Anyone heard of this?

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Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:57 pm

I ran it through who is and got a start date of March 2007, yet the web-site has a copyright date '1999-2006'

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:09 am

What about this site?

www.gtygroup.com

They put this address in some biz browsers.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 5

Full requote of previous post deleted. It's here ^^^

Its an "empty" thing, Mart.
Search site guiding to other search directory and so on..

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 18 Apr 2007 Posts: 3

We cancelled our trip to Shenzhen and postpone to early May. Inded some kidnapping are organized in Shenzhen of foreigners. We make securing our trip with a private company and we approached chinese officials.

Meantime we changed the terms and conditions of the sales. They agreed as usual Smile

))

((( I do not know how to react.

For sure we will post here to clear once fo all if it is a scam or only a company who is not familiar with international sales and china is booming without control with over 11% grow currently.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 30 Apr 2007 Posts: 1

Hi Guys,

I am new here, but our company in Norway has also been contacted by the nice Mr. He. They want us to train 40 helicopter pilots a year, but can not supply us with any documentation. The China Embassy has told us not to deal with them, but they continue sending us mail and faxes.
They have agreed to come to Norway if we send them 2000 Euro to cover the travel costs - but we have said no. We will pay hotac and dinners, but they have to pay to get here.

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:21 am

Was that the same Hu Feng? Unbelievable! They lost they interest in our products when we refused to go to China. We suggested they come to us but they said "no". As it occured the contract may be signed only face to face....
We think that should not be a contradiction so they must have some other plans connected with our visit there Smile

[/quote]

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 1

I will ask them to send me the contract for reviewing before going to their office.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 2

@jetstream,

Hi,

I also received a mail from same company but different lady. They approved our samples and were after me to visit them. Sent the draft contract also. Even invitation letter. Got suspicious when told me to get travel visa from Hongkong while I insisted that invitation letter should be signed and stamped by Foreign ministry. Surprisingly no negotiations on pricing, no details about product sought and only eager for my visit to their place. Now I am going to tell these people to visit me and if they do no then it is sham.

Anybody have more details about this company and/or its manager or director.

Please let me know.

Also Thank you guys as I was about to visit them but just for curiousity sake I visited this site and found dubious activities of this company.

Sincere Thanks to all of you.

Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 10:52 am

They also called us and suggested we pay the cost of their journey to Poland. We refused and since that time they have not tried to contact us.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 2

Now when I refused them to visit, they have also asked me to cover their costs to visit us.

Surprisingly, their calls frequency have also reduced and now is negligible compared to earlier when they used to call me 5-6 times a day.

They need a lesson to be taught.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2007 Posts: 3

we are also new here.
We send a chinese friend to the location of Guangdong Groupe in the
7/F , Jingfeng Building, South Road, Shenzhen.

The impressive offices are located in the 7th floor. But the company is looked down since 1,5 years. There are big chains and looks on the class doors.
The company ownes the renter about 1 year of office rent.

A security guy from the building told our friend, that the company is bankrupt.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:12 am

A german company who had been contacted by Hans Schmidt about

Gangtaiyuan Group Co. , Ltd.
Add: 7/F , Jinfeng Building , Shangbunan Rd ,
Shenzen
Tel.: +86 755 8207 8477 8 ( Unser Ansprechpartner Hr. Elliot )
Tel.: +86 755 8207 8510 (Zentrale)
www.gangtaiyuan.com

went to the company's office but there wasn't any contact person availiable.

The company has lost cost for flight and accomodation.

They had a contract with Gangtaiyuan Group Co. , Ltd. about delivery of machines, payment by letter of credit. Confused

The company authorized Hans Schmidt to hand over the following information from the German consulate general. Schmidt supplied me with the following:

(Could somebody translate, please; no time atm)

Quote:

Sehr geehrter Herr ...,
vielen Dank f�r Ihren Fax vom 23. Mai und die Mitteilung zu dem Fall.
Leider ist die Firma bei uns nicht bekannt und wir haben dazu keine
entsprechende Informationen.
F�r weitere Fragen stehen wir Ihnen gerne zur Verf�gung.

Mit freundlichen Gr��en
i.A.
Chen Chunmin
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Wirtschaftsabteilung
Generalkonsulat der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
19/F, Guangdong International Hotel
339 Huanshi Dong Lu
Guangzhou 510098, VR China
Tel: (0086-20) 8313 0000
Fax: (0086-20) 8331 7033
E-Mail: [email protected]
Homepage: www.kanton.diplo.de

Quote:

Sehr geehrter Herr ....,

vielen Dank f�r Ihre Mitteilung und die Schilderungen zu dem Fall.
Hinsichtlich des China-Gesch�ftes und insbesondere der damit
verbundenen
Risiken bei Vertragsabschl�ssen darf ich auf die folgenden
Internetseiten der Auslandshandelskammern mit wichtigen Informationen
dazu verweisen.
http://china.ahk.de/market-place/important-notice/
Es wird dringend geraten, sich bei geplanten gr��eren
Gesch�ftsvorhaben
hinsichtlich Firmenpr�fung, Vertragsgestaltung etc. durch das
Delegiertenb�ro bzw. die Auslandshandelskammer oder einen anderen
Dienstleister (z.B. Rechtsanwalts- oder Consultingb�ro) beraten zu
lassen.
Entsprechende Kontakte finden Sie nachfolgend bzw. in den Anlagen zu
dieser Mail.
Delegation of German Industry & Commerce (AHK)
German Industry & Commerce Beijing Branch (GIC)
Landmark Tower 2, Unit 0811, 8 North Dongsanhuan Road, Chaoyang
District, 100004 Beijing, CHINA
Tel.: +86-10-65900926 (AHK)
Fax: +86-10-65906313 (AHK)
Tel.: +86-10-65906151 (GIC)
Fax: +86-10-65906313 (GIC)
Email: [email protected]
http://www.china.ahk.de
Meine Kollegen bei dem f�r die Stadt Shenzhen/ Provinz Guangdong
zust�ndigen Generalkonsulat Kanton (Kontakt: [email protected] )
und das Delegiertenb�ro der Deutschen Wirtschaft/Auslandshandelskammer
in
Guangzhou (German Industry & Commerce South China Representative
Office,
http://china.ahk.de/en/about-us/guangzhou-team/ ) werde ich
entsprechend unterrichten.
Mit freundlichen Gr��en,
i.A.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 1

We are a French campany who was contacted also by GANGTAIYUAN since mid-April. They told us that they are interested on our machine and invited us to China to signe the contract.
We have received the contract before our visite to China, and I went there with our general manager.
When we arrived at Shenzhen, one person asked us to pay 4500� as their comission. We have refused this demand. But we have payed 500� for the lunch and some gifts. When I called them after our visit, one man told me that their general manager and vice general manager have an accident. Then no more information.

Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:59 pm

I would like to thank all of you taking a part in this forum!
That is great that people for all over the world may get such knowledge and avoid surprises.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1

I was really glad to find you guys!
I was about to leave for China on May 26 and meet Guangdong Gangtaiyuan today.
I called Mr. Liu of Guangdong Gangtaiyuan on Friday May 25 to get confirmation of the meeting and, surprisingly, the telephone company told me that the phone number (and fax number as well) had been disconnected. So I searched on Google and found this forum......
We were supposed to sign a contract for the supply kitchen knives for approx. 300.000�!
Thanks a lot and let's keep in touch, it seems like there a lot of these people around.....
Have any of you guys heard of Kunming Changhua Business & Trade base in Kunming 650011 China, www.6213789.1086.cn?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1

@forves
Hay there
This was the last mail wish them, but before aim left the country, may bank told me do not flight over because nobody is dare anymore.
After our corperate efforts, now we have established purchasing agreement. The board commission have made decision to point me on behalf of our company to invite your principles to our company having a business trip from May 8th to 15th. During this trip we can sign the contract, cooperate, and explore the Chinese market etc. I think it is a chance to seize the opportunity to have further communication.
Looking forwards to your arriveral in China soon.
Best wishes,
Yours sincerely
Yuhai

Guangdong Gangtaiyuan Group Co. Ltd
May 3, 2007--
Address:7/F, Jingfeng Building, South Shangbu Road, Futian Dist, Shenzhen
Tel: 0086-755-82078507
Fax: 0086-755-82078506
E-mail: gtygroup @vip.163.com[/color]

Mod edit: Full quote removed. It's a conversation- there is no need to repeat back what somebody just said before you reply to them. Wink

TS

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 1

Hi everybody,

we've fallen for this scam. We were contacted by them in april for a big order (� 1 million) and of course were very eager! We discussed the contract by phone and mail, went to China, visited the company, signed the contract... and everything looked professional and legit!
Their downpayment was due this week so we tried to reach them and discover the phone has been disconnected! So I google them and find this site, we were scammed!

All they could have gotten out of this is a dinner we paid after the signing the contract...

We checked their website before going there but didn't google them... A lot of costs could have been avoided: the trip, the time we put into it...: all wasted! Sad

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 5

I'm an interpreter of Hong Kong and have accompanied an Italian customer to meet GangTaiYuan in Shenzhen on 23 April.
Same, these Italians were contacted by them for a big order. They insisted that the Italians must come to China to get the contract signed. After having the contract signed in their office, they advised that, for the Chinese "culuture", it's better to offer them a dinner and send gifts to the Chinese boss and financial managers for the sake of good business relationship and to accelerate their payment. Taking advantage that the Italians were the first time in China having no idea where to go and what to order for Chinese food, they offered to organize the dinner for us and also prepare the gifts. At the end, a bill of Euro3,500 was presented to the Italians by these Chinese (but not by the restaurant's manager). We didn't see any gift on the table. We were shocked by the exaggerated amount. A dinner in that kind of low class restaurant in China could not cost more that 100 euro. But the Italians accepted to pay, in order not to offend the Chinese boss (at that time we did believe them) and to keep the business relationship. The story ended up like the cases of the others. We understand now that it's just a scam.
That's what the Chinese want, the dinner -- the occasion in which they can get the "gift" (money!). They are really clever. It's an occasion in which usually a businessman seldom refuse to pay for the sake of a big order. As shown in other messages of this forum, some paid a few hundred euro, some paid a few thousand ... that's how these Chinese earn from their "business" (surely with the collaboration of the restaurant too).

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 5

I accompanied another Italian customer to Shenzhen again on 4 May for signing a contract. Same, they were contacted by the Chinese for a big order, this time the company is:
Shenzhen GuangChengYu Energy Technology Co Ltd.
ADD: 20/F., S D C Renmin Nan Rd., Luohu District, Shenzhen, China 518008
Contact person: Tong ran
TEL: 0086-755-82175704
FAX: 0086-755-82175695
Mobile: 0086-13590327049
These Chinese have already prepared an Italian interpreter in their office for the meeting fixed beforehand by e-mail. But after 15 minutes of conversation upon our arrival in their office, they tried to send us away with all kinds of contradictory excuses. In that 15 minutes:
1) I asked them why there is no sign of their company name at the office door nor inside the office. (They didn't answer my question at all.)
2) They insisted that the Italians must stay in Shenzhen for one night as the contract could only be concluded the morning after. But the Italians said they must leave the city in the evening for Japan, and preferred to discuss the contract details on that day and come back in another trip to China for signing the contract.
3) The Italians asked a few technical questions for the urgent order they had insisted on, but the Chinese avoided to talk about that.
At that moment, we couldn't understand their strange attitude. We just left.
Now I understand, after reading this forum. They are just another company (or group of persons, always in Shenzhen) doing the same scam. Fake order, meeting for signing contract in China, then advise for a dinner for cheating money. But our reactions and questions on that day made them realize that there was no chance to advise for and organize a dinner ... so just to kick us out of the office and not to waste their time! It's really terrible! The 10 or more clerks sitting in front of computers I saw in that office on that day, probably were just writing and sending e-mails of fake orders to different parts of the world.
I just checked on their website now (www.szgcy.com/en), the address is correct, where we have visited. One thing strange, for such a small office, they do have more than 10 phone numbers on their website. I tried to call one of these numbers, still working. How many foreign companies they are going to cheat?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 5

Dear forves,

In the spring time of 2006, I got a request from another Italian company for being their interpreter for concluding a deal with a Chinese company in Kunming. It sounded quite strange for me, as according to my experience as interpreter in Hong Kong and China (more than 10 years), Kunming has never been a city for business in China. Usually business talks took place in the cities along the coast. But Kunming is in the far southwest. Anyway, I was not able to work for them in that period. So no more information about the deal.

It's better to be suspicious seeing all these experience of scams!

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:24 am

My victim received the following:

Quote:

Sehr geehrter Herr ...,

ich beziehe mich auf Ihr Fax vom 23.Mai an unser Generalkonsulat und m�chte Sie auf diesem Wege dringend informieren, dass die Firma Gang Taiyuan Co. Ltd. ( 7/F, Jinfeng Plaza, Shangbu Nan Lu, Futian District, Shenzhen, PR China), mit der Sie Gesch�ftskontakte gehabt haben, im Betrugsverdacht steht.

Das Amt f�r Ausw�rtige Angelegenheiten der Volksregierung der Stadt Shenzhen hat unserem Generalkonsulat per Verbalnote offiziell mitgeteilt, dass einige Betr�gerfirmen in Shenzhen, darunter auch die Firma Gang Taiyuan, vom Amt f�r �ffentliche Sicherheit der Stadt Shenzhen erfolgreich zerschlagen wurden.

Die Betr�gerfirmen haben mit �ber das Internet verschickten Anfrage-Briefen ausl�ndische Gesch�ftsleute kontaktiert und sie danach nach Shenzhen eingeladen, um Vertr�ge zu unterzeichnen. Im Verlauf der Unterzeichnung der Vertr�ge haben sie von den ausl�ndischen Gesch�ftsleuten verlangt, eine so genannte "Best�tigungsgeb�hr zu zahlen". Mit diesen Methoden wurde der Betrug durchgef�hrt.

Daher m�chte Ihnen von weiteren Kontakten mit der Firma Gang Taiyuan dringend abraten.

Mit freundlichen Gr��en

WANG Ling

Deutsches Generalkonsulat Kanton

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 5

I have reported my Italian victims' experience to Italian Trade Commission in Hong Kong, Chinese Embassy in Rome, and some Italian journalists.

The Italian Trade Commissioner of Hong Kong answered me back saying that this kind of scam is well known in all their offices.

An Italian journalist told me that he had already written an article in March 2007 on IL SOLE 24 ORE about this kind of scam, and the first cases were found in Henan province in China since the autumn of 2006.

That means, it is not only scams done by GangTaiYuan in Shenzhen in these two months ... But one or more groups of Chinese have been cheating in the same way in name of different companies in various cities in China.

The way of scam: contact overseas companies via internet, faked order, insisting on the visit in China for signing contract, "advise" for offering dinner and "gift" to Chinese managers in order to accelerate the payment or business cooperation, exaggerated bill from a few hundred to thousand euros at the end of dinner with the collaboration of the restaurant organised by the Chinese. Their request for commissions by e-mail or during the meeting in China is just a way to make you believe that their purchase is valid. Who will immagine that, these scammers target only at the small amount to be collected at the end of dinner instead of the great amount of commissions at the conclusion of a deal!

I think it is a good idea to write your experience with details to the journalists of your country, urging them to report the same on the newspapers.
Since it is difficult for us outside China to put these scammers in jail, the best way to protect ourselves and the others is to let more and more people know about this kind of scams and to be alert and suspicious since the beginning (when being contacted for big order via internet by unknown Chinese company.

More people know about this, less scammers will be able to cheat!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 3

[quote="heatwaver"]Hi everybody,

we've fallen for this scam. We were contacted by them in april for a big order (� 1 million) and of course were very eager! We discussed the contract by phone and mail, went to China, visited the company, signed the contract... and everything looked professional and legit!
Their downpayment was due this week so we tried to reach them and discover the phone has been disconnected! So I google them and find this site, we were scammed!

HAPPENED THE SAME TO US - COST US 5700 � in dinner + commission(they really operate with the restaurant as their accomplice : payment of the whole was carried out using the restaurant's ATM) + travel for two people from the company + setting up production for delivering their order (which is a lot more costly than the remaining)
Now, we've got the bank account details of at least three of these guys, as well as mobile phone numbers for each of them (though these do not operate anymore) and really want to bust them out, do everything necessary so that these guys end up in the cells of this highly democratic regime of China.
Does anyone has any clue about using this info ?

Best Regards.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 3

To all people that have been scammed by this chinese company

I just read info from french officials (a lot of french company have been as badly hit as we did by these m*****f*****) that the chinese company Guangdong Guangtaiyuan, along with several other scam companies in Shenzhen, have been investigated by the chinese police. Some people are under arrest, and chinese authorities have found evidence from over 39 000 euros in bank wire (and do not forget the famous restaurant + gifts sequence, between 3500 and 5700 euros depending who's been screwed up this way) in less than seven months.

here's the adress of the document (in French)
http://www.cci79.com/presse/communiques/societe_chinoise.pdf

Chinese authorities are now asking for testimonies of screwed up companies against people they've arrested....

Don't know about you, but I'm thinking about having a nice trip back to china to identify some of these guys, so that the next and last persons they will ever be able to scam will be their cell inmates. Maybe this time we'll get the restaurant offered...

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 02 Jun 2007 Posts: 5

I read the document in French. It's great some people were arrested!

I would like to be testimony in front of the Chinese authorities. I have accompanied two Italian victims to visit Guangdong GuanTaiYuan and Shenzhen Guangchengyu Energy Technology Ltd. respectively in April and May, two of the three companies mentioned in that French document.

Could anyone tell me the person and phone number of the Chinese authority that I should contact with? I'm an interpreter of Hong Kong, speak only Chinese, English and Italian, but no French.

Thanks.