The MoIT said the swindlers often offer preferential conditions on order contracts if a deposit of at least 10 percent is transferred online.

However, when businesses send the money, the impostors immediately stop all transactions and refuse to deliver the goods causing their victims to lose tens of thousands of US dollars.

To avoid such sophisticated swindles and find trustworthy partners in African countries, Vietnamese exporters are advised not to search for partners on the internet which can be used by opportunists to play a trick on genuine businesses.

They should require their partners to provide relevant documents and information to prove their legality and send them to the representative Vietnamese agencies in Africa to confirm their validity before conducting any transactions.