Scammed shipper seeks legal revenge

The Italian company that was swindled by an SA ghost line (FTW September 19, 2008) in a deal to buy and freight 60 000-metric tonnes of scrap rail lines packed in 2 656 containers to Europe is determined to see the participants in the scam in court. An SA contact – who is in touch with the Italian company – told FTW that the Italian management was not yet prepared to release details of the company with which they signed the contract. But they have expressed serious concerns about the scam-merchants whom, they said, had “built a fake deal with us and perhaps with others”. And they are correct in that assumption of “others”. The same ghost line has also tried to do the same scrap metal deal with a South Korean company – but management suspicion in the Korean corporation saved the day. In the case of the Italian company, however, a deal was done and a lot of money appeared to have changed hands. And the management also revealed just how convincing this scam is – being accompanied with false web pages (other shipping lines’ sites), false bills of lading, and false shipping accounts. “They signed and sealed documents with governmental seals” (fake department of transport stamps) “and with names of fake companies such as SAL” (the ghost South African Line) “and others,” said the Italian company’s spokeswoman. But the Italians were not without their doubts. “My boss did not trust documents via email,” said the spokesperson. But after travelling in Johannesburg and Durban many months ago he was convinced, and was sent documents – which bore those impressive government seals and signatures. The tragic end to the story – after the deal fell through, and the supposed 60 000-mts of rail lines just disappeared into thin air – was that management had accepted the genuineness of these documents. “So,” said the spokeswoman, “they paid them.” But the Italian management now want legal revenge – and are hoping to back their case with a bit of SA government muscle. “My boss is contacting government and we hope they will investigate, because they are damaged too,” said the spokeswoman – referring to the use of false DoT stamps.