Buyers of polyurethane materials have been duped by people passing themselves off as distributors for Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes Co., Ltd., according to Ming Ye, the firm's general manager for emerging markets.
"At the beginning, people pretended to have our material from other distribution channels," he said. They would arrange for delivery, he said, and when cargo arrived, it would either contain drums of water or the goods would not arrive. In either case, the people would vanish.
Ming said Yantai has reported the incidents to Chinese authorities, who are investigating. Firms in Africa and the Middle East are typically targeted, he said, and the contact is made by email or phone, as fraudster pretend to be distributors for Yantai. Material allegedly is offered at very low prices.
Ming said buyers should only deal with agents they trust, and if they have any doubt, to contact Yantai.