Five Free Public Checks Before You Wire a Supplier You Have Never Met

Description and use

Small businesses can verify suppliers using five free public checks to avoid fraud.

Problem

A small business buying from an unknown supplier faces information asymmetry; the wire goes out Monday, the container (or doesn't) arrives in six weeks.

Outcome

The buyer can verify supplier legitimacy for free, avoiding costly paid databases and reducing risk of fraud.

Workflow

• 1. Name archaeology: search exact company name in quotes, then name + "complaint", name + "scam", in supplier language; check second page for forum threads, chamber-of-commerce listings, trade-show directories.
• 2. Registry cross-check: use public company registries (e.g., UK Companies House, Poland KRS, Turkey trade registry gazettes) to verify registration date, declared capital, and named directors; flag companies registered recently with low capital and directors appearing on many companies.
• 3. Digital footprint coherence: compare site, LinkedIn, directory listing, and email domain for consistent dates and stories; flag inconsistencies such as a 15-year exporting claim with a domain registered recently.
• 4. Telegram layer: inspect public Telegram channels (t.me/s/) for product listings and prices; compare supplier price to channel median to detect anomalies.
• 5. Two-question call: make a phone call asking for factory address and last month’s bill of lading with reference redacted; expect instant documents from real exporters, silence from resellers of resellers.

Evidence

The public record is better than people think, and an afternoon of disciplined searching beats $8k of hope.

Source

A real firm has a paper trail with years on it. A fresh registration with a matching-domain website created this quarter is the pattern to fear.

Source

Three fields settle most cases: registration date, declared capital, and named directors.

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Fabricated footprints leak at the seams: a "15 years exporting" site whose domain registered in March, a LinkedIn company page with 3 employees created last month, a mail domain that fails DMARC.

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If the supplier's price is 30% under the channel median, that's not a deal; that's the story.

Source

Real exporters answer instantly with documents. Resellers of resellers go quiet.

Source