Does anyone know "www.oic.ci"?

[astrobox]

Does anyone know whether www.oic.ci is legitimate or not? The complete information is :
Office Ivoirien Des Chargeurs
Port of Abidjan
Street Le Havre Face Large Mills of Abidjan
01 B.P. 3709 Abidjan 01
Tel : (+225) 21 25 99 33
Fax : (+225) 21 25 27
Email : oic@aviso.ci
Website : www.oic.ci

It is about BSC Process which is said to be mandatory if we want to export to Cote d'Ivoire. We need to register with our company details and pay Euro 250. The money is not that much, but is this legitimate? Can anyone out there give me advice and more information? Thank you very much.

[Daneel]

I believe this is actually legitimate. As long as you are in contact with the people behind that website and not someone impersonating them. I will try to find out some more about this...

If this was any kind of typical scam, they would not have a .ci domain, they would probably not ask for such a small sum, and the site would not be in three languages.

[EDIT] I found the process described here:
http://www.otal.com/cotedivoire/cotewaiver.htm
This seems to be a very legitimate shipping company.

A lot of the information on this seems to be in French, which I can't read very well. But if you are in contact with the phone numbers or email addresses listed on www.oic.ci I think you should be safe. Otherwise, I would recommend you contact them and ask about it.

Someone else here may be able to provide more information.

[astrobox]

Thank you very much for your reply and the site that you gave me. It is very helpfull. Thank you :D

[Miyuki]

why do you have to pay to register your company?

[Frazzle]

I think it's probably legit too.

The aviso.ci and oic.ci domains were both registered 27 Jan 06 for one year, which is scammerish, but there may be some legit explanation.

There is the ct.bsc@sgs.com email address, which does seem out of place. SGS is a big international company that deals in this kind of stuff.

However, otal.com looks legit (created 1995) and references www.oic.ci and the above sgs.com email address

Assistance pour le Bordereau de Suivi des Cargaisons [BSC] par Internet
Il semblerait que certains clients éprouvent des difficultés à établir un compte pour le nouveau
BSC sur le site de l’OIC www.oic.ci. Nous sommes en relation avec l’OIC et possédons
désormais deux contacts que vous pouvez consulter pour toute assistance.
· alice.kouame@sgs.com
· ct.bsc@sgs.com

Strangely, that document was dated 21 December 2005... before the www.oic.ci domain was created. It's possible that the original www.oic.ci domain was allowed to lapse, and taken over by a scammer.

Googling "Office Ivoirien Des Chargeurs" finds their address and phone number is
OFFICE IVOIRIEN DES CHARGEURS
01 bp 3709 Abidjan
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Tél.: 21 25 99 33


Which matches up with the www.oic.ci website.

If you're dubious, I suggest contacting SGS and ask them for confirmation of the www.oic.ci web page, and of the fee.

[poirot]

They are listed in the Cote-d'Ivoire phone directory: (http://www.annuaire-cotedivoire.com/recherche/?start=1&q=CHARGEURS&area=)


This point to them being legitimate, but I would still be careful if only because it's very difficult to get any kind of recourse in Cote-d'Ivoire, should something go wrong. A point that scammers are well aware of.

The Ivory Coast Customs site is: http://www.douanes.ci/ as listed on the I.C. Canadian Embassy web site. They might be of some help.

[astrobox]

Thank you very much for all the replies. They are all very helpfull indeed and I'm quite happy that everybody has been so concerned and caring. Thank you. I do appreciate it :nod: :)