Attempted fraud by offering allegedly insolvency goods
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear EPAL licensees,
In the past, we have had to inform you several times about attempted fraud in connection with the sale of EPAL Euro pallets and other EPAL load carriers. Most recently, in July 2024, we informed you about fraudulent offers of allegedly insolvency goods.
We are currently seeing an increasing number of such fraud attempts. The fraudsters send out a list of alleged insolvency goods under a false name, including EPAL pallets and EPAL box pallets, which are offered at very low prices.
The websites of real law firms of lawyers and insolvency administrators are given in these offer lists. However, these are fake websites in which the contact details have been changed. The fraudsters attempt to obtain advance payment for goods that are not delivered subsequently.
If you receive a list by e-mail with an offer to buy insolvency goods, you should exercise extreme caution. As the lawyers and insolvency administrators affected by the falsification of their websites have explained to us, insolvency goods are usually not sold in this way, nor are they sold by them personally. In particular, you should therefore not pay in advance. Please inform EPAL as soon as you receive an offer to purchase allegedly insolvency goods. EPAL will assist you in checking whether it is an attempt at fraud.
In general, the following still applies:
In the case of offers from unknown senders, do not rely on the professional appearance of the offer list and the website stated therein. Use a search engine to find out whether the provider actually exists. Please do not use the Weblink (URL) given in the offer list or in the e-mail. If you find the name of the provider in the search engine, you should compare whether the website has the same URL as the website specified in the offer or in the e-mail address. If there is a discrepancy, it is most likely a fake.
You should generally be cautious if you receive offers to buy EPAL pallets and the following characteristics are present:
- Unsolicited sending of the offer by a company not previously known to you
- Offer of insolvency goods
- Conspicuously low prices of the EPAL pallets offered
- Request for advance payment of the purchase price
- Unusual or foreign bank details
If you have the feeling that a pallet offer is too good to be true, then it is usually not true.
If you have any doubts as to whether an offer is genuine or a scam, please let us know. We will support you in checking the offer, because we do not want EPAL licensees or users of EPAL pallets to be defrauded.