How to Avoid Scams

How Scams Try to Deceive You

Schemess are always the same. Company names change, but the essence remains:

• "First money, then chairs". They tell you the job is yours, but you need to pay for a visa, agency fees, insurance, or courier.
• Data collection. They ask you to send scans of all documents, but offer nothing concrete. Then they use these scans to deceive others in your name.
• Golden mountains. The salary is above market, the vessel is new, no experience is needed. Too good to be true.

ITF Position

“Upfront payment for employment is prohibited. Period. If money is requested before the contract — it’s almost always scammers. Verify everything.”

Red Flags

• The company’s website looks makeshift or was registered just a month ago.
• Email on a free domain (@gmail.com, @mail.ru, @yahoo.com). A normal company uses a corporate email ([email protected]).
• They push you to hurry. "Urgent, depart tomorrow, pay now or we’ll give your seat to someone else." Scammers are afraid you’ll have time to think.
• Communication only on WhatsApp. No calls to the office’s landline.

How to Check It Yourself

1. No upfront payments. Never.
2. Google it. Enter in the search the company name + scam or the company name + reviews.
3. Check the email. If you receive a message from [email protected] — this is not Maersk.
4. Ask the pros. If in doubt, write to ITF: [email protected].

What to Check in the Offer

• Contacts. Does the company have an office? Can you reach them there?
• Email text. Reputable companies do not write with errors and all caps.
• Contract. You should be allowed to read the contract before you sign or pay anything.

One More Set of Tips

If you are offered a vessel you cannot find on MarineTraffic — that’s a reason to be wary. If the vessel exists but is located in Africa, and they tell you about a voyage to Europe — also.

More about how to “check” a vessel via OSINT, we wrote in the article “Vessel Verification via OSINT”.

Be paranoid. It’s better to miss a shady job posting than to lose money and get stuck in a foreign country.