You want to trade with China, but you don’t feel safe.

Trading with China can be a very profitable way to do business, particularly for the small business or entrepreneur. However, the safety of your transaction, and the possibility that you may be a victim of cyber-fraud should be something which worries you very much, as is evidenced by the rise of cyber-fraud between China and the west in recent years. This eventuality is evident all over the internet on BBs and trade-sites where people are lodging their impotent complaints of having lost to the cheats of China.

There are, however, steps you can take to ensure the safety of your transactions, and to seriously mitigate your risk. The following information could help you save your investment, heartache, stress, and the personal shame and embarrassment – all of which will accompany such a loss.

So, what does a Chinese scam look like? What form does it take?

Well, before I go into this in any depth allow me to say that the majority of people out there attempting to trade with China seriously need to reconsider their approach in recognising or determining with whom they are dealing.

The one thing all of us should be aware of, is that the internet is infested with scammers in the same way that a homeless dog is infested with fleas; it’s an electronic Petri dish which breeds scammers on a vast and multitudinous scale.

Indeed, it would not be short of the mark to say that the internet is the most dangerous place to perform business.

Therefore, the first thing you need to understand is that the people who are going to scam you are very savvy and clever, running highly organised schemes of mass deception, which have been carefully designed and implemented to trick and mislead you. These people are professionals at what they do. And their systems become more highly tuned with every successful scam, as they learn from their experience as they go along.

Over the years I’ve read a lot of hard-luck stories written by victims and posted broadly across the internet. Sadly the majority of them leave me with just a “Huh?” of disbelief at their naiveté.

Here’s what the scammer knows:

1. There is always someone wanting products cheaply; even more so in the current financial climate.

2. "If you build it, he will come" If they build a website offering incredible prices, then people will visit.

3. If you like the incredible price you will email.

4. S/he knows that a little polite conversation on MSN will further reel you in.

5. They know and understand that the medium in which these frauds and deceptions take place is called the World Wide Web; and just like a real spider’s web, the spider (the scammer) patiently lies in wait for the flies (which is you).

6. S/he knows that the law of averages is on their side, and not on yours.

7. They know that they live in a hugely populous nation laden with heavy bureaucracy, and that chasing them up will be almost impossible for you.

8. They know that it is easy for them to disappear, and setup the same web of deceit again elsewhere.

9. They know and understand desperation.

10. They know that you want something for nothing (or at least at a ridiculously cheap price) – and so they give you nothing for something.

11. Lastly, they know that once they've scammed and ripped you, the distance and the language barrier will hinder you, and protect them.

All of the above gives them a massive sense of self-confidence, and which in itself, provides them with more backbone and front than you could possibly imagine.

Here’s what you know:

1. Wow! This is an incredible deal, I was really lucky to find this.

2. I can’t believe my luck.

3. You feel a little nervous about the deal, but you just have to take the risk, and so you convince yourself that it’ll be O.K.

4. You send the money, and then s/he stops communicating with you, or they begin to prevaricate, or even say they need extra money for your goods to clear Chinese customs.

5. You received a tracking number that doesn’t work.

6. You can’t believe what a complete and utter idiot you have been.

7. You think, “How did I not see this coming?”

8. You realise you did see it coming, but decided to ignore your own instinct because you thought that if it is real you will have found a great supplier at a great price.

9. You’ve lost your money!

10. You suffer a huge amount of personal pain, grief, humiliation, a deep sense of shame, and a sensation akin to having been raped.

11. And you discover the truth of the fact that the distance and the language barrier hinders you, and protects them.

That's it in a nutshell. I know this seems stunted and short, but that's really all there is too it.The chance to save a few bucks effectively blinds people to what is going on right before their eyes. They refuse to listen to the little voice of warning and reason in their own heads.

Simply put, you can save yourself a lot of trouble before transferring any money to a Chinese supplier, by ensuring you perform all the due diligence you can.