Orgakom Milindo GmbH is warning exporters of fraudulent statements in Internet platforms. The culprits use popular Internet platforms like Alibaba.com or corpmarket.com. The trick is relatively simple. The fraudsters choose a company that is active in international business (like our company). A person subsequently – using a synonyme – opens a thread under the relatively peaceful subject like ‘has anyone done Business with Orgakom Milindo’ in – for instance – Alibaba. In answer to this relatively harmless subject thread another member of this gang then – of course anonymously – answers with totally unfounded allegations. Words like ‘the company are paperhangers’ or ‘the company have criminal practices’ or ‘the company have never time deliver’. All these verbiages hint strongly to the bad English used by Chinese Internet kids but of course – this can never be proven.

The first reaction of a company – so attacked – is to address the site owner with the kind request to delete such nonsense. Alibaba however refuses to do so and replies with the vague argumentation that only the originator can close the thread. This originator however is anonymous and can hardly be reached for lack of verifiable e-mail addresses. In case you are able to reach this person - he of course turns down any requests to terminate his threat. After some mails he is then willing – like in our case – to do so against a one off payment of app. US$ 8,000.00. In case you pay this sum to clear your name – the game starts again the following week. New name – same fradulent behaviour. Some imitators will subsequently open a similar thread in Chinese (hardly understandable for international businessmen) and will then approach you with a similar request for money to terminate the thread.

It is virtually impossible to take legal action against these gangsters since the originator of the thread has really not done anything malicious and is really only asking for a small fee to close his thread.

Our company has been a victim of such gangs for the first time in 2007. We have since experienced an additional 4 such cases and have given up to react – even though such practices are pretty annoying for our business. We have also contacted ICC in Paris where we were told that there is little that can be done.

The resulting damage to one’s image unfortunately is significant. It requires  considerable efforts to explain this to new customers who have been misled by such practices. Unfortunately these threads are listed on the major search engines and the links are freely available when a new customer wants to untertake a proper due diligence about the company.