Fake warehouses and recycled SKRs: how to check a warehouse is real

A warehouse receipt is only as good as the warehouse that issued it. In 2025 and 2026 traders in our network reported several "warehouses" in the region that appeared to exist mainly online: polished websites, edited truck photos, phone numbers nobody answered, and large lots of concentrate offered to many buyers at once.

Signs a warehouse may not be real

• Its website is new, has stock photos or edited pictures of trucks, and lists no physical address you can find on a map.
• The only contact details are mobile numbers and free-mail addresses.
• The same large lot is offered through many different brokers at the same time.
• You can't reach anyone there without going through the seller.
• No established trader, inspector or logistics company you know has used it.

How to confirm a warehouse

1. Find it yourself. Look up the warehouse company in the national company registry and on a map. Call the number on its official website or registry record, not the number on the receipt.
2. Ask the warehouse, not the seller, to confirm the receipt number, the lot, the weight, the owner's name and the date received.
3. Ask what it requires from producers. A genuine bonded warehouse asks a lot before it accepts material: producer name and location, origin and coordinates, a letter from the producer, mining and export licences, and the agreed incoterms. A warehouse that asks for nothing is not protecting anyone.
4. Ask an independent inspector you appoint to visit, weigh and sample the lot.
5. Ask around. Inspection firms and logistics companies in the region know which warehouses are real.

Recycled receipts

A real receipt can also be misused. Watch for:

• a receipt issued to a different company from the seller, with no transfer document
• old dates, or dates that don't match the offer
• the same receipt number shown to you by different sellers
• a blurred owner's name

Always ask the warehouse to confirm who owns the material today.

When a bank issues the "SKR"

Safekeeping receipts from banks are used for valuables and securities. Banks do not normally store copper cathode, so a "bank SKR" for tonnes of copper is a strong warning sign. See warehouse receipts and SKRs.

If you have a name of a warehouse that you believe is fake, check our scam search, and report it so others are warned.