
    12. “Swift Delivery and Logistics 24/7” (https://swiftdeliveryandlogistics247.com/our-people.html)
    13. “Safe Express Global” (https://www.safe-expressglobal.com/our-people.html)
    14. “Iplus Courier” (https://ipluscourier.com/our-people)
    15. “Oceanic Prime Delivery Company” (https://oceanicexpdelivery.com/about-us/our-people/),

    and so on.

    Poor “Lonnie”, she must be working 24/7. I hope her colleagues, “John Doe” (CEO) and “David Shenken” (Manager), who usually appear by her side, work as hard as she does.

  3. Apparently, there’s another “company” related to the “ZIKTRUST” fraud. It calls itself “CIVAL LOGISTICS” (https://civalogistic.com/about-us/). The gallery of the “company”‘s “Board of Directors” shows the same photos that are featured on https://ziktrustglobalcourier.com/our-people.html (all taken from somewhere on the internet of course), with slightly different names and job descriptions:
    ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS: “John Doe, CEO”. CIVAL LOGISTICS: “Tom Walker, President Director”.
    ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS: “David Schenken, Manager”. CIVAL LOGISTICS: “David Schenken, Manager”.
    ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS: “Lonnie Radzinsky, Accountant”. CIVAL LOGISTICS: “Lonnie Radzinsky Finance Director”.

  4. I was in contact with a fake shipping company that calls itself “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS”. The company has a nice website https://ziktrustglobalcourier.com/, an e-mail address and a phone number +44 789 704 7388, which works only for Whatsapp contacts. Interlocutors write fairly correct English but are obviously neither British nor American, maybe from India or Pakistan. The supposed goods to be shipped were the personal belongings of a US Army servicewoman, “Sgt. Isla Harrison”. This woman, an impostor of Sgt. Mary Harrison and using images from Mary’s twitter posts (https://twitter.com/maryhar83464863?lang=en, https://twitter.com/maryhar52467312?lang=en, etc.) befriended me on Quora and Google Chat and told me a touching story about being alone in the world except for a teenage son and a cat, and me being the only person to whom she would entrust her belongings to keep until she retired from the US Army within a few months, when she would also reimburse the shipping costs she asked me to advance because she had no means of paying them now. The lady seemed sincere enough for me to order a transfer of supposed shipping costs to an account indicated by “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS”, but then she told me I had paid to the wrong account and had to pay to another (that of her trusted company “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL COURIER SERVICES”) for the shipment to get going. I thereupon cancelled the transfer order and told “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS” (ZGE) to refund my money in case it should have reached the intended recipient. ZGE refused and kept pretending that a shipment was on the way for me, even providing a fake tracking number and carrier reference. Customs could locate no shipment baser on either of these numbers and had never heard of “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS”.
    “Isla Harrison” also contacted me via Whatsapp from a US phone number 001 (214) 612-7216. The number exists, it is an AT&T landline number from Red Oak, Texas. A few days after I broke contact with “Isla Harrison”, having told her what I thought of her, I received a message from one “Gary”, referring to the above number and asking “who is this?”. Maybe it was the above-mentioned “Gary Harrison”. Besides the twitter photos of Sgt. Mary Harrison, “Isla Harrison” had also used a photo of one “Maureen Harrison” from a dating website. Maybe “Isla” is the wife or girlfriend of “Gary”, or then the fellow has some strange inclinations besides being a scammer (though I’m quite sure my interlocutor was a woman).
    ZIGTRUST GLOBAL EXPRESS seems to have no company registration and also doesn’t figure in any yellow pages. It seems to be linked to an alleged US company “ZIKTRUST GLOBAL XPRESS” from San Francisco, which has a website (https://ziktrustglobal.wixsite.com/ziktrust) with a non-existing address (500 Terry Francois Street, San Francisco – the name of the street is Terry Francois Blvd.) and no company registration.
    Please spread the word that “ZIKTRUST” transportation or courier companies are scam organizations, possibly related to this “Gary Harrison” fellow. And that there is no female US Army Sgt. by the name of Isla Harrison.

  5. I have a similar experience ordering product online, come to find out it was a scam but they sent me the tracking # beware of the site:: https://airnetexpres.com/ the scammer told me the warehouse double the order sent and need to collect or pay directly to shipper. I called the shipping agent and the were so confused and brainless people.The tracking site looked professional.

    • YES unfortunately I was also there holding my shipment. (transit duty, handling fee and traffic tax). and there using legitimate companies names. On the bill my supplier was SMK Electronics. I call them and they had no recollection anything they send me. and I call the real NYKline and have no knowledge of my shipment they have no affiliate with NYKline Logistics. a painfull lesson through Alibaba

  6. Hi there i got the same bought stufs 500 usd what said on alibaba the company CEYONE INC and the invoice they send me was from GLOBAL TELECOM ELECTRONICS
    1015 N La Brea Ave, South Hollywood, CA 90038,
    United States .They send it i got a fake cargo tracking. Next was i will have to pay costums 210 usd what i did few hours later the ask for another 32o usd for misspacketing. I said i wont pay it so the said they will pay a part of it so i will have to pay 120 usd. Its a scam.
    And that company has gold membership on Alibaba that shows just that alibaba is at least 50% scam.

  7. Hi. I got a WhatsApp number from Alibaba.com and I ordered something online for 900$ and after receiving the tracking number for my parcel it was moving smoothly but after few days the transit was stopped by customs so they told me to pay more and yes they negotiated a bit. After paying the transit as I suppose was resumed but after 2 more days the parcel was stopped again this time they told it was a MISPACKAGED parcel so we have to ship it back and then send it back. And the person said that he might loose his job if he didn’t pay for the MISPACKAGING, so he asked me if I can help him raise 800$ more he would raise the rest and send me all what was in the parcel. After I refuse to pay anymore he said you might have to be waiting for a long time but you will receive it. And the logistics website has been suspended. When I asked him what is that supposed to mean? He replied it’s suspended because you (I) refused to pay. It was a fraud and I lost a lot of money because of it. And now the WhatsApp number is invalid the website is no more there. BEWARE…

  8. I don’t know if anybody can help, but I bought something online and they gave me a tracking number for universaloceaniclogistics.com and the parcel just says processing. According to the person I bought my item from said that it would be an overnight shipping and I should have my parcel in 2 days. It has been 2 weeks and the tracking number says the same info. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

  9. A danish company is harassing me for more payments of origin charges, though my order to the seller was CIF terms. I have lost 6000 USD to the seller – also from Denmark they are neither helping out , but are pushing me to pay another 3450 Euros for shipping documents ( refundable ) to the shipping company.

  10. Is express maritime logistics out of the Ukraine a real company. Please check and if it’s a yes or a no please respond

  11. Have anyone knows this company?been trying to contact them regarding the said package but they never replied my concern. Is it legit cargo and shippung company

    • they asking money for shipping hold in several paces. First they asking huge money. when you negotiate they will reduce and say that 20percent they will help and other 80 percent you have to pay. that heard we pay money to their bank account they will shows release block after some days they show again blocking your product and ask more money. I am a victim of them. Our laws have nothing to do them. so these kind scammers are frauding people very much and they enjoying their life with the money of poor people.

      please beware of these kind of people. and never put money to someones account number. they will definitely cheat you.

    • same thing happened to me. I lost my 300 Kuwait dinar in such a way. they showed me a fake shipping consignment details. easycargologics.cf was the site and they gave me a tracking number which was created just for me. and when ever I track it. it shows its been on hold at several countries and they ask me to pay for some other silly things. I lost my 300KD till now. now there is no news from them.

      can any body help me out to find these people. I have their mobile number.

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