Důrazně varujeme české prodejce před oblíbenou fintou čínských podvodníků - scammerů - v podobně poplatků za notářské ověření, které jsou v 99,9% případů neopodstatněné.

Pokud Vás kontaktuje čínský zákazník s tím, že našel nabídku Vašeho zboží na internetu a na tomto základě Vám učiní nabídku na kontrakt "snů", buďte velmi obezřetní. Zvláště pak, pokud je dotyčný ochoten akceptovat jakékoliv podmínky, nesmlouvá o ceně a dokonce se na zboží nepřijede osobně podívat. Můžete si být skoro jisti, že před uzavřením pro Vás nesmírně výhodné zakázky se klient zmíní o "takové maličkosti", jako je potřeba smlouvu ověřit v ČLR. Bude to stát pár tisíc EUR, ale můžete se "spravedlivě rozděllit". Stačí, když zaplatíte polovinu. Samozřejmě předem.

O tomto trendu čínských podvodníků se dočtete více v textu zpracovaném EU SME Centrem v Pekingu:

Notarisation of contracts in China – Necessity or scam?

The EU SME Centre receives enquiries related to scams on a regular basis. One of the most common ones - we refer to them as the  ‘notary fee cases’ – is the subject of this week’s enquiry of the month.

The usual scenario looks like this: A foreign company based in Europe or a foreign-invested company based in China is about to sign a contract (usually a sales and purchase contract) with a local company in China, but is asked to pay a ‘notary fee’ or any other administration fee shortly before the actual signing. The fee is usually not paid directly to the notary itself but to the local company, which promises to ‘arrange everything necessary’.

However, according to Chinese law, there is no mandatory provision to notarise ordinary sales and purchase contracts. This requirement exists only for some contracts of special importance, as for example real estate transfers.  Moreover, even if both parties agree on the notarisation of a contract, the physical presence of both parties in the notary office is required. In no case is it possible to notarise a signature without the presence of the other party.

In a recent case we dealt with, the foreign company was smart enough to question the notarisation of a contract/signature without being present in the notary’s office themselves, as this was not common practice in their home country. Those justified doubts saved them about EUR 8,000 of ‘notary fees’ as well as more money and trouble in the future, as the likelihood of ‘repeat offences’ would have been very high. A comparatively naive attempt to cheat a prospective partner like this should serve as a warning and discourage any further engagement, as a formal due diligence procedure would likely expose many more risks, making sustainable business with them very unlikely.

If you have doubts about the trustworthiness of your prospective business partner as well, please don’t hesitate to contact our experts via the ‘ask the expert’ button on our homepage.