Policies
Anti-money-laundering and payment security
International trade in commodities is a channel that money launderers and fraudsters try to use. This policy sets out how we verify the parties we deal with, the payments we accept and make, and the controls that protect our buyers and suppliers — and us — from payment fraud. Banks handling our credits may rely on it.
1. Commitment
We comply with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and the know-your-customer requirements of the banks that handle our transactions, and we cooperate fully with their enquiries. We do not knowingly take part in any transaction that conceals the origin, ownership or destination of funds or goods.
2. Knowing our counterparties
Before a first contract we establish who we are dealing with: the legal name and registration of the company, its registered address and place of business, the identity and authority of the people signing for it, its beneficial ownership where the law or our bank requires it, and its import registration where the destination requires one. Suppliers are visited before we ship from them. Counterparties are screened as described in the trade compliance and sanctions policy. Where a party declines to provide information a bank would reasonably require, we do not proceed.
3. Payments we accept
- Irrevocable letter of credit at sight, advised or confirmed by the buyer's bank, or documents against payment through banking channels.
- Bank transfer from an account held in the name of the contracting buyer, at a bank in the buyer's country of business or the destination of the goods.
- One payment per invoice, at the invoiced value, in the contract currency.
We do not accept cash, cryptocurrency, payment from third parties who are not the contracting buyer, payments split across unrelated accounts, or payments routed through countries that have no connection with the trade. Requests to over-invoice, under-invoice or issue a second invoice are declined.
4. Payments we make
Suppliers, inspectors, forwarders and laboratories are paid by bank transfer to an account in their own name, against an invoice, and recorded in our books. We make no cash payments beyond minor statutory and port charges, and no payment to an account in a name other than the party who provided the service.
5. Payment security — protecting you from impersonation
Exporters are impersonated. Fraudsters register look-alike domains, intercept email threads and send buyers revised bank details shortly before a payment falls due. The controls below exist so that a payment meant for us reaches us, and so that no one can use our name to reach you.
- Our only email domain is astratechsolutions.net and our only telephone number is +91 95616 19702. Correspondence from any other domain or number is not from us.
- Our bank account details appear only on the proforma invoice and the contract, issued from our domain. They do not change during a transaction.
- Should our bank details ever change, the change is confirmed by a telephone call on the number above, initiated by you, before any payment is made. An email, however convincing, is never sufficient on its own — please treat one as a warning sign and call us.
- We never ask for card details, banking passwords or one-time codes, and we never request payment to an individual's account.
- Before your first payment, we encourage you to verify our bank details by an independent call to the number published on this site.
If you receive a request that does not fit these rules, do not pay it. Telephone us on +91 95616 19702 or write to contact@astratechsolutions.net and we will confirm what is genuine within the working day.
6. Warning signs and refusal
We decline, and where the law requires we report, transactions that show the recognised signs of money laundering or fraud: reluctance to complete counterparty verification, payment offered from an unrelated party or country, requests to alter invoiced values, unusual urgency around a change of payment instructions, or goods destined for a party other than the buyer without a documented reason.
7. Records
Counterparty verification records, contracts, invoices, bank advices and shipping documents are retained for the period Indian law requires and are made available to our bank and to the authorities on lawful request.
8. Raising a concern
Suspected money laundering, fraud or impersonation should be reported to contact@astratechsolutions.net with the subject line Compliance, or by telephone. Reports are handled by management, in confidence where requested, and no one suffers any disadvantage for raising a concern in good faith.