We were contacted by Mr Mohammed Hassan of the company LOCTAQ TRADING LIMITED based in Doha (Qatar) with a request for a quote.
The scam consisted of sending a very large purchase order (in our case almost EUR 1 million) with the promise to pay everything immediately in advance.
The scammer then sends an email saying that the bank has blocked his payment because he needs the Certificate of Good Standing and Quality of the product.
He also warns that we have to contact the AGENCY FOR GOOD STANDING, QUALITY & STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION for the attention of Dr. Munira Dawoud to start the procedure for obtaining the certificate.
When we contacted the AGENCY FOR GOOD STANDING, QUALITY & STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION we were told that we would have to pay $2,105 to obtain the certificate.
This agency does not exist and to export to Qatar that certificate is not required.
So if we had paid we would have lost that money.
For confirmation we contacted the authorities in Qatar and they confirmed that he is a known scammer and to stop all contact with him.