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R&S Shipping

An Expensive Lesson in Working with an Agent Offering Cheap Rates

5 October 2022

rysshipp
We still find that some of our members get scammed by cheap rates, only to be scammed. We now have a case where the fraudulent agent is unable to pay the carrier’s booking agent even though the overseas agent paid him in advance. The booking agent refuses to release the B/L, while the cargo has already arrived at the destination port.

In another case below, a member paid almost four times the original amount. Please note that the purpose of “Great Rates” is to trick you with fraudulent agents.We recommend that you educate your sales/quotes team to work only with members listed on the WCAworld websites to avoid any issues.
If you cannot verify whether an agent is a WCAworld member, then it is probably an agent with bogus cheap rates as a hook to get your business in their control. As you can see in the case above, it was an expensive mistake.

What if the cheating agent walked away with the USD 26,560.00 without the intention to pay the carrier? This is still a possibility with the first case shown above. These shipments will be stuck at the destination port with proof of cargo ownership problems to allow release, and racking up port storage and carrier demurrage charges. Add a strong possibility of being sued by the customer, bringing more misery to the innocent agent.

Taken from the WCA World publication

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