Scammer turns illegal refrigerant into water
9th February 2025
POLAND: A warning issued by the police in Poland has exposed the level of ignorance of refrigerants and the F-gas regulations that exists in some European member states.
Police in Ciechanów County, a county in east-central Poland, have warned locals to be wary of scammers while shopping online after a “resident” who appears to have thought he was buying refrigerant, received cylinders that actually contained water.
Refrigerant smuggling and illegal sales of HFC refrigerants have existed ever since the European F-gas phase down was introduced in 2014. Much of this illegal gas has been sold through the internet, with internet marketplaces being the most common source.
Poland has been particularly badly hit, previously reporting massive inflows of illegal material, but while many EU member states have cracked down on these sources of supply, the problem still exists in some countries like Poland.
The unnamed resident had paid over PLN20,000 (around €4,760) for 26 cylinders of refrigerant. After receiving the shipment, it turned out that he had been duped and the cylinders contained water instead of gas.
The type of “gas” was not revealed and the photo accompanying the police news release had been manipulated in an apparent attempt to obscure the supposed cylinder contents. However, the still clearly visible cylinder weight (13.6kg) and failure to obscure the word “tetrafluoroethane” revealed that the packaging was originally designed for R134a. Further, there is no recognition that the cylinders were illegal non-refillables.
The Ciechanów District police insists that its officers are conducting an investigation into the “fraud case” and have urged people to be especially careful when shopping online. “Before placing an order, it is always worth verifying the seller’s credibility, especially when dealing with high-value transactions,” the police report says.
However, credibility seems to be in short supply. It is unclear whether the police already know, or whether their investigations will also seek to establish, whether the victim of the fraud was actually F-gas certified and legally allowed to buy HFC refrigerant. Neither do they indicate if they will be seeking to establish whether the buyer was aware that the “refrigerant” being purchased would be supplied in illegal non-refillable cylinders.
