Was Aquascape Duped By Chinese Manufacturer?

• This post was reported and written by St. Charles Patch Editor Ted Schnell.

St. Charles police have launched an investigation into a case in which a local company claims to have been defrauded of tens of thousands of dollars after a change in payment methods to an overseas supplier.

Aquascape Water Garden Store, 901 Aqualand Way, contacted police on June 3, 2013, after learning the money it had wired to a Chinese firm that manufactures parts it uses apparently had never made it to the supplier.

According to the police report on the investigation, Aquascape Water Garden Store works with Keming Electric, a company in China, which manufactures and supplies Aquascape with parts for its business. The two companies have worked together for six years without incident, according to the report.

But in February 2013, Aquascape placed an order for $166,755 with Keming. The order was placed by email, but after no response, Aquascape emailed the company back, asking it to verify that its order had been received.

Aquascape received an email back stating it would be sent the usual pro forma contract and new wire-transfer information, which Aquascape said was not unusual. Wire-transfer payments have been the method the company has used to pay for its orders, the report states.

In March, Aquascape transferred $49,721 to the new wire account, the report states. As the shipping date approached, more emails were exchanged between the two companies, and in March, a request was made for the final payment of $117,000, which was made in May.

Aquascape expected to receive the documentation is needed to have the items released. But Keming Electric informed Aquascape it had never received any of the money. Keming also indicated the wire accounts Aquascape had sent money to did not belong to the company.

Since then, Aquascape has been able to verify the funds were indeed received by the account it was instructed to wire its money, but the company cannot determine whether the funds still are in the account.

In 2008, St. Charles was named "water garden capital of the world."

Patch reports on law enforcement activity in the Tri-Cities, using information provided by official agencies. Persons charged with a crime, or issued a citation for violation of a local ordinance, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If you or a family member are charged with a crime or cited for a violation, and the charge or citation is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify Geneva editor Rick Nagel at rickn@patch.com and we will do follow-up reporting on the case.