Many people are contacting us through our website certificateverifiers.com to verify the authenticity of one company or another company they want to do business with. Most of them found these companies through online search. However, only 20-30% of these companies were found to be authentic. The rest
of them are online scams in Cameroon that want to rip them off for their hard-earned money.
In the last blog, we also revealed the few fraud timber companies in Cameroon, more will be revealed soon. It has been observed that the number of scam companies has been continuously rising, and it promoted us to write a blog post to keep all of you well aware and informed so that you can avoid getting caught by online scams in Cameroon.
How to Verify the Authenticity of a Company in Cameroon?
There are several methods scammers are targeting businesses and major investors searching for opportunities online in Cameroon. One of the most common is using deceptive sales techniques to get this business out of your money.
Most of the foreigners and Cameroonians in the diaspora are not well aware of how business activities are conducted in Cameroon. Most of them don’t know where they can find reliable information. There are very few genuine websites like this where you can find the right information or direct you to find all the information you want.
Government websites may seem odd due to their outdated information but they will have all or major information to check the authenticity of the business. Most investors or foreign businesses usually ask these ‘presumed businesses’ about their company documents and business licenses. They are usually sent copies of counterfeit or expired business licenses.
How to Verify a Fake Business in Cameroon?
To avoid getting stuck into the scam of online scammers in Cameroon that use fake business documents, you need to know the following:
- Ask for a Business license and check the validity period
A business license no longer has a validity date of 1 year. It is issued on a single sheet of paper along with the Tax Clearance Certificate and is valid for 3 months from the date of signature. If the taxpayer has benefited from a moratorium or a stay on execution, the validity may be for one month.
Businesses can also apply for a business license tax exemption in Cameroon for the first year of registration. In this case, the business becomes free from business license tax for 1 year or 2 years if it was registered with the Integrated Center for Small and Medium-sized Businesses.
- Check Tax clearance certificate
A tax clearance certificate is issued after validation of compliance of taxpayers. This is to know whether or not the taxpayer has paid all his taxes and duties. This means that the taxpayer has no tax debt or any benefit from withholding or moratorium on execution.
To avoid falling into the trap of online scams in Cameroon, you need to ask a business to prove that their business is going on. One way to know this is that they provide you with a proper tax clearance certificate. However, we all know that scanning a document, editing it and sending such documents to you is also possible for scammers. That’s why the next point is very vital.
- Verify the Authenticity of the Business License
The tax department of Cameroon has made it possible for individuals asking about the authenticity of a business licence or tax clearance certificate to do so online on the website of tax department. It will confirm that the company is legally registered. This is described below:
- According to the General Tax Code of Cameroon, only taxpayers (natural or legal) who are liable to pay taxes and duties can request a tax clearance certificate. The Finance Act of 2015 also clearly states that the tax clearance certificate is the only document which proves that the taxpayer is compliant with the administration.
- The Finance Act of 2017 also spells out the instances in which a tax clearance certificate is required, the conditions on which it is issued and the period of its validity.
- Tax Clearance Certificate is issued to businesses that have the taxpayer’s number. Taxpayers’ numbers are issued to a business only during registration in Cameroon.
If the online verification is valid, it means that the person with whom you are doing business online is actually running a registered business. However, in case something is doubtful and you want extra surety then feel free to opt for our Business Verification package.