Buyer’s Risk Passports
Well to be honest Buyer’s risk on passports is also valid for Sellers.
So we can just discuss passport frauds on Internet.
The most natural is that the passport picture is exchanged and the passport number is altered.
It is easy to detect if the fraudster is not aware of the international control system on the passport.
Personally I have from the same company recieved two different passports on the same person.
Two different photos on the person and different dates of birth and same name and signature. The differences occured when two different persons represented the company in the e-mail conversation.
An other alternative is that two different persons are using the same passport to identify themselves. In this case the person I mistakingly contacted the correct person in his country of origin and started a communication with a person that knew that someone was using his own passport. This is easily done as in most cases persons identify themseves by sending their passports. So with another person’s document it is easy just to copy and use that for own fraudulent activities.
Among the fraudulent attempts I have been exposed to is a Jordanian passport. The person I talked to had the normal West African intonation but could not say a word in Arabic. No matter what if you have a Jordanian passport and never have been in the country at least you know some rudimentary Arabic.
The only way to get around this is to at next stage ask for a notarized copy of the same passport. It is virtually impossible to have both an ordinary passport and a notarized passport.
Thus the passport in any agreement does not say a thing. It does not proof anything more than the person that is issuing the document has access to that particular passport.
