We have implemented multiple security tools to prevent attempted fraud involving the impersonation of legitimate companies.
An attempted fraud becomes a successful fraud when the victim (the company posting the load), THROUGH THEIR OWN LACK OF ATTENTION, entrusts the goods to a fraudster posing as a legitimate company, whose identity is publicly available or known to the victim. The fraudster arranges collection from the location specified by the victim and redirects the goods to an unknown destination. The goods disappear, and by the time the victim realises what has happened, they discover that the party they were dealing with does not exist or can no longer be contacted.
Today, we are presenting one of our prevention tools.
When a user reports receiving a suspicious transport offer for a load they have posted and cannot find the company making the offer within the ALPEGA ecosystem, the BursaTransport team launches a race against time.
From the list of accounts that viewed the load, we identify the suspicious accounts. Within moments, we compile a list of all loads those accounts have already viewed. We then alert the companies that posted those loads to the risk that they may have received an offer from a company that is not registered on any ALPEGA freight exchange.
The warning message is generated automatically and sent to all companies whose loads were viewed by the suspicious accounts.
Here is an actual example:
To: office@abccargo.eu,abccargologistic@outlook.com
Subject: Warning upon possible risk situation for ABC CARGO LOGISTIC GROUP (CYPRUS) LTD
We do notice you upon a possible risk situation for your company. This message was generated in an automatic manner by 123cargo application.
We were noticed about transport offers received from liviu.vilagos@mvtlog.eu inexistent address in Alpega freight exchanges. As the suspicious account did consult loads posted by ABC CARGO LOGISTIC GROUP (CYPRUS) LTD, it is possible that you signed transport deals with fake carrier.
We recommend to double-check the email addresses which sent you accepted transport offers by your company. The tool offered by 123cargo can be found in main menu, CHECK EMAIL.
In case you accepted a transport offer from an inexisting email address in any Alpega freight exchange, we do recommend you to cancel the loading or to take supplementary safety measures regarding the load, in purpose of safe transportation to the intended destination. And contact us as soon as possible.
What should you, as a company posting loads, do to stay safe?
1. Use the CHECK CONTACT tool to verify the email address from which you received the transport offer. Do this when dealing with an unfamiliar carrier, BUT ALSO WHEN YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE COMPANY: a single letter or hyphen added to an email address to deceive you could be enough for you to lose your goods. We therefore recommend copying the email address and pasting it into the form instead of typing it manually.
2. Notify us immediately after receiving a suspicious offer, so that we can launch an investigation.
Thank you for your attention.
The 123cargo Team
