A letter of credit is a written document issued by a bank according to the requirements and instructions of its customers.

Letter of credit is the most important and commonly used payment method in international trade at present.

Chinese and English samples and descriptions of the letter of credit:/forexers _ fin/20080405/lettercredit.html.

[Edit this paragraph] The main parties to the letter of credit and their rights and obligations

(1) Applicant. The person who applies to the bank to open a letter of credit is also called the issuer in the letter of credit.

Obligation: to open a letter of credit according to the contract; Pay a certain percentage of deposit to the bank; Timely payment of redemption instructions

Right: View and return the redemption order; Inspection and return (all based on letter of credit)

Note: the application for opening an L/C consists of two parts, namely, the application for opening an L/C by the issuing bank and the statement and guarantee to the issuing bank (stating that the ownership of the goods belongs to the bank before the bill is paid; The issuing bank and its correspondent bank are only responsible for whether the documents are qualified on the surface; The issuing bank is not responsible for errors in document delivery; Force majeure is not responsible; Guaranteed payment redemption instruction; Guarantee to pay all expenses; The issuing bank has the right to add margin at any time; Have the right to decide on agent cargo insurance and improve the insurance level, and the expenses shall be borne by the insured.

(2) the issuing bank. The bank entrusted by the applicant to open a letter of credit shall be responsible for ensuring payment.

Obligation: Open the letter of credit correctly and in time; Take the main responsibility for payment.

Rights: charge handling fee and deposit; Reject documents that are inconsistent with the beneficiary or the negotiating bank; After payment, if the applicant is unable to pay the bill, he can handle the bill and goods; If the goods are insufficient, the balance can be recovered from the applicant.

(3) notify the bank. Refers to the bank entrusted by the issuing bank to forward the letter of credit to the exporter, which only proves the authenticity of the letter of credit and does not undertake other obligations.

Also prove the authenticity of the letter of credit;

Redistribution is only responsible for forwarding.

(4) beneficiary. Refers to the person named in the letter of credit who has the right to use the letter of credit, that is, the exporter or the actual supplier.

Obligation: After receiving the letter of credit, it should be checked with the contract in time. If not, the issuing bank shall be required to amend or refuse to accept the letter of credit as soon as possible or the applicant shall be required to instruct the issuing bank to amend the letter of credit; If accepted, deliver the goods and notify the consignee, prepare the documents and submit them to the negotiating bank for negotiation within the specified time; Be responsible for the correctness of the document. If there is any discrepancy, the issuing bank should change the documents and still deliver the documents within the time limit stipulated in the letter of credit. Right: If it is rejected or modified, it is still inconsistent, and it has the right to unilaterally cancel the contract and reject the letter of credit after notifying the other party; After presenting the documents, if the issuing bank suspends business or refuses to pay without reason, it can directly ask the applicant to pay; Before the collection, if the applicant goes bankrupt, he can stop the delivery and handle it by himself; If the letter of credit has not been used when the issuing bank closes, the applicant may need to open another letter of credit. ..

(5) negotiating bank. Refers to banks willing to buy documentary bills handed over by beneficiaries.

According to the payment guarantee of the issuing bank of the letter of credit and the request of the beneficiary, the bank that advances or discounts the documentary draft delivered by the beneficiary according to the provisions of the letter of credit and claims from the paying bank stipulated in the letter of credit (also known as the ticket purchasing bank, the negotiating bank and the discount bank; Generally, it is the advising bank; Limited consultation and free consultation).

Obligation: Strictly review documents; Prepaid or discount documentary bills; Endorsed letter of credit;

Rights: transferable or non-transferable; Documents can be processed after negotiation; After consultation, if the issuing bank closes down or refuses to pay for an excuse, the advance payment can be recovered from the beneficiary.

(6) Payment/drawee bank. In most cases, the paying bank is the issuing bank.

The bank (which can be the issuing bank or other banks entrusted by it) that pays the beneficiary the documents conforming to the letter of credit.

Have the right to pay or not to pay; Once the payment is made, there is no right to recourse against the beneficiary or the bona fide holder.

(7) A confirming bank is a bank entrusted by the issuing bank to guarantee the letter of credit in its own name.

Add "guaranteed payment"; An irrevocable and firm commitment; Independently responsible for letters of credit and cash documents; After payment, you can only claim from the issuing bank; If the issuing bank refuses to pay or goes bankrupt, it has no right to recourse against the beneficiary and the negotiating bank.

(8) Accepting bank The bank that accepts the draft submitted by the beneficiary is also the paying bank.

(9) Reimbursement bank (also known as clearing bank) is the bank entrusted by the issuing bank in the letter of credit to pay off the advance payment to the negotiating bank or the paying bank on behalf of the issuing bank.

Pay only and don't review documents; Regardless of the refund, just pay; If not, the issuing bank will pay.

[Edit this paragraph] General collection and payment procedures of letters of credit.

(1) The applicant for opening an L/C shall fill in the application for opening an L/C, pay a deposit or provide other guarantees as stipulated in the contract, and ask the issuing bank to open an L/C. ..

(2) The issuing bank shall issue a letter of credit to the beneficiary according to the contents of the application and send it to the advising bank where the exporter is located.

(3) The advising bank shall deliver the letter of credit to the beneficiary after verifying that the seal is correct.

(4) After the beneficiary checks that the contents of the letter of credit are in conformity with the contract, he will ship the goods, prepare the documents and draw the draft according to the provisions of the letter of credit, and send it to the negotiating bank for negotiation within the validity period of the letter of credit.

(5) After examining the documents according to the terms of the letter of credit, the negotiating bank will advance the money to the beneficiary.

(6) The negotiating bank sends the draft and shipping documents to the issuing bank or its specific paying bank for claim.

(7) The issuing bank shall pay the negotiating bank after reviewing the documents.

(8) The issuing bank notifies the issuer to pay the redemption instruction.

[Edit this paragraph] Main contents of the letter of credit

(1) Description of the letter of credit itself. Such as its type, nature, validity period, failure location, etc.

(2) Requirements for goods. According to the contract description.

(3) Requirements for transportation.

(4) Document requirements, that is, cargo documents, transport documents, insurance documents and other relevant documents.

(5) Special requirements.

(6) The responsibility of the issuing bank to guarantee payment to the beneficiary and the bill holder.

(7) Most foreign certificates indicate: "Unless otherwise specified, this certificate shall be handled in accordance with the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits of the International Chamber of Commerce (1993 revised edition), that is, ICC Publication No.500 (ucp500)."

(8) T/T compensation clause.

[Edit this paragraph] The characteristics of letter of credit payment

1. The issuing bank bears the main and independent payment responsibility.

The letter of credit is an independent document. Although the letter of credit is opened according to the sales contract, once it is opened, it becomes an agreement independent of the sales contract.

3. Letter of credit is a kind of sale of documents, and the parties concerned deal with documents, not goods, services and/or other acts. Banks are only responsible for the consistency between documents and documents on the surface.

[Edit this paragraph] Types of letters of credit

(1) drafts under letters of credit are divided into documentary letters of credit and clean letters of credit according to whether shipping documents are attached or not.

(1) Documentary letter of credit is a letter of credit paid by documentary draft or only by documents. Documents here refer to documents representing the ownership of goods (such as ocean bills of lading, etc.) ), or documents proving that the goods have been delivered (such as railway waybill, air waybill, postal parcel receipt).

(2) A clean letter of credit is a letter of credit that pays by clean bill without shipping documents. Banks can pay by clean letter of credit, or require beneficiaries to attach non-freight documents, such as invoices and advance orders.

In the payment and settlement of international trade, most of them use documentary letters of credit.

(2) According to the responsibility of the issuing bank, it can be divided into:

(1) Irrevocable letter of credit. Once a letter of credit is issued, the issuing bank cannot unilaterally amend or cancel it within the validity period without the consent of the beneficiary and the parties concerned. As long as the documents provided by the beneficiary meet the requirements of the letter of credit, the issuing bank must fulfill its payment obligations.

② Revocable letter of credit. The issuing bank has the right to cancel the letter of credit at any time without the consent of the beneficiary or the parties concerned, and should indicate the word "revocable" on the letter of credit. However, UCP500 stipulates that as long as the beneficiary has obtained the guarantee of negotiation, acceptance or deferred payment according to the terms of the letter of credit, the letter of credit cannot be revoked or amended. It also stipulates that if the letter of credit does not indicate whether it can be revoked, it is regarded as an irrevocable letter of credit.

(3) Whether there is another bank to guarantee payment can be divided into:

① Confirmed letter of credit. Refers to the letter of credit issued by the issuing bank, and another bank guarantees to fulfill the payment obligation for the documents that meet the terms of the letter of credit. A bank that confirms a letter of credit is called a confirming bank.

② Unconfirmed letter of credit. The letter of credit issued by the issuing bank has not been confirmed by another bank.

(4) According to the different payment time, it can be divided into:

Letter of credit at sight. Refers to the letter of credit in which the issuing bank or the paying bank immediately performs the payment obligation after receiving the documentary draft or shipping documents that meet the terms of the letter of credit.

② usance letter of credit. Refers to the letter of credit in which the issuing bank or the paying bank performs the payment obligation within the prescribed time limit after receiving the letter of credit documents.

③ False usance letter of credit. The letter of credit stipulates that the beneficiary draws a time draft, which will be discounted by the paying bank, and all interest and expenses will be borne by the issuer. For the beneficiary, this letter of credit is actually payable at sight, and there is a clause of "usance letter of credit payable at sight" in it.

(5) According to whether the beneficiary's right to the letter of credit can be transferred, it can be divided into:

① Transferable letter of credit. Refers to the bank (collectively referred to as the "transferring bank") that the beneficiary of the letter of credit (the first beneficiary) can request to authorize payment, undertake deferred payment responsibility, accept or negotiate, or when the letter of credit is freely negotiated, it can request the transferring bank specially authorized in the letter of credit to transfer the letter of credit in whole or in part to one or more beneficiaries (the second beneficiary). The issuing bank should clearly indicate "transferable" in the letter of credit, and it can only be transferred once.

② Non-negotiable letter of credit. The beneficiary cannot transfer the right of the letter of credit to another person's letter of credit. Any letter of credit that is not marked "negotiable" is a non-negotiable letter of credit.

(6) Revolving letter of credit. It means that after all or part of the letter of credit is used, its amount is restored to the original amount and can be used again until it reaches the specified number of times or the specified total amount. Usually used in the case of batch unified delivery. In the case of revolving the letter of credit according to the amount, the specific ways to restore the original amount are as follows:

① Automatic circulation. When a certain amount is used up in each period, it can be automatically restored to the original amount without waiting for the notice from the issuing bank.

② Non-automatic circulation. After a certain amount is used up in each period, the letter of credit can only be restored to the original amount after waiting for the notice from the issuing bank to arrive.

③ Semi-automatic circulation. That is to say, within a few days after each use of a certain amount, the issuing bank will issue a notice, stop recycling at last, and automatically restore the original amount from the first day.

(7) Open a letter of credit. Refers to two letters of credit opened by the applicant in favor of the other party. Two letters of credit are equal or approximately equal in amount and can be opened simultaneously or successively. Mostly used in barter trade or processing compensation trade.

Back-to-back letter of credit. Also known as the letter of credit, it means that the beneficiary requires the advising bank or other banks of the original letter of credit to open a new letter of credit with similar contents on the basis of the original letter of credit, and the issuing bank of the letter of credit can only open it according to the irrevocable letter of credit. Back-to-back letters of credit are usually opened through a third party when middlemen resell other people's goods, or when the two countries cannot directly handle import and export trade. The amount (unit price) of the original letter of credit should be higher than that of the counter-letter of credit, and the shipment date of the counter-letter of credit should be earlier than the shipment date stipulated in the original letter of credit.

(9) Advance payment by letter of credit. It means that the issuing bank authorizes the paying bank (advising bank) to prepay all or part of the amount of the letter of credit to the beneficiary, and the issuing bank guarantees the repayment and bears the interest, that is, the issuing bank pays first and the beneficiary delivers the documents last, which is contrary to the forward letter of credit. The advance L/C is paid by the exporter's clean bill, and the beneficiary is also required to attach instructions to supplement the documents stipulated in the L/C. When the bill of lading is submitted, the paying bank will deduct the interest of the advance payment when paying the final payment.

(10) standby letter of credit. Also known as commercial paper letter of credit and guarantee letter of credit. Refers to the certificate that the issuing bank undertakes the obligation to the promise issued by the beneficiary at the request of the applicant. In other words, the issuing bank guarantees that when the applicant fails to perform his obligations, the beneficiary can get the payment from the issuing bank as long as he submits the certificate of breach of contract of the issuing bank according to the provisions of the standby letter of credit. It is a kind of bank credit and a way for the beneficiary to get compensation when the issuer defaults.

[Edit this paragraph] English definition of letter of credit

Definition of letter of credit:

A form of payment guarantee issued by a bank to guarantee the interest payment and principal repayment of bond issuance.

[Edit this paragraph] The source of the letter of credit

Letter of credit originated from ancient Roman law, and defined the credit certificate that can be written in words in the process of commodity and currency exchange to show the commercial reputation of both parties.

[Edit this paragraph] Ways to prevent fraud in letters of credit

In the international settlement fraud, documentary credit fraud is the most important and hidden one. This paper attempts to analyze and discuss the common ways of documentary credit fraud.

First, the common ways and characteristics of documentary credit fraud

(a) forged or forged seal (signature) fraud

The so-called "fraud or forgery of seal (signature) fraud" means that the fraudster forges or alters the seal (signature) of the authorized person of the issuing bank in the printed and mailed letter of credit, in an attempt to deceive the beneficiary (exporter) into blindly delivering the goods, and finally achieve the evil purpose of defrauding the export goods.

This kind of fraud generally has the following characteristics:

1. The letter of credit arrived at the beneficiary without notice, and there was no detailed address of the sender on the envelope, so the postmark was ambiguous;

2. The format of the letter of credit used is outdated or invalid;

3. The signature of the letter of credit is not smooth, or the signature is printed;

4. The terms of the letter of credit are contradictory or irregular;

5. The letter of credit requires the goods to be transported by air, or the applicant (importer) of the bill of lading is the consignee.

For example, a foreign trade company in Henan received a documentary letter of credit in favor of Standard Chartered Bank Limited Birmingham Branch (UK) with an amount of US$ 37,200.00, and the advising bank was London National Westminster Bank Limited.

As the certificate has not been audited by the local bank professionals of the beneficiary as usual, several suspicious points have been found:

(1) The format of the letter of credit is very old, there is no sender's address on the envelope, and the postmark is vague, so it is impossible to identify where to send it;

(2) The letter of credit restricts the negotiation of the advising bank, London National Westminster Bank, which violates the Convention;

(3) The detailed address of the acquiring bank cannot be found in the bank yearbook;

(4) The signature of the letter of credit is printed, not handwritten, and cannot be checked;

(5) The letter of credit requires the goods to be transported by air to Nigeria, where fraud cases are frequent. According to the above points, the bank initially identified the letter of credit as a forged letter of credit, and then contacted the head office of the issuing bank to verify its authenticity. Thereby avoid that fraud of forging credit certificate.

(two) stealing or borrowing other people's bank secrets (passwords) for fraud.

The so-called "stealing or borrowing the secret code (password) of another bank for fraud" means that the fraudster falsely claimed to use the secret code of the third bank in the letter of credit opened by electricity, and the confirmation code of the third bank failed to pass the fee confirmation, in an attempt to defraud the export goods.

This kind of fraud usually has the following characteristics:

1. There is no charge for the certificate, but the third bank confirmed the claim by phone;

2. The validity of the letter of credit is short, which forces the beneficiary to deliver the goods in a hurry;

3. The certificate stipulates that the beneficiary will send the original bill of lading to the applicant after shipment;

4. Open a long-term payment letter of credit with favorable interest rate;

5. The applicant and consignee in the certificate are in different countries or regions.

For example, a bank in China once received a letter of credit from ALERTA Branch of Canadian AC Bank, with an amount of about US$ 6,543,800+in favor of an import and export company in Anhui. The bank inspector found that the credit card had the following doubts: (1) The credit card did not pass the recharge confirmation, and only "the credit card will be confirmed by XXX bank call" was indicated in the transfer-in credit card; (2) The certificate is valid on the same day, less than one week from the date of the certificate; (3) Once the beneficiary is required to deliver the goods, a set of duplicate documents together with the original bill of lading will be sent to the applicant by DHL express; (4) The L/C is payable at sight within 45 days, stipulating that the beneficiary can claim the interest at the annual rate of 1 1%; (5) The applicant of the letter of credit is in Canada, but the consignee is in Singapore; (6) prove that the telex number is unreasonable. In response to these questions, on the one hand, the bank warned the company that "this certificate is unqualified, please suspend shipment", on the other hand, it quickly inquired about the international department of the head office and replied: "No such trip was found". Later, I received a confirmation telegram signed by "Bank of America", but the telegram was not confirmed by the security guard, so Bank of China tried to contact the representative office of Bank of America in Beijing to assist in verification. The final answer was: "Our bank has never sent a confirmation telegram and has not contacted the issuing bank." At this point, it is finally confirmed that this is a fraud case of stealing the secrets of the third bank.

Another example: A bank in Guangxi, China received a letter of credit signed by PT Bank Dagang Commercial International Co., Ltd. (Bandung, Indonesia), with an amount of about. USD 800,000, which is used to prove the guarantee between the issuing bank and Standard Chartered Bank Shanghai Branch. Later, Bank of China went to Shanghai to call the bank for verification, and the answer was: "The bank will not accept the audit of third-party banks that are not members of its group, and will not assume any responsibility." Bank of China had to turn to the head office of the issuing bank, but was told that "the issuing bank has never issued this letter of credit, and the applicant is not registered locally and has no business record". Obviously, this is a fake letter of credit that steals secrets from other banks and impersonates Indonesian National Commercial Bank.

(c) "Soft Clause"/"Trap Clause" fraud

The so-called "soft clause"/"trap clause" fraud refers to the letter of credit in which the fraudster requires the issuing bank to take the initiative completely in the hands of the issuing bank, which can bind the beneficiary and lift the payment liability clause at any time. Its essence is a kind of revocable letter of credit in disguised form, aiming at deceiving Chinese export enterprises and banks.

This kind of fraud mainly has the following characteristics:

1. The certificate amount is relatively large, more than 500,000 US dollars;

2. The certificate contains "soft clauses"/"trap clauses" that restrict the rights of the beneficiary, such as requiring the applicant or its designated representative to issue an inspection certificate, or requiring the applicant to indicate the name of the carrier, the date of loading and operation, the sailing route, or claiming that "this certificate has not yet come into effect";

3. The goods in the certificate are generally bulk building materials and packaging materials, such as "granite, pebbles, cast iron covers, wooden cases and fiber bags";

4. The fraudster requires the export enterprise to prepay the performance bond, commission or quality bond to the designated representative or intermediary of the buyer according to 5%- 15% of the contract amount or the opening amount.

5. After obtaining the performance bond, commission or quality bond, the buyer refuses to issue the inspection certificate or fails to notify the shipment, which makes the export enterprise unable to obtain a complete set of documents for negotiation and suffers losses in vain.

For example, a bank in China received a letter of credit with the amount of 1,170,000,000 US dollars issued by Hong Kong KP Bank. The beneficiary was an import and export company in Guangxi, and the exported goods were wooden boxes. There are the following "soft clauses" in the certificate: "This certificate has not yet come into effect, unless the name of the carrier has been recognized by the applicant, and the issuing bank will notify the beneficiary in the form of amending the certificate" (this letter of credit is inoperable and has no time limit. The name of the carrying vessel has been approved by the applicable issuing bank, which will inform the beneficiary).

Bank of China will pass in the future

When you know the beneficiary, remind him of this "soft clause" and suggest him to amend the letter of credit to avoid possible risks. Later, after consultation, the applicant cancelled the letter of credit, and another letter of credit with the same amount, the same goods and the same beneficiary was opened by IB Bank in Hong Kong, but there was still such a "soft clause" in the letter of credit: "Shipment can only be made after receiving the amendment of this letter of credit and indicating the name of the carrier and the date of shipment. Implementation "(shipment can only take effect after receiving the amendment notice of this credit, the name of the shipping vessel and/or the date of shipment). It can be said that the initiative is still in the hands of the applicant, but the beneficiary faces the risk that if the applicant refuses to send the shipping advice, he will not be able to submit a full set of documents to the bank for negotiation. At this time, the Bank of China learned that an industry and trade company associated with the import and export company had remitted 400,000 yuan of quality deposit to the applicant's representative in Shenzhen, and the import and export company was planning to apply for a RMB package loan of 6 million yuan for the loan account. Therefore, the Bank of China took decisive measures. On the one hand, it suspended the loan to the company, on the other hand, it urged it to try to help the industry and trade company recover the quality guarantee money. Only multi-party cooperation can avoid losses.

Another example: a trading company in Liaoning signed a contract with Jinhua enterprise in the United States to sell 50,000 cubic meters of granite to Hong Kong, with a total amount of $654.38+09.5 million. The buyer opened the first letter of credit under the above contract through a bank in Hong Kong, with the amount of USD 654.38+0.95 million. The letter of credit stipulates: "The goods can be shipped only after receiving the shipping notice of the name of the ship specified by the applicant, and the shipping notice will be issued by the issuing bank through the amendment of the letter of credit" (the shipment will take effect only after receiving the applicant; Shipping; Through the instruction of the issuing bank of the letter of credit, the name of the designated transport vessel was modified through the subsequent letter of credit. After receiving the letter of credit, the trading company paid a quality guarantee of 2.6 million yuan to the designated representative of the buyer. Before shipment, the buyer's representative came to the place of origin to inspect the goods, and refused to issue the "Shipping Notice" on the grounds that the goods were unqualified, which led to the goods being stranded in the place of origin, and China Company was unable to deliver and collect foreign exchange at all, resulting in very heavy losses.

(4) Forging an amendment to a letter of credit for fraud.

The so-called "fraud of forging an amendment to the letter of credit" means that the fraudster radially informs the bank or beneficiary to issue an amendment to the letter of credit without going through the issuing bank, in an attempt to use the loopholes of the exporter to induce the beneficiary to deliver the goods in order to defraud the export goods.

This kind of fraud generally has the following characteristics:

1. Although the original certificate is true and legal, it contains some clauses that restrict the rights of the beneficiary and needs to be revised urgently;

2. Send modification by telegram or telex, steal or borrow the password of the original certificate from other banks;

3. The amendment is not issued by the issuing bank, but directly sent to the advising bank or beneficiary;

4. It is stipulated in the certificate that the original bill of lading should be sent to the applicant after shipment;

The validity of the letter of credit is short, which forces the beneficiary to deliver the goods in a hurry. Letter of credit of USD 65,438+RMB 0,092,000.00 in favor of a foreign trade company in Hainan. The letter of credit contains such a "soft clause": "shipment can only be made after the advising bank receives and informs the buyer of the shipping instructions, the name of the designated carrier and the date of shipment; In addition, the amendment must be included in each set of negotiation documents "(the shipment will be effective only after receiving the buyer's shipping instructions through the advising bank, indicating the name of the carrier and the date of shipment, and including a successful copy in each set of negotiation documents), and it is stipulated that" the original bill of lading of 1/3 will be sent to the applicant by express mail after shipment ". When notifying the beneficiaries of future letters of credit, the Bank of China should pay attention to these terms and take preventive measures. Later, the Bank of China received an amendment to the original letter of credit, which stated the name of the ship and the date of shipment, and changed the original letter of credit from allowing partial shipment to prohibiting partial shipment, but did it follow the original letter of credit? The Bank of China immediately became alert, quickly inquired about the issuing bank, and immediately notified the beneficiary to stop the shipment after confirming that the message was a forged amendment. At this time, the beneficiary's export goods (70 tons of white pepper) are ready to go, and the risk is self-evident.

(5) forging passenger inspection certificates and practicing fraud.

The so-called "fraudulent passenger inspection certificate" means that the fraudster issues the inspection certificate in the name of the applicant's representative at the beneficiary's place of shipment, but its signature does not match the seal on the back of the issuing bank. As a result, the beneficiary's documents were rejected, but the goods were cheated.

This kind of fraud is usually like a feature:

1. The arrival certificate contains the "soft clause" of the inspection certificate signed by the applicant's representative.

2. The certificate stipulates that the signature of the applicant's representative must be consistent with the seal on the back of the issuing bank;

3. The certificate requires that the original bill of lading be handed over to the applicant's representative;

4. The applicant will give the beneficiary a large cheque as collateral or guarantee;

5. The applicant manipulates the whole transaction process through the designated representative.

For example, a bank in China received a letter of credit issued by Hong Kong BD Finance Company in favor of an information company in Hainan, with an amount of US$ 992,000.00 and 200,000 cameras for export. The letter of credit requires the applicant's designated representative to issue the inspection certificate of the goods before shipment, and its signature must be confirmed by the issuing bank, and the original bill of lading of 1/2 should be handed over to the applicant's representative after shipment. At the time of shipment, the representative of the applicant came to the place of shipment, provided the inspection certificate, and took an original bill of lading and several large cheques from the beneficiary as collateral. Later, the beneficiary entrusted the relevant cheque to the local bank for negotiation, and the result was told: "The collection cheque is blank, which is inconsistent with the signature of the inspection certificate issued by the applicant's representative and is purely forged". More unfortunately, all the goods have been taken away and their whereabouts are unknown. The beneficiary suffered heavy losses and was resentful.

(6) Fraud by altering letters of credit

The so-called "fraud by altering letters of credit" means that fraudsters deliberately alter the expired letters of credit, change the amount, expiration date and beneficiary name of the original letters of credit, and send them directly to the beneficiaries by mail or face to face, so as to defraud export goods, or induce exporters to open letters of credit for them and defraud bank financing.

This kind of fraud often has the following characteristics:

1. The original letter of credit was opened by letter to facilitate amendment;

2. Changes include the amount of the letter of credit, the expiration date and the name of the beneficiary;

3. The letter of credit has been altered without the certificate of the issuing bank;

4. The letter of credit is delivered directly to the beneficiary without the notice of the advising bank;

5. the amount is huge, so as to defraud huge profits.

For example, a foreign trade company in Jiangsu once received a letter of credit from a Hong Kong merchant in person, amounting to USD 65,438+0.27,365,438+0.8 million. Upon examination, the local China bank found that the amount of the letter of credit, the delivery date and the beneficiary's name were obviously altered, so it reminded the beneficiary to pay attention and immediately inquired with the issuing bank. Finally, it was found that the letter of credit was tampered with by the merchant and handed over to the foreign trade company in an attempt to ask our bank to open a letter of credit of 6.3 million US dollars, so as to cheat money abroad. In fact, this is an old letter of credit that has already expired. Thanks to our high vigilance, this huge letter of credit fraud case was stopped in time.

(7) Fraudulent forgery of confirmed letters of credit

The so-called "fraud by forging confirmed letters of credit" means that fraudsters deliberately forge confirmed letters of credit of major international banks in order to gain the trust of exporters on the basis of providing fake letters of credit, thus defrauding me of bulk exports.