How to Check a Chinese Scam Site
The following six red rags are simply a list of indicators, which in isolated terms, may or may not mean anything; however, when found all together, should ring some alarm bells. As with anything in business or life, the whole is greater than the sum of its’ parts.
1. The Site.
There is such site, it has an absence of any Chinese version for its’ own pages. This means they’re targeting only one group of prospects – foreigners. Generally, companies in China that have Chinese and English versions of their pages are usually genuine, as they’re making themselves accessible to the home market too; particularly for companies dealing in electronics, phones, and computers. An absence of such, may, but not always, indicate a potential scam site.
2. Contact Information.
All the email addresses are “Hotmail” or “Yahoo”; there is a distinct absence of a company email address. This in and of itself doesn’t carry too much weight, as many genuine Chinese companies operate with free email addresses. However, it is a common enough marker amongst the scammers. This wouldn’t usually be the case for a technology company, as they’d normally have to have an official office, and storage facilities out of mere necessity.
3. Company Registration Number.
Of course, as a legally registered business entity, they’d need to have a business registration number. When once you have that number, you can go to the Ministry of Commerce page for contact details of the Local Administrations office, and try to get the data for the government business registration office in the city, and the province where they claim to be registered. You can then email, fax, or phone requesting to know if this number matches a genuine business.
4. Unbeatable Offer.
This one is a complete no-brainer; if the price seems too good to be true – then it’s a scam.
5. Payment.
Ask if the company will accept an L/C (Letter of Credit); if they only take Western Union, Money Gram, and the likes, then they’re more than likely a scammer.
6. IP Check.
Run an IP address check on the company and see how many other web addresses they have registered to them.
