The Britannia P&I Club informed of a recent fraud incident, where Local Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) boarded a ship in Gabon and presented a fine against the ship, but it was proven that they were not in fact PSC officers.
When a ship recently called at Cap Lopez in Gabon, local PSC Officers boarded the ship and found two deficiencies. They then presented a fine against the ship.
Further checks revealed that the people who boarded the ship were not, in fact, PSCOs.
Local Correspondents in Gabon, McLeans, have advised that masters and ship’s agents should be very cautious when people claiming to be from PSC ask for access to the ship.
These individuals often have fake ID papers making it very hard for the master to tell if they are legitimate or not.
The ship’s agent should be called immediately when anyone purporting to be from PSC wants to attend onboard in order to check if they are genuine.
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