This is a story of how I was scammed trying to buy Corn from Tanzania. I am a citizen of Zambia and own an animal feed company. Last year I was scammed $80,000 trying to buy corn from Tanzania and have not recovered since then. My company was looking to import 1,080 tons of yellow corn so after searching online I saw this company from Facebook Mapunda Agri Limited. The contact person was Henry Mshinda and we had a discussion on WhatsApp. The price was $160 per mteric ton CIF which I thought was unusually cheap but was happy to save some money.
After agreement on the payment terms which was 50% after visiting their office and the balance 50% after receiving the goods in Zambia, I sent him a Letter of Intent. He replied with the Full Corporate offer as is the standard business procedure. I signed the Full Corporate Offer and sent it back to him.
The next stage was me planning my traveling to Tanzania for the meeting. I booked my flight and sent him a copy as requested. Upon reaching Tanzania, I was picked up by someone who says he is the company driver and taken to a hotel. The meeting was to take place in their office in 3 hours therefore had a little time to rest.
I arrived their office at exactly 03:26 PM and we went straight to the conference room. They did a presentation and showed me samples of the maize. Everything was good and the analysis report showed exactly what I wanted. We signed the contract, took some photos and I went back to my hotel.
The next day I traveled back to my country and went straight to the bank to do the transfer. I transferred $80,000 to their account and sent them the remittance slip. They told me loading will take 3 to 5 days and when done, I will get the Bill of Lading.
After 5 days instead of giving me the BL and receipts from the trucks bringing the corn to Zambia they instead asked me to send more money being insurance. I received an email saying the trucks are being held at the border pending insurance and requested I pay an additional $10,000. This was absurd and the first time I heard of something like this. I was already deep in hence sent them the $10,000.
Once the money was cleared in their account, they requested I pay the full amount for the goods. This is when I knew something was up. I called a friend who was in Zanzibar and told him about the situation. He tried to call the company but they didn’t pick his call. I gave him the address of the company and he went there to see them. They refused talking to him saying he has no business with them.
After leaving their office my friend called me and told me I was being scammed. I could not believe it. The next day he went to the Police and wrote a complaint. They went to the office and didn’t see anybody. Apparently someone tipped them and they ran before the police arrived.
We have been trying to track them down for a year now to no avail and I think the Police is not doing anything about it. The file has just been pushed under. I have their pictures and will keep searching.
Before buying from Tanzania, take your time to verify for there are many impersonators in the country.
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