20 August 2013, Berlin –  The furniture trading company Escoba GmbH from Falkensee near Berlin had almost lost all hopes of recovering some $33,000 USD that an e-mail defrauder managed to extract from them.  But the  joint efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin and the Department of Foreign Affairs paid off.  In the end, the full amount was returned to the company.

The e-mail defrauder was able to access the E-mail account of Escoba GmbH’s Asian supplier and carried out a fake correspondence with Escoba GmbH over the delivery of an order of upholstered furniture placed in two containers.

It was made to appear to Escoba GmbH that the delivery of the ordered furniture would be delayed because the supplier was not able to pay a debt to its supplier of raw materials.  The request was made for a down payment to the supplier of raw materials in the Philippines.  For this purpose, a bank account in the Philippines was specified to receive the down payment.

It was a nightmare for Mr. Cimalettin Yilmaz, CEO of Escoba GmbH, to find out from his Asian supplier, after making the payment in June 2013, that the down payment request was a fake one. While Escoba GmbH considered the amount a total loss, a helpful business colleague from Hannover pursued the idea of approaching the Philippine Embassy in Berlin and requesting its assistance.

Ambassador Maria Cleofe R. Natividad promised the Embassy’s support and reported the matter to the Philippine bank that received the amount, explaining the facts surrounding the money transfer and requesting that the transaction be reversed.  The Embassy also referred the matter to the Department of Foreign Affairs for proper endorsement to the concerned Philippine authorities.

The Philippine bank cooperated, and before the amount could be withdrawn, the bank secured the transferred amount.  After confirming the incident, it sent the full amount back to Escoba GmbH, which confirmed receipt in early August.

The spectacular recovery could not have happened without the assistance of the Embassy, the Philippine authorities and the Philippine bank.  As authorities in Berlin confirmed to Escoba GmbH, there are hardly any fraud cases of this nature where the German victims are able to recover their money.

In keeping with the Department’s spirit of public service, the Embassy went an extra mile to help address the fraud perpetrated against the businessman and to promote the Philippines as an investor-friendly location which respects the rule of law. The Embassy’s support to Escoba GmbH, a German company, is part of its efforts in creating goodwill and enhancing business confidence in the Philippines.   (END)