A fake tile exporter in India usually shows a polished website, attractive samples and a request for a large advance, then goes silent or ships the wrong goods. The tile scam in India that harms importers most is not a fantasy factory; it is a trader or a middleman who passes off another plant's work as their own.
Most suppliers in Morbi are real businesses. The aim here is to help you tell the difference before money moves.
What are the common tile scam patterns?
These patterns appear again and again:
- The fake factory: a website with stolen photographs of a real plant, but no real production behind it.
- The bait and switch: excellent samples, then poor or mixed-grade goods in the container.
- The advance and disappear: a deposit paid into a personal or unrelated account, followed by delays and silence.
- The changed bank details: an email, apparently from a real supplier, announcing a new account just before the balance is due.
- The phantom trader: a middleman who has no stock or supplier relationship and sells on to a factory only after you pay.
What are the warning signs?
Be cautious if you see several of these together. The supplier will not name the factory or give its address, or refuses a video call from the production floor. The quote is far below others for the same specification. The sales contact pushes you to pay quickly, uses a free email address, or asks for payment to an account that does not match the company name.
Other flags are a company registration that does not match the website, a factory address that turns out to be an office or a residence, and reluctance to let a third party inspect. See sourcing agent red flags for similar warning signs on the agent side.
How do you check a supplier before paying?
Do these checks in order, and stop if any fails:
- Ask for the company's registration details and match the legal name to the contract, invoice and bank account.
- Verify the factory address independently, and have someone visit it or audit it; see what a factory audit should contain.
- Ask for references from export customers and check them, and read checking a Morbi exporter's history.
- Confirm whether it is a manufacturer or a trader; see trader or manufacturer.
- Call the company on a number found independently, not one in the email, before any payment or change of bank details.
How do you make a payment safer?
Keep the advance small, pay only to an account in the supplier's exact legal name, and tie the balance to an independent inspection and shipping documents. A letter of credit or document-based payment is stronger still; see LC and CAD for tile imports and safest payment terms for tile imports.
Never accept a change of bank details by email alone. Confirm it by phone with someone you already know at the company.
What if you think you have been scammed?
Contact your bank at once and ask whether the payment can be recalled. Keep all emails, invoices and payment records. Report the case to the police or cyber-crime authority in your country and in India, and to your trade body if you belong to one. Recovery is not guaranteed, which is why checks before payment matter most.
Next step
We find real manufacturers, audit them in person, check samples and supervise loading, so you do not pay a stranger. Book a free sourcing review, or read how it works.