Caution: Increased risk of fraud in the run-up to the flower holidays

Caution: Increased risk of fraud in the run-up to the flower holidays

As every year, we've seen a significant increase in credit report requests since January in the run-up to the flower holidays. This sounds positive, but unfortunately, it's not always the case. Why would a customer be eagerly searching for a new supplier just as Valentine's Day and Women's Day are approaching? You'd expect them to want reliable delivery and quality from their existing supplier. Surprisingly, we find known defaulters among the debtor requests every week, and many companies have only recently been established.

The vulnerability to fraud increases every year around the holidays; that's nothing new. Yet, scammers consistently manage to find new victims. Currently, we're encountering potential defaulters from countries including the United States, Ecuador, Serbia, Italy, Romania, and Greece. They approach growers, traders, and exporters with seemingly serious requests for weekly shipments of flowers and/or plants. Sometimes these are urgent orders or attractive orders that require quick confirmation.

What should you be particularly vigilant about?
- New foreign customers without a trading history
- Pressure to deliver quickly
- Reluctance to pay in advance or provide guarantees
- Contact information that differs from information in the trade registers
- Orders that don't match the normal purchasing profile of similar customers (for example, a flower shop ordering volumes of a wholesaler)
- Recently established companies
- Lack of filed annual figures
- No visible activities, website, and/or social media

Our advice
We advise you to be extra cautious when accepting new customers during this period and certainly not to deliver on credit. Wait until after the holidays to do so. Thoroughly review company information, ask for references, and perform a debtor check or check whether the debtor is registered in the AgroCheck database. We advise companies that are not yet AgroCheck members to consider an AgroCheck subscription. From just $495 per year, you can protect your company against doubtful debts and unpaid invoices.

By staying alert and sharing signals within the sector, we can work together to limit the damage and prevent fellow entrepreneurs from falling victim to these practices. If you suspect scammers are active, inform us immediately. We will investigate the debtor and immediately alert as many businesses as possible.