The Vietnam Trade Office in Italy said that after discovering signs of a cashew scam, six Vietnamese firms, which had earlier signed contracts to sell 100 cashew nut containers to five Italian importers, worked with the competent agencies to stop 26 of the 100 containers from being shipped to Italy.

Among 74 containers loaded onto vessels, 39 were stopped at a transit port in Singapore and were returned to Vietnam, the local media reported.

Besides, 30 of 35 containers, whose original documents were supposedly missing, were handled and shipped back to Vietnam or sold to other customers in Italy or other countries.

As for the remaining five containers at a port in Italy, on May 27, the control over three of them was returned to the Vietnamese side, while the Vietnamese firms regained ownership of the two final containers on June 15 and 16.

In early March, the Ministry of Industry and Trade was informed by the Vietnam Cashew Association that many Vietnamese cashew exporters were seeking help for their 100 shipping containers of cashew nuts bound for Italy as these batches were at risk of a scam.