Westerners have always found China to be an exotic, mysterious place. When it comes to investigating shady business proposals, elusive employees or outright con-artist schemes, however, those words take on a whole new meaning.
Consider the simple dinner scam. A Chinese company contacts a small U.S. or European manufacturer and places an order—a big order. To make it official, the Chinese company says, the foreign firm must send its top executive to China to sign the contract—this week.
