The most common fraud in this trade does not target the machine. It targets the transfer. And one simple rule stops it.
In used machinery deals, the risk that costs the most money is not buying a machine that turns out worse than expected. That hurts, but it can be negotiated. The big risk is transferring the money and having it never reach the person it was meant for.
These deals are perfect ground for fraud: large amounts, parties who often never meet in person, different countries, and everything negotiated by email. This guide sets out how to structure a payment that does not leave you exposed.
It works like this. Someone gets into an email account — the seller's, the buyer's or an intermediary's — and watches the conversation quietly for weeks. They learn the names, the tone, the amount and, above all, the date the payment is due.
Just before that date they send a message that reads like the natural continuation of the thread: a problem with the bank, an audit, a change of institution, and new bank details. The wording is right, the signature is the usual one, and sometimes the message really does come from the genuine account. The buyer transfers and the money is gone within hours.
No bank account is ever changed by email. Ever. If you receive bank details that differ from what was agreed, or details for the first time, you verify them by telephone on a number you already knew beforehand, not on one supplied in that message.
And you do not reply to the thread to ask: if the mailbox is compromised, the person answering is the fraudster. You call. It is a rule so simple it sounds unnecessary, and it is what separates deals that go well from deals that end in a police report.
A direct transfer is the most common method and the one that protects the buyer least: once it has gone, getting it back depends on speed and luck. It protects the seller, who is paid before delivering.
Escrow balances the two: a professional third party holds the money and releases it only when the agreed conditions are met. It costs a fee, and on deals of any size that fee is cheap next to what it covers.
A documentary credit, heavier and more expensive, makes sense on large exports between parties who do not know each other: the bank pays against documents, not against promises. For a single machine it is usually out of proportion.
This is the most practical structure for mid-sized deals and the one that shares the risk sensibly. A deposit on signature that takes the machine off the market; a second payment once it has been verified, inspected and made ready to load; and the balance against actual loading or arrival at destination.
What matters is not the exact percentages but that each payment is tied to a verifiable event, in writing. “Payment on delivery” means nothing if nobody has defined what counts as delivery.
The first hour is what counts. Call the bank and ask for an immediate recall of the transfer; the sooner it is requested, the better the chance of freezing the funds at the receiving bank. Then report it to the police and keep every email with its full headers, which is where the real origin shows.
Warn the other party by phone as well: if it was their mailbox that was compromised, other deals are in progress and they probably do not know.
Before you get to payment the machine should already be verified: start with the nameplate and with how much it has really worked. The full buying guide covers the whole process, and if you would rather someone saw it before the money leaves, we arrange the inspection.
This guide reflects common practice in the sector and does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice. At MAKINTER the purchase money never passes through our account: the buyer pays the seller or an independent professional escrow, and we invoice our commission only.