Fake letters of credit (L/Cs) appear to be increasingly employed in scams in the emerging business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centre industries.

One recent case involves a US citizen working scams in the Indian BPO capital of Bangalore.

Advance fee fraud

John Schofield, apparently a suave and sophisticated employee of a US outfit known as Tritech Information Strategies, allegedly conned several Indian BPO and call-centre operators into believing that he could land lucrative contracts for them.

He would lure potential victims through a series of very professional presentations and then ask for cash up front before starting work, ostensibly to find customers for the BPO or call centre operator.

No reply

Once victims had parted with their money, Schofield would disappear, claiming to be on an urgent overseas trip.

Subsequently, no answer would be given from his mobile except that a taped voice would tell the victim that negotiations on his or her behalf were still under way.

L/C involvement

At least one other perpetrator of a similar fraud to Schofield's is reported to have presented his victim with an L/C that appeared to back the promise of a lucrative contract for a BPO operator. It looked as if once the operator had completed work for his supposed customer he would be paid via the L/C.

But according to the victim "the L/Cs from banks abroad are forged documents. Those who are eager to acquire business but have little knowledge of how the fraud network operates fall for the bait and make upfront payments," he says.

Growth industry

It seems as if L/Cs are now being used in several types of fraud in the emerging BPO and call centre industries.

Earlier this year an Indian company, Ammexx Data Solutions, allegedly used fake L/Cs to secure deposits from freelance workers and provide them with false comfort that they would be paid when they completed work for the company (DC World News 20 August 2004).

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.