Vietnamese Embassy in Italy details

Talking to VTC News reporter about the support of the Vietnamese Embassy in the case of 36 containers of cashews exported to Italy at risk of being scammed, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam Trade Counselor, Embassy Trade Office (Embassy) said, on the afternoon of March 17, the Italian economic police issued a decision to seize 16 containers of Vietnamese enterprises that did not deliver goods to any individual or organization, even with the original documents.

Of the 36 containers of cashews exported to Italy, 8 have landed at Genoa port, a few containers are at Singapore port and more than 20 containers are on their way to Italy this March.

With the intervention of the Embassy of Vietnam and representatives of two Vietnamese companies, COSCO shipping line agreed to immediately stop delivering the shipment to the buyer in the suspected fraud group, even though they had the original documents, had already signed the contract. pay the port fee and are demanding to take the container out of the port.

So far, only about 20 containers have lost control with the set of documents. The value of each container is about 200,000 USD, totaling about 4 million USD, equivalent to about 86 billion VND. Thus, the risk of damage to Vietnamese enterprises has been minimized.

According to Mr. Thanh, the Embassy of Vietnam is actively supporting businesses in the case to deal with the number of cashew nut containers that are stuck in Italy, because the cost to transport this shipment back to Vietnam is very large.

“I think finding customers to buy back the current batch of cashew nuts is not difficult. We have contacted many supermarket chains in Italy, with cashew nut production and processing factories.” Mr. Thanh said.

According to the Vietnam Trade Counselor, the domestic cashew processing enterprises themselves also have familiar goods in Europe, they can sell in Italy or neighboring countries in Europe. However, in order to resell goods, the most important thing now is that Vietnamese businesses need to gain ownership of the goods.

The buyer has revealed to be a fraudster, illegally appropriated the original documents and has not paid for the Vietnamese business.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh – Vietnam Trade Counselor in Italy

Through this incident, the Vietnam Trade Counselor in Italy once warned domestic businesses about commercial fraud when doing business with partners not only in Italy but in all countries around the world.

“So far, every year, the Trade Office still has to deal with a few fraud cases with various forms such as, the Vietnamese company has already paid for the goods, but the Italian partner does not deliver the goods, or the Italian company makes a deposit. but took the goods and did not pay the remaining amount or cheated the original documents”Mr. Thanh added.

Mr. Thanh also said that the previous cases only stopped at a few containers, but this time up to several dozen containers, the value of the shipment was very large and happened at the same time.

According to Mr. Thanh, the customer is said to be a customer of Vietnam’s cashew nut, even hired a lawyer and threatened representatives of Vietnamese businesses, putting pressure on shipping lines and Italian courts to demand refund. row.

Up to now, COSCO shipping line has received a set of original documents of a container and confirmed that it is a real set of original documents, not a fake.

The Embassy said that this is the first and important evidence for the investigative and procedural agencies of Vietnam and Italy to quickly launch the investigation process of the mass fraud case, which is of great value to foreigners. with Vietnamese enterprises.

“The buyer has revealed himself to be a fraudster, illegally appropriated the original documents and has not yet paid the contract for the Vietnamese business”Mr. Thanh emphasized

At many cooperation seminars or trade forums in the past, the Vietnam Trade Office has always noted that domestic enterprises need to be cautious in international trade transactions. Not only in Italy, but economic fraud takes place all over the world.

The lesson learned is that businesses need to be careful in the terms of the contract, especially the payment terms, need to verify the business to understand their partners. Enterprises should contact the Trade Office of Vietnamese embassies in other countries for assistance with import-export related issues before signing the contract.

Many cases have happened already, Vietnamese enterprises have just contacted the Trade Office to verify information. Many business addresses are just fake addresses, when in reality there are no corporate offices as given by the Vietnamese side or very small companies. Even if the company has a large scale, they may have business difficulties, so they still cause damage to Vietnamese businesses.

In the near future, if possible, the Vietnam Trade Office will coordinate with relevant authorities to organize more seminars and training courses for domestic small and medium enterprises on prevention of commercial fraud.