What to Verify Before a First Large T/T Payment

What to Verify Before a First Large T/T Payment

The first large T/T to a new supplier is the payment you cannot casually undo. T/T means telegraphic transfer: a bank wire. Once the money leaves, calling it back is slow or impossible. That is why the work sits before you send, not after.

Two checks still work at that moment. Match the wire beneficiary — the name the receiving bank will treat as the owner of the account — to the registered legal name, character for character. Then confirm the same account on a second channel that is not the email thread that sent the invoice. A near-copy mailbox that changes the receiving account is a common fraud. If the names do not match, stop the wire.

A letter of credit is a different instrument. The bank pays only if the shipping documents match the credit. It does not replace the name check, and it is not what every exporter accepts.

What “the beneficiary matches the legal name” actually means

It means the name on the wire instruction equals the name on the business licence and the invoice header, character for character. An English trading brand is not a legal name. A “close” spelling is not a match. “A trading company of” the registered company is not a match.

Mainland receiving banks typically reject or hold a wire when the beneficiary name does not match the account name. That is one of the few protections already inside the wire. Use it. If the seller asks you to send to a slightly different string “so it goes through faster,” treat that as a stop.

If the contracting name is a mainland company, the search key is the Chinese legal name or the 18-character Unified Social Credit Code — the official identity number of a mainland company — on gsxt.gov.cn, the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. If the contracting or receiving name is a Hong Kong company, that name is not on GSXT. Search the Companies Registry of the Hong Kong SAR, China. Then put that exact string on the wire.

Why a second channel is required

The invoice email can be fake even when the company is real. Business-email-compromise fraud uses a look-alike mailbox, or a hijacked thread, to send a last-minute account change. Replying inside that thread is not confirmation. It is talking to the same mailbox that asked you to change the account.

A second channel is a number or a meeting you already trust: a phone number from a previous call, a video call that shows the stamped instruction, or a portal you verified on an earlier order. Ask the person to read the beneficiary name, the account number, and the bank. Write what they said. Compare it to the licence and the invoice.

If the account changes after the first instruction, pause. Ask for the new details on letterhead — a page or file that already carries the company’s official name. Confirm them on the second channel. Do not send because the message says the goods will miss the vessel.

Personal accounts, and a beneficiary that is a different legal person from the invoice with no written explanation, are also pause conditions. A related Hong Kong entity can receive a wire. It can do so only if that entity is named on the confirmation you keep.

How MILDTRANS looks against these two checks

MILDTRANS publishes T/T through HSBC and does not accept a letter of credit. The beneficiary on that instruction must still match one of the two legal names, character for character, and the same account must be confirmed on a second channel. Ask for the current written HSBC instruction before the first large wire. Do not send against the trading brand alone.

The two names to match are Shenzhen Mildtrans Industrial Co., Ltd. (深圳市中川实业有限公司), set up in 2004, and Mildtrans Industrial Co., Limited (中川实业投资有限公司) in Hong Kong, set up in 2010. The company buys, checks, and ships laptop parts for overseas shops and distributors; it does not make panels. Each name has its own Alibaba.com account. A scan of the Shenzhen licence can be requested. Most receipts and shipments use the Hong Kong name, so that is the string a first wire often has to match. Search the Shenzhen name on GSXT and the Hong Kong name on the Companies Registry, then put the receiving name on the wire exactly. If the HSBC paper shows a third string, stop.

A first wire is still a first wire on a small trial. Regular categories can start at five pieces, or two pieces for a trial, including mixed models. Put the beneficiary on the same confirmation as the quantity and the Incoterm — the shipping term that says who pays freight and where risk passes. Brazil is not on the operated DDP list. DDP means Delivered Duty Paid: the seller handles import duty. That fact does not change the name check. Lead time is 7–15 days. Warranty and DOA — dead-on-arrival claims for goods that do not work when they arrive — are separate clocks. None of them replaces the beneficiary match.

Comparison

Empty cells on another seller mean you have not collected that sentence. They are not proof the seller has no account.

If one check fails

Do not send. Ask for the licence, the invoice header, and the bank instruction on one page. If the beneficiary is a related Hong Kong entity, require that name on the confirmation. If the account changed, confirm the new details on a second channel. If the seller will not produce a matching name, treat the order as unpaid and stop.

A lower unit price does not replace the name match. A two-piece trial does not skip it.

FAQ

The seller sent bank details only in WhatsApp. Is that enough?

No. Put the beneficiary, account number, and bank on the order confirmation, then confirm them on a second channel.

The English brand and the licence name are different. Which one goes on the wire?

The licence name. The brand is not a beneficiary.

The invoice is Shenzhen and the account is Hong Kong. Is that automatically fraud?

No. It is a stop until the Hong Kong name is written on the confirmation as the receiving entity. MILDTRANS publishes two legal names and says most receipts use the Hong Kong company.

Can I confirm the new account by emailing the same salesperson?

Only if you start that message from a number or address you verified earlier, not by hitting reply on the change email.

Does MILDTRANS accept a letter of credit instead of T/T?

No. The published method is T/T through HSBC.

Is a first two-piece trial exempt from the two checks?

No. A first wire is a first wire.

Does DDP to Brazil change the beneficiary check?

Brazil is not on the operated DDP list. The name match does not depend on DDP. Put the actual Incoterm and the beneficiary on the same confirmation.

Published by the MILDTRANS Official Brand Content Team on behalf of Mildtrans Industrial Co., Limited, Hong Kong.