The status of the diplomatic courier and the diplomatic bag not accompanied by diplomatic courier is strictly governed by International Law. Diplomatic Couriers are employed by governments and are properly accredited. With the increasing use of modern communication technology, the need for the physical movement of documents has much reduced, so the number of Diplomatic Couriers is decreasing, but there will always be a need for couriers to hand deliver secret documents to embassies abroad. See here
Diplomatic Bags, containing non-sensitive items are today often transported on commercial transport without being accompanied by a Diplomatic Courier. Such bags can be of any size and, provided they are met by an embassy representative at the point of entry into the country, they should not be opened by the host nation. Diplomatic bags are carefully packed and sealed by government representatives before being forwarded to an embassy overseas. When it is received at the other end, provided the seal is intact, the embassy can be sure that the package has not been tampered with. Such packages do not require special facilities as they are sent using commercial secure air freight.
Every Government needs to know that its communications with its overseas representatives are secure. Where it is not using its own Courier Service, it is likely to choose a large and well established international freight forwarder such as DHL or UPS to move its diplomatic packages around. This will be as true of the smallest country in Africa as for any country in the Developed World. For example The US Diplomatic Courier Service has teamed up with Fedex for some delivery work. See here
Interestingly, the main companies involved in the carriage of diplomatic bags do not publicise the fact heavily. Ths is because these packages form a very small percentage of the overall business,and no country will employ a transport company to undertake the carriage of its diplomatic bags without carrying out an exhaustive investigation into the company's probity. Thus there is no advantage in advertising the service widely.
It is our belief that 99.9% of the so-called "diplomatic courier" sites found on the web have been set up by fraudsters. This claim is supported by the following:-
1) Geographic Location From the above, it is clear that to be in a position to carry diplomatic bags, the company must be well established in its home country and be able to deliver secure mail packages to anywhere in the world. There should, therefore be addresses and contact telephone numbers in many countries and these should show up in the local telephone directories. Such a company will be part of a large International Group
Smaller courier companies tend to concentrate on their local market with a few pages on their international facilities. Here is an example of such a company www.addisonlee.com . You should note that it uses accredited agents for overseas work. Whilst there is no reason why this company could not act as a Diplomatic Courier, it is unlkely to be be selected as it does not control the package throughout its journey.
2) The Business Should Be Properly Registered In Its Country Of Origin No Government is going to select as its diplomatic carrier anything other than a highly respectable company which is fully accountable. It should be a fully Registered Business with a Registered Address in its country of origin and will pay taxes there. If properly registered, it should be easy to find on the Government Registers. For example Heathrow Couriers (UK) Limited www.heathrowcouriers.co.uk/ are a UK registered company and their registration particulars can be found here www.companieshouse.gov.uk/. The writer particularly likes the disclaimer on the front page of this site!
3) The Majority Of Its Business Will Be Commercial The small number of Diplomatic Bag movements means that to be successful, any companies offering secure air freight to Diplomatic Bodies, must have a thriving business transporting non-diplomatic packages. This means that the business will appear in advertising media such as Yellow Pages around the World. They will also have local offices looking for business wherever they operate. These offices will have manned switchboards often offering "free-call" lines as well as ordinary geographic phone lines. It is inconceivable that they would use expensive "portable" or non georgaphic lines since this will deter potential customers. Also, whilst large businesses use mobiles, these do not appear on their websites. Have a look at the Courier Yellow Pages for Madrid here . Notice how the websites (even DHL) are wrtten in Spanish and all the telephone numbers start with a 9 which, in Spain, indicates a geographic number rather than a 6 which indcates a mobile!!!
4) Language of the Website Websites exist to promote the business of the company. So the website of a company based in France would tend to be in French first, but it might have pages in English to cover its international business. For example here is the UPS French Website www.ups.com/content/fr/fr/index.jsx
If a so-called "Diplomatic Courier Company" claims to be based in one of the Francophone Countries, it should have a complete website in French and possibly English as well. Similarly, one based in Latin America should have a Spanish Website, since the bulk of its business will be locally based.
5) All Companies Involved in The Transport of Diplomatic Packages Will Be Well Funded Only the leading courier groups will be considered for moving diplomatic bags around the world, so they will be the largest and most profitable ones. Such companies will go to a proper Web Design Company to set up their website and the domain name will be registered for a number of years. The Web Design Company will itself be a leader in its field and so be easily googled on the Web and have other googlable clients. The Registrant will ususlly be the company. For example here is the whois information for Fedex;-Quote:Registrant: FedEx Services 70 FedEx Parkway Collierville TN 38017 US Domain Name: FEDEX.COM Administrative Contact Technical Contact: FedEx dns-admin@network.fedex.com
70 FedEx Parkway Collierville TN 38017 US 901-263-4898 fax: 999 999 9999 Record expires on 29-Nov-2010. Record created on 26-Feb-1991.
You will note that full details are given and the site was registered for 20 years. If a site has been registered by someone using a free web-mail address for one year, there is no chance that it will be legitimate.
As a marketing tool for a respectable company, one would expect the design of the website to be original and of a high standard. If the site is based on a standard template, there are typographical errors or material has been copied from other websites, it is highly likely that the website is fraudulent.
Small Countries It is theoretically possible that in some small countries, the government could choose to use a local courier company rather than directly link to one of the major international groups. However, such a company whilst only being based in its country of origin, would fulfil all of the remaining criteria listed above and would clearly have formal links with an international carrier (such as DHL) where it would be acting as its local agent. This link would be publicised on the local company's website to give it presence and can be checked by referring to the international carrier listed.
Conclusion To date, none of the diplomatic courier sites we have come across satisfy even half of the above criteria and they have all proved to be fakes. We are convinced that any site calling itself a "Diplomatic Courier" is highly likely to be fraudulent.
Note The companies used to illustrate the points above have been selected at random from Google searches. Their inclusion in this paper should not be considered in any way as a recommendation.
This article originally appeared on the anti scam website aa419.org in January 2007 and is reproduced here with the full permission of the author (me!)
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Go to BLS services
Defense Courier Service's motto is 'Excellence in secure, rapid movement'.
under which section and act courier are establised in india and which commitee determines the cost and control mechanism in india?
City Link Courier is a courier service that is based in Coventry, England. The company has numerous locations throughout England and one can find a listing of all locations on the company website by clicking on 'Our Locations' on the top of the home page.
the madras courier
Is there a Diplomatic Courier Company by name Travel Better Courier in Nigeria?
The Diplomatic Courier was created in 2006.
Is ellite diplomatic express courier' a courier service?
Go to BLS services
The duration of Diplomatic Courier is 1.62 hours.
Diplomatic Courier was created on 1952-06-13.
Is there courier company name Continent Courier Service in UK? Possible to transfer money to this company?
Malaysia handles it's own money transfers, including by diplomatic courier should it wish. But if someone is telling you that they need your help - and a fee, or advance money, or anything else - to do so, it's a scam.
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There is no such thing as a "diplomatic courier service" and if you get an email stating that someone is acting as a diplomat to deliver a package to you, delete the email. The ONLY thing they want from you is that you wire them cash through Western Union.
Man from Interpol - 1960 Diplomatic Courier 1-23 was released on: UK: 1960 USA: 9 July 1960
yes