what is called of this kind of company

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Anonymous

#247574 Fri, 21 Jul 06 09:57 AM

in china, we call it a bag/briefcase company by direct translation. it is small in size, maybe set up by several people; it usually does not do business honestly, and does not have much assets(only a bag/briefcase in hand :-) ), it can disappear at any time with your money. as far as i know, in places like virgin islands, bermuda where regulations on corporations and finance is quite loose, there are many such kind of companies.

my question is what native speakers call it. do u have a specif expression for it?

thanks

Anonymous

Expressions, Translation

Marius Hancu

#247615 Fri, 21 Jul 06 01:42 PM

[link]
seat-of-the-pants operation
but that may be not dishonest enough for your context:-)

Perhaps
dubious/sleazy operation

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Clive

#247750 Fri, 21 Jul 06 09:25 PM

Hi,

Perhaps a 'fly-by-night' business. 'Fly' here means to flee, to run away. They take your money, and run away secretly and unexpectedly.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (22,250)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Inchoateknowledge

#247751 Fri, 21 Jul 06 09:28 PM

Fly by night business is unreliable because it has been recently established and may disappear at any time, thus is unreliable.

Inchoateknowledge

Joined on Wed, May 3 2006

Senior Member (2,536)

Beep! Beep! :)

Marius Hancu

#247766 Fri, 21 Jul 06 10:47 PM

Clive wrote:
Perhaps a 'fly-by-night' business. 'Fly' here means to flee, to run away. They take your money, and run away secretly and unexpectedly.

The term has some "seniority" Smile [:)]

[link]

Marius Hancu

Alan.es

#247846 Sat, 22 Jul 06 07:20 AM

I thought that this type of operation was called 'carpetbagging'. Similar schemes as described were commonplace after the American Civil War with unscrupulous Northern 'businessmen' moving in on the Southern States. The famous novel and film, the Carpetbaggers, was written by Harold Robbins and was said to be loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes.

The term arose because they only carried with them an old-fashioned bag made out of carpet material, didn't it?

In BrE it can also be 'here today, gone tomorrow'.

Alan.es

Joined on Sun, Apr 16 2006

Full Member (303)

Grammar Geek

#247944 Sat, 22 Jul 06 05:20 PM

No, carpetbagging is something else. Check it out at Wikipedia

Basically, that's someone who moves somewhere else to take advantage of the situation there. Now, we use it for a politician who moves to a district he's not from because he has a good chance of getting elected from that district. A carpetbagger doesn't intend to scam you, but will take advantage (perhaps unfair advantage) of what is in the place he moves to.

Originally, a shell company came to mind, but that's not right either.

I think the above-mentioned fly-by-night is as good as we'll get on this one.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (16,002)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Marius Hancu

#248008 Sat, 22 Jul 06 11:13 PM

ghost company
might work too:
----
ghost

fabricated for purposes of deception or fraud: We were making
contributions to a ghost company.

[link]
-----

Marius Hancu

Alan.es

#248060 Sun, 23 Jul 06 08:17 AM

Thanks for the clarification, GG. If you look further down on the Wikepedia site, you can see that it has been used more generally in the UK and in popular usage but obviously has a more restricted meaning than I thought.

Alan.es