Antwerp Police Warn of New Swindles

The diamond squad of the Federal Police in Antwerp has warned diamond and jewelry firms in the city about a spate of incidents targeting diamond and jewelry businesses.

The scam involves a phone call to the company from someone calling from abroad expressing an interest in specific certified diamonds or jewelry, according to a report on IDEX Online.

The buyer may provide an email address and a copy of a passport which turn out, however, to be fake.

The buyer will agree to send money to the account of the diamond dealer or jeweler before receiving the item, and might support this with a false swift code confirmation or apparently real bank details. The payment might also be confirmed by a phone call from your bank and the incoming call number might even appear on the display as the number of the bank.

Arrangements are then made for collection of the item and the location of the collection is usually changed at the last minute to a road or a hotel. The person collecting the object is a so-called buyer’s co-operator or employee.

Afterwards, the seller discovers that the payment did not take place and that the bank did not really call to confirm the payment.

The Antwerp Federal Police's diamond squad is asking diamond and jewelry firms to be particularly vigilant and to contact it if they have been a victim of such a scam.