Payment fraud when buying from Türkiye.
Warning signs and checks.

A real company, used by someone else

The most important warning sign is a borrowed identity. Someone negotiates in the name of a real company, or an invented one, using its name, registration and tax numbers, website, catalogue, factory photographs and certificates. The sale is then invoiced through a different company, or payment is requested into that company’s account.

Typical patterns

• The quotation shows the real manufacturer’s details, but the proforma, contract or IBAN belongs to another entity.
• A “sales office” or “trading arm” claims to represent a factory.
• The representative writes from a lookalike email domain.
• Documents are copied from public registry records.

Why buyers miss it

When the buyer looks the company up, everything checks out: the name, the tax number and the address are real. What has not been checked is whether the person you are dealing with is authorised to act for that company.

How to check

• Match the contracting entity, the invoice issuer and the bank account holder to the verified company. All three should be the same legal entity.
• Confirm the representative’s authority from the signature circular (imza sirküleri) or a power of attorney (vekaletname).
• Call the company back on a number you found independently, and ask whether the person works there and may act for the company.
• Confirm who owns the email domain and the website, and that they belong to the company named on the quotation.
• If a trading company is involved, ask for a written authorisation from the manufacturer, and confirm it with the manufacturer directly.

This is the core of a Lite review: confirming the company behind the quotation, and that the representative can act for it.

An email that changes the bank details

The most damaging pattern is business email compromise. A fraudster gains access to the supplier’s or the buyer’s mailbox, or registers a lookalike domain, and waits. When an invoice is due, a message arrives in the existing thread: the bank account has changed, please pay the new one.

The email often looks genuine because it continues a real conversation, uses the right names and attaches a real-looking proforma. Reasons are given for the change, such as an audit, a new bank or a currency problem. Treat any change of payment details as unverified until you have confirmed it through a channel you did not receive it from.

The account holder is not the company

A Turkish company should be paid into an account held in its own legal name. Be cautious when the beneficiary is a private individual, a different company or a company abroad. A plausible explanation, such as a sister company or a partner’s account, is still a reason to stop and confirm.

This is the invented case in our public sample report: a genuine, active manufacturer whose proforma invoice named a different company as the account holder. The advice was not to pay until the supplier explained the relationship in writing and the bank confirmed who owned the account.

There is one legitimate exception. A sole proprietorship (şahıs şirketi) is owned by one person, so an account in the owner’s name can be correct. Even then, the account holder should be the registered owner.

Fake exhibitors and cloned websites

Fraudsters copy the websites of real Turkish manufacturers, sometimes changing only a letter in the domain, and use the original company’s photographs, certificates and address. Others present themselves as trade-fair exhibitors, using stand photographs and catalogues from an event they never attended.

Check the domain carefully, compare the contact details with the registry and look for the company under its exact legal name. A website that was registered recently, or that lists only a mobile number and a free email address, deserves more scrutiny.

Impersonated representatives

A real company can be used by someone who does not work for it. The person may give the name of a genuine employee, use a convincing job title or write from a personal messaging account. Even a genuine employee may not be entitled to change bank details or sign a contract.

Ask who is authorised to represent the company. In Türkiye, the signature circular (imza sirküleri) shows who may sign and within what limits. A quotation from a sales manager is normal; a payment instruction from someone who is not authorised is not.

Unrealistic prices and urgent deposits

A price well below the market, combined with pressure to pay quickly, is a classic pattern. Common lines include limited stock, a price that expires today, or a production slot that will be lost without an immediate deposit.

Full payment in advance for a first order is unusual for an established manufacturer. In the machining example in our sample report, a 30% advance is described as usual; a demand for full payment up front would be a reason to ask questions.

Documents that do not match the registry

Compare every document with the official record. The legal name, tax number, tax office, MERSİS number and address should be identical on the quotation, proforma, invoice and contract, and they should match the registry.

Small differences matter: a missing word in the legal name, a different tax office, an address in another city. Edited PDFs, certificates that cannot be checked and stamps without a matching signature are all reasons to pause.

How to verify before you pay

None of these checks takes long, and together they stop most payment fraud.

Call back on a number you found yourself.

Use the phone number on the company’s registered website or in official records, not the one in the email that asked for payment. Ask a named person to confirm the bank details.

Check the company in the registry.

Confirm the legal name, tax number, MERSİS number and address, and look at the Trade Registry Gazette for recent changes of managers, partners or address.

Confirm the account holder.

Ask your bank whether the beneficiary name can be confirmed, and pay only into an account held by the registered company that issued the quotation.

Start with a small order.

For a new supplier, a modest first order or a sample shipment limits what you can lose while you learn how the supplier works.

Use payment terms that protect you.

A letter of credit, a reputable escrow arrangement or a balance paid against shipping documents or an independent pre-shipment inspection puts conditions on the money. Check any escrow service as carefully as the supplier.

If you have already paid

Act quickly. The sooner the receiving bank is told, the better the chance that funds can be frozen.

1. Contact your bank immediately and ask it to recall or stop the payment. The first hours matter most.
2. Keep everything: emails with their full headers, invoices, chat messages, phone numbers and payment confirmations.
3. Report the fraud to the police in your country, and to your national fraud-reporting centre if there is one.
4. Contact the genuine supplier on independently confirmed details. If its email has been compromised, it needs to know.
5. Take legal advice. A Turkish lawyer can explain the options for a criminal complaint to the public prosecutor and for any civil claim.
6. Before you pay anything further, including fees promised to “recover” your money, verify who you are dealing with.

Where an independent review helps

A Lite review checks the company behind the quotation and the person you are speaking to, the tax number, MERSİS number and Trade Registry Gazette history, the quotation and proforma, and whether the payment account belongs to the company or to a private account holder. It is delivered in 24 hours on working days, for $199.

Pro adds official-source research and a dated exterior check of the address, in 48 hours for $499. For Lite and Pro, we do not disclose your identity, or who requested the review, to the supplier.