When you order $36m worth of copper but get painted rocks…
This bizarre case highlights commodity traders’ vulnerability to fraud, even when security and inspection controls are in place
09 March 2021 - 16:30
Commodities trader Mercuria Energy Group struck a deal last northern hemisphere summer to buy $36m of copper from a Turkish supplier. But when the cargoes started arriving in China, all it found were containers full of painted rocks.
The saga unfolds like a gangland thriller, with the Swiss trading house saying it’s been the victim of cargo fraud. Before its journey from a port near Istanbul to China even began, about 6,000 tonnes of blister copper in more than 300 containers were switched with jagged paving stones, spray-painted to resemble the semi-refined metal...
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