Most guidance on this subject is written by people selling something, which is worth saying plainly given that we are a Brazilian sourcing company. So here is the honest framing: everything below is a check you can run yourself, without hiring anyone. If you run these checks on us and something does not satisfy you, do not send money. That standard should apply to every counterparty you deal with in Brazil.
Fraud in commodity trade tends to follow a pattern. A buyer receives an attractive quotation, often noticeably below the market. Communication is responsive and professional. Documents look plausible. A deposit is requested to secure allocation before a deadline. After payment, contact becomes slower, then stops. The cargo never existed.
The defence is unglamorous: verify the company before price becomes the conversation.
1. Verify the CNPJ against the public registry
Every legitimate Brazilian company has a CNPJ
CNPJ stands for Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica — the national registry number issued to every legally constituted company in Brazil. It is the Brazilian equivalent of a company registration number, and the register is public.
Ask for the CNPJ and check it against Brazil's Receita Federal records. The lookup is free and returns the registered company name, address, registration status, and declared business activity.
Four things to confirm: the registration is active, not suspended or closed; the registered name matches the name on the quotation; the declared activity is consistent with food manufacturing or trading; and the registered address is a commercial or industrial location rather than a residence.
"Please send your CNPJ and the registered company name so I can verify it." A legitimate exporter answers this within minutes and is not offended by it.
2. Confirm the export licence — RADAR and Siscomex
Company registration alone does not permit exporting
A company can be properly registered in Brazil and still have no authority to export. Foreign trade requires a separate authorisation known as RADAR, granted by Receita Federal, and export declarations are filed through Siscomex, Brazil's integrated foreign trade system.
Without an active RADAR licence, a Brazilian company cannot legally export — whatever it offers you, and however convincing the quotation looks. This catches a category of counterparty that passes the CNPJ check but has never shipped anything internationally.
"Do you hold an active RADAR licence, and have you exported to my market before?" Ask for a redacted copy of a previous bill of lading if the answer is yes.
3. Request the document set before you discuss price
Real exporters have paperwork ready; fake ones stall
Legitimate food exporters hold their certifications continuously, not on request. Depending on the product, that means ANVISA registration for processed foods, MAPA certification for animal products and phytosanitary matters, and a Halal certificate from a body recognised by your specific destination market.
The informative part is not the documents themselves — those can be forged. It is the speed and specificity of the response. A real manufacturer sends current certificates naming their facility. A fraudulent one sends generic documents, sends nothing, or explains why the documents will follow after the deposit.
"Please send your current certifications, the manufacturing facility address, and a recent Certificate of Analysis for this product." Then check the facility name on those documents matches the CNPJ registration.
4. Check the company's footprint and references
Fraud tends to be thin in places that take time to build
Check the age of the web domain — newly registered domains paired with claims of long trading history are a recognised pattern. Look for a physical address that corresponds to a real facility, a company email domain rather than a free provider, and a landline in addition to mobile or messaging contact.
Look for evidence that others have dealt with the company: a business listing with reviews, a company presence on professional networks with real employees, trade association membership, or presence at trade fairs. Fraudulent operations tend to avoid anything that accumulates public feedback over time.
A video call is a reasonable request. Ask to see the facility, the product, and the person you have been corresponding with. Refusal is informative.
"Can we do a short video call from your facility, and can you put me in contact with a buyer in a market similar to mine?"
5. Use independent pre-shipment inspection
Inexpensive relative to the value of a container
For a first shipment with an unfamiliar supplier, independent inspection is the most direct risk reduction available. Established agencies including SGS, Bureau Veritas and Intertek operate throughout Brazil and can verify quantity, specification, packaging condition and loading before the container is sealed.
This is ordinary practice in international commodity trade. A legitimate exporter treats it as routine. Resistance to independent inspection, on any reasoning, is a serious signal.
"I will appoint an inspection agency for loading. Please confirm they will have access to the facility on the loading date."
6. Examine the payment instruction carefully
Most losses are finalised at this step
The bank account should be in the exact registered name of the exporting company, at a Brazilian bank, in Brazil. Payment instructions directing funds to a personal account, to a differently-named company, or to a third country are among the clearest indicators of fraud.
Be alert to changed banking details mid-transaction. Email compromise in trade is common: a buyer receives revised bank details shortly before payment, apparently from the same contact. Always confirm any change of account by a separate channel — a phone call to a number you already had, not a number in the new email.
Terms themselves are negotiable and vary legitimately by relationship, volume and product. What should not vary is who the account belongs to.
"Please confirm the account name matches your CNPJ registration exactly." Then verify it does.
Sourcing from Brazil and want a second opinion? Send us the details of an offer you have received. We will tell you what we would check — no obligation.
Ask Us →Red flags — and what they usually mean
| Signal | What it usually indicates |
|---|---|
| Price noticeably below market | The strongest single indicator of fraud. Real mills and manufacturers have real cost floors. Nobody gives away margin to a stranger abroad. |
| CNPJ not provided, or delayed | Either the company is not registered, or the registration will not survive checking. |
| Bank account in a different name or country | Funds are being routed away from the named exporter. Stop here. |
| Pressure to pay before a deadline | Urgency is manufactured to prevent verification. Genuine allocation pressure exists, but it survives a two-day check. |
| Free email address, recent domain | No established business infrastructure behind the correspondence. |
| Registered address is residential | Inconsistent with a manufacturer or a trading company handling containers. |
| Refuses video call or inspection | There is likely nothing to show. |
| Product photographs found elsewhere online | Images taken from a real supplier's site. The offer is impersonating someone. |
| Bank details changed near payment date | Probable email compromise. Verify by a channel you already trusted. |
The price signal deserves special attention
Almost every fraud case in Brazilian commodity trade begins with an attractive number. Sugar, coffee and grain have observable international reference prices, and a legitimate exporter cannot operate far below them for long. If an offer is materially cheaper than everything else you have been quoted, the most probable explanation is not a better supplier — it is that no cargo exists. Treat an unusually good price as a reason for more scrutiny, not less.
Where a sourcing agent changes the picture
An agent does not remove risk, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling. What it changes is where the verification happens and who can do it.
Checking a manufacturer properly means reading Portuguese documents, understanding which certifications matter for your destination, and ideally standing in the facility. A buyer in Dubai, Jeddah, Cairo or Lagos can do the registry checks remotely — the ones above — but cannot easily assess whether a production line matches what was described, or whether a Halal certificate comes from a body your own customs authority recognises.
The practical shift is this: instead of assessing several unfamiliar manufacturers from a distance, you verify one counterparty thoroughly, and that counterparty carries the burden of assessing the rest. That is only an improvement if you actually verify the agent. Run every check above on any sourcing company you consider, including this one. Ask for the CNPJ. Ask about RADAR. Ask to speak to a buyer they have shipped for. Ask for a video call.
What we think a buyer is entitled to ask us
Our company registration and export licence details, on request. Which manufacturer is producing your order and where the facility is. Which Halal body issued the certificate and whether it is recognised by your destination authority. A video call. Independent inspection at loading, arranged by you. If a sourcing company treats any of that as unreasonable, that is your answer.
A short version
Before money moves: verify the CNPJ is active and matches the name on the quotation; confirm the RADAR export licence; request current certifications and check the facility name against the registration; look for a real footprint and references; appoint independent inspection for a first container; and confirm the bank account is in the exporter's exact registered name at a Brazilian bank.
None of this is expensive. Nearly all of it is free and takes under a week. Set against the value of a container, it is the cheapest part of the transaction.
Sourcing Brazilian Food and Want It Verified Properly?
Tell us the product, your destination market and volume. We'll come back with a sourcing proposal — and you're welcome to run every check in this guide on us first. Response within 4 hours, 7 days a week.