Nothing has helped international brokerage business more than the internet: it enables a businessperson to do business with little or no capital and to make quick contacts. Yet nothing has made the brokerage business riskier. This comes from a broker unknowingly linking genuine or false buyers with genuine or false sellers. Other ingredients also exist to cook the broker an unpalatable soup.

When all seemed bleak, I felt the internet was my best bet to boost my business. I visited some B2B portals and posted trade leads. An Italian, Arnoldo Marchetti, contacted me as mandate of an Austrian firm, Holzh