Swindlers robbed IT suppliers for €2 billion

Industry analysts note considerable surge in the fraud directed against vendors and their distributors. According to the estimates of the managing director of Fraud Consulting Darren Hodder, only in EMEA region the damage of IT market from fraud of this kind was €1.13 billion in 2008. In 2010 this indicator can reach €1.8 billion.

Financial managers of the leading technology companies discussed this sensitive issue during the European credit forum (EMEA European Credit Forum (ECF)) in Amsterdam. Most of them sounded the real alarm apropos everything the becoming frequent cases of a partner fraud, to growth of refinement of partner swindlers and their ambitions.

Laurie Beagle, the director of the collection company P&A specializing in work with IT market said that such cases in the market of notebooks, mobile devices and components are most widespread: thefts in these segments happen most often. "It is those devices which are the simplest for hiding", - he noted.

Partner channels in all European countries while criminal groups most often form outside the region or at the global level suffer from swindlers. For example, earlier this year, one of IT vendors which name does not reveal fell a victim of the long-term fraudulent attack. In its course shipments of big batches of the equipment to firm which had the most law-abiding appearance were conducted. This firm regularly paid small bills within several months, and then, having achieved trust, ordered a large batch of the equipment and, having paid kopeks, at once disappeared.

Wide circulation and other scheme when as swindlers so-called "phony companies" act has. Concerning such customers dealers often behave too carelessly: in a pursuit of a large number of profitable contracts they do not even find time to learn the elementary information about the customer, a surname of the CEO and his contact information.

According to Bigley, growth of cases such is a real reason for concern. "All partners should have an idea of a problem and to be on the lookout because it concerns each of us. Losses in such swindles lead to decrease in the trust level between dealers and customers and also slow down process of deliveries by need of various checks if the equipment is shipped on credit. If we do not stop them, they will appropriate with impunity our money. It will have an adverse effect on recovery of the industry", - he commented.

Economic downturn, experts say, became the main catalyst of growth of fraudulent incidents. As sales of "iron" seriously decreased last year, many suppliers became more desperate concerning the choice of potential customers. One more reason for which suppliers cannot cope with a problem in any way according to Bigley, is the fact that procedures of checks of partners at most of dealers are at the lowest and undeveloped level.

Criminals grabbed this opportunity "both hands". Therefore all working in the partner channel several times need to weigh everything before entering business relations with the new company, differently it is necessary to credit criminals and to sustain considerable losses, Bigley warns.