Tip of the Week: Credit Managers Beware
By David Schmidt
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. One fraudulent email directed at credit professionals does just that.
A copy of the email sent to a friend is appended below. I received a similar one several years ago purportedly from a Korean firm. This one claims to be from Hanwa Co., LTD., a legitimate Japanese trading company, which claims they are looking for a collection agent in North America, and so is offering $5,000 per month to cover expenses and 5% commissions on collected funds for only an hour a day work. That’s the “too good to be true part.“
A quick check of Hanwa’s website revealed a notice about this fraud. There won’t always be such as warning. Also, note that the sending email address is not a company email, and has probably been spoofed. That by itself should be a ‘don’t touch’ warning.
Who knows what type of tangled mess this will lead to? Possibly, subsequent communications could contain an attachment containing malware. Bottom line: don’t take the bait!
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: HANWA CO., LTD <sales112@outlook.jp
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at 04:08:09 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Contact/Info
HANWA CO., LTD. CONTRACT REPRESENTATIVE DETAILS
Thank you for your interest in learning about our company and the Representative contract proposal. Hanwa Co., Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of steel products. It operates through the following segments: Steel, metals and alloys, nonferrous metals, food products, petroleum and chemicals, lumber, machinery, and other products in Japan and internationally. The company's Steel Division sells steel bars, shapes, sheets, pipes, tubes, wires, plates, building materials, and ferrous raw materials; aluminum sheets, extrusion molding materials, and processed aluminum products, and automotive steel parts. The company's Food Products Division provides seafood products, such as salmon, prawns and shrimp and others. Its Energy and Living Materials Division offers heavy oil, kerosene, LPG, LNG, industrial gas, bunker oil, gasoline, diesel and others. Hanwa Co., Ltd engages in the complete production cycle from refining ore, to product creation, to sales, to energy production and waste recycling, “building and maintaining good relationship with customers, local community and society. We appreciate the word of thankfulness from the customers and change it into our driving forth to contribute to the society also provides engineering and construction services for structural steel works, “building and maintaining good relationship with customers, local community and society. We appreciate the word of thankfulness from the customers and change it into our driving forth to contribute to the society
In addition to the conventional business lines, we import-export steel product of various kinds, With the high demand of our products in North America, we look forward to establishing representative offices and sales centers in both the United States and Canada. We are contracting a reliable company/individual (irrespective of the business type) that will stand as an intermediary between our customers in North America and Hanwa Co., Ltd pending when the sales centers are established. Hence, we wish to contract you or your company as our representative in United States and Canada.
Your onus is to assist Hanwa Co., Ltd to communicate, establish a good relationship with the customer you would be assigned to and retrieve overdue Invoice (Payment) from the Company (Assigned customer to Agent) in North America Region. Please note that all payment is to be made directly to you as our representative in North America. It won't take more than an hour of your time daily; this is what you can do on your own schedule We have customers in different regions in North America that have not met with the normal payment schedule of 30 days after receipt of products delivered in good condition. Based on our research and experience, we have discovered that having an Agent in various regions in the North America helps to facilitate business transactions promptly. As such, we require an Agent on a contract basis who can communicate with the assigned Company (Customer) via email and telephone means.
We have two categories of partnership available, namely;
Individual Partnership: This is for reliable Persons/Individuals.
Corporate Partnership: This is for company owners who wish to register their company with us to represent our interest.
This representative partnership is independent of career or business type and does not require much time or traveling
COMPENSATION:
Individual Partnership:
As compensation for this service, you will be entitled to 5% commission of every completed transaction (i.e. 5% of every payment received and processed), plus $5,000 monthly allowance to cover out-of- Pocket expenses such as telephone bill, fax, etc.
Corporate Partnership:
As compensation for this service, your company will be entitled to 10% commission of every completed transaction (i.e. 10% of every payment received and processed), plus $10,000 monthly allowance to cover out-of-pocket expenses.
Note:
That the monthly allowance will be paid at the end of each month from the date the Approval Letter is sent.
Below is the registration form, you are to complete the form and return to us via email to prepare our company’s Letter of Approval for your review and acceptance.
CONTRACT REGISTRATION FORMS
INDIVIDUAL PARTNERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM
Full Names:
Full Contact/Postal Address:
Occupation:
Name of Employer:
Office Address:
Position Held:
Phone/Mobile:
CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM
Company Name:
Address:
Business Type:
Company Registration Number:
Date of Establishment:
Contact Person:
Telephone/Fax:
Position Held:
Cell/Mobile:
Upon receipt of the above information, your application shall be processed, and we will promptly advise you.
Regards,
Yoichi Nakagawa
Tel: +8150-7645-4892
President & Representative Director
HANWA CO.,LTD
