Dubai - Buyers of polyurethane materials have been duped by fraudsters passing themselves off as distributors for Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes Co., Ltd., general manager for emerging markets, Ming Ye, said.
In a telephone conversation, he said "at the beginning people pretended to have our material from other distribution channels."
They would arrange for delivery, and when cargoes arrived they would either contain drums of water or the goods would not arrive. In either case the fraudsters would vanish.
Ming explained that Yantai had gone to the Chinese authorities which are investigating. The fraudsters typically target firms in Africa and the Middle East. They deal only by email or telephone and pretend to be distributors for Yantai. Fraudsters will often offer material at very low prices.
Ming said that buyers should only deal with agents they trust and if there is any doubt they should contact Yantai.
