Reliable exporters: find them and meet them

Full Question

I have been cheated USD32,000 by a hacker. He entered in between my email and my supplier and it was very hard to discover. I thought I was in contact with my supplier and transferred funds to that person's account. Is there a way to trace that transfer? I have all the bank details.

Answer

I am sorry to see you are the latest victim of this scam, which is becoming more and more common. Here is an article advising readers about the scam and offering tips to avoid falling into the trap: How to protect yourself from this China sourcing scam epidemic

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely you will be able to track down the scam artist even if you have their name and bank details. In some of the other cases, the fraudster used fake name and ID to open the bank account. Once the funds arrived, they closed the account, took the money and disappeared.

For your reference, while the supplier is not legally liable, I know of a case where the same thing happened, but the supplier felt bad for the buyer and because the buyer was an important customer, the supplier provided some compensation to the buyer. You should also talk to your supplier about getting the police involved.