The most dangerous trade finance fraud may not involve obviously fake documents, but a transaction that looks entirely real, writes Baldev Bhinder, managing director at Blackstone & Gold.
On paper, a fraudulent commodity trade rarely looks any different from a good one. There is a purchase contract with a recognised supplier, a sale contract with an established buyer, an invoice and a full set of shipping documents. The counterparties are real companies. The commodity is real. The trader has a genuine trading history and, in many cases, years of relationships with reputable banks and trading houses. Nothing here has been invented, and that is precisely what makes it difficult to argue with – until someone asks the deceptively simple question of whether this transaction actually happened in the way the documents say it did.
I have spent the better part of my career picking…
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Shred all physical documents that contain your full name, address, ID number, or financial details before throwing them in the bin to prevent “dumpster diving” identity theft.