Rough Diamonds To Dubai? 2 Rules To Avoid Fake Freight Forwarders
Manager Ding is in the diamond jewelry business. He had a batch of rough diamonds to send to the UAE by air. You’d think with such valuable goods, he’d be super careful. He asked around many forwarders and finally picked one with a good price. That forwarder sure could talk—sweet-talking him into trusting them. They even patted their chest and promised. So Ding went with them.
He sent the rough diamonds to their warehouse as instructed. They said it would arrive in about seven days. So he waited. Three or four days later, he asked, and they said they hadn’t shipped yet. Ding got worried. He chased them again and again. After seven or eight days, they stopped answering calls and even ignored his WeChat messages. He suddenly went to their office—and guess what? The place was empty, the door locked, with a property fee overdue notice stuck on it.
Turns out they had packed up and left. Luckily, Ding’s rough diamonds weren’t totally lost—he managed to get them back after a huge struggle, but the hassle was something else.
Later, Manager Ding came to me. I told him, “You know, for shipping from china to uae, this kind of drama is not rare in our circle—unfortunately, it happened to you. These so-called forwarders usually set up a small booth, then lowball everyone to grab orders. Think about it: their price doesn’t even cover shipping costs. What are they after? Cash flow. You pay the freight upfront, they forward your goods to someone else but don’t pay that carrier. Instead, they funnel your money into a shell company they own. Once they get the cash, they declare bankruptcy. You don’t know where your cargo is, but your money is long gone. See? Such companies usually go bust within two or three years—it’s a one-off deal.”
So I told Manager Ding, “Next time you ship to Dubai by air, no matter how flashy they talk, just stick to two rules—and you’ll be fine.
First, check how long the company has been around. Some firms register today and take big shipments tomorrow—you should give them a big question mark. Be careful! A company that’s been in business for ten or eight years, at the very least, has been through more problems than you can imagine, and they’re still here, which means their service and price have been tested by the market—customers find them worth it. Otherwise, who would hire them? They’d be starving. It’s like seeing a traditional Chinese doctor: you wouldn’t pick a fresh grad to practice on you instead of an old white-bearded expert—that’s just asking for trouble.
Second, look at their scale. The freight forwarder world is a pyramid. The big players are at the top, while most are at the bottom—typical setup: three to five people squeezed into a 20-30 square meter office. That doesn’t mean they’re no good, but for shipping from china to uae, their risk resistance is a bit weak. Compare that to big companies that have been around for over 20 years, like ours—we have a whole 1800-square-meter office floor and nearly 100 employees. You want that kind of company; they have real assets. Even if something big goes wrong, with so many employees depending on the company, would they run away just for your one shipment? Impossible. Even if the monk runs, the temple won’t—and this temple is a big one.”
Manager Ding thought I was honest and down-to-earth. He kept shipping his goods and later gave me several shipments. I handled them step by step, and nothing went wrong. I told him, “Manager Ding, from now on, no matter which forwarder you use, for any shipping from china to uae, don’t mess around—just follow these two rules and you’ll be safe.”