Container Professionals is a scam website.
Status: Currently Inactive, taken down we believe July 2018
Recently running under the website ‘thecontainerpros.co.uk’
We have recently seen various versions of the same website pop up, recent versions include the names listed below. – The current version was first spotted January 2nd 2018 but may have surfaced over Christmas period
Previous versions of this scam have run from these website addresses below:
Containerprofessionals.co.uk Contianerprofessionals.com Contianerpros.com
This site has been down since July 2018 . It is a near exact clone of a previous UK based scam website with a very similar name.
This scam website should not to be confused with Container Projects LLP (Aka Container pros) which is a perfectly legitimate trading company based in Richmond, London, or Container Professionals Inc which is a legitimate USA based outfit. Any other container traders based in other countries which may have similar names are likely not involved with this scam (please bear in mind the scammers pick names close to legitimate outfits to help them look legitimate)
The container professionals website has surfaced a few times under slightly different names. Very similar to other scam websites they will issue you an invoice with fake company and VAT registration numbers on the invoice. The invoice address will have been fake.
The standard ‘MO’: You call, you get a voicemail message every time saying the team are busy. Someone always calls you straight back after leaving a message. You receive a formal looking quote that’s approx 10-25% better than anyone else. This often includes an offer for free delivery.
They will issue you a formal looking invoice. The address on the invoice is a residential address, the VAT number on the invoice is registered to Container Brokerage Ltd which is a registered business with no connection to the scam. (apart from he fact the scammers have ripped off this legitimate VAT number for use on their invoices, they may potentially use different VAT numbers on invoices if and when they see this article)
Payment may have been made via more than one bank or payment processor but you pay a standard UK bank account with a sort code and account number.
These guys have no intention of supplying you with a shipping container.
If you have been scammed by this site or another one please report it to the Police and Action Fraud straight away. This may not be the best option to help your situation – but it will very likely enable the authorities to act faster to help prevent others from being scammed. You can also let us know via our reporting tool although we cannot and do not lodge crime reports on your behalf (you have to make these yourself)