> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.financely.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Fake Petroleum Seller Scams: SCO Emails, ICPO Procedures and Upfront Fees - URL: https://blog.financely.io/fake-petroleum-seller-scams-sco-icpo/ - Published: 2026-11-13T10:03:46.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-13T16:12:22.000Z - Description: A genuine refinery or oil major does not wake up, open a free mail account, and cold-email strangers with a soft corporate offer for EN590, Jet A1 or D6. When that message lands in your inbox, it is almost never a cargo. It is a procedure designed to extract fees, bank details. - Author: Financely Debt Advisors - Tags: Oil and Gas A genuine refinery or oil major does not wake up, open a free mail account, and cold-email strangers with a soft corporate offer for EN590, Jet A1 or D6\. When that message lands in your inbox, it is almost never a cargo. It is a procedure designed to extract fees, bank details or "proof of funds" from a buyer who wants product quickly. The pitch is familiar. Product is available immediately. It can be delivered to almost any port. A soft corporate offer, or SCO, will follow with prices and procedures. After that comes an irrevocable corporate purchase order (ICPO), a full corporate offer (FCO), a sale and purchase agreement (SPA), and then a request for money: tank storage, injection, a dip test, a tank storage agreement, document fees, or "proof of product" papers. The paperwork looks busy. The product is not there. This article is about that pattern: fake petroleum and refinery seller emails, and the SCO and ICPO procedure chains that travel with them. It is a different problem from an unexplained discount on a named cargo, which we cover in [Discount EN590 and Jet A1: When the Offer Is a Scam](https://www.financely-group.com/discount-en590-jet-a1-petroleum-scams?ref=blog.financely.io). Here the hook is access itself. Someone claims to be the seller, or the mandate of a refinery, and invites you into a procedure. Reviewed: 13 November 2026. ## A typical email, and why it already fails A message of this type arrived unsolicited. The subject was written as a reply, even though nobody had written first: > Re: PETROLEUM PRODUCTS FOR IMMEDIATE LIFT The "Re:" is a small trick. It makes a cold pitch look like an existing correspondence. The sender was not writing from a refiner's corporate domain. The address used a free throwaway domain. The sign-off included a personal name and a WhatsApp number. The body claimed the sender could supply petroleum products to "any secure ports worldwide," with "direct quotations from Refinery," and that the product was "available in Tanks and Vessels." The next step on offer was not a named cargo, a load window, or a terminal nomination. It was an SCO, with products, prices and procedures. Take those lines one at a time. - **Immediate lift, to any secure port worldwide.** Real physical oil moves from a specific terminal or vessel, in a specific window, under a specific incoterm. A seller who can load "anywhere" has not identified a cargo. - **Direct quotations from Refinery.** A real quotation names the issuing company, the grade, the quantity, the delivery basis and the validity of the price. "From Refinery," with no legal name and no official domain, is a costume. - **Available in tanks and vessels.** Custody has to be checked with the terminal or the vessel's operators, not with the person who sent the email. Unspecified tanks and vessels are a setup for later tank-storage, injection and dip-test fees. - **We will send you an SCO.** In this traffic, the soft corporate offer is not a contract. It is the first document in a chain whose real purpose is to get the buyer to issue an ICPO, disclose banking information, and then pay a fee. - **A throwaway domain and a WhatsApp number.** Oil companies transact from official domains, recorded phone numbers and known desks. A free mailbox plus a messaging app is not a trading desk. None of those points, on its own, is a courtroom finding. Together, they are enough to stop and verify, or to walk away, before anyone talks about procedures. ## How the SCO and ICPO procedure chain is used The email is only the invitation. The procedure is the trap. A typical chain runs like this. The "seller" or "mandate" sends an SCO listing EN590, Jet A1, D6 or similar grades, often with tank-to-tank (TTT) or vessel-to-vessel language, and a list of steps the buyer must follow. The buyer is asked to issue an ICPO, sometimes on the seller's template, often accompanied by a company profile, passport copies and a letter that is described as proof of funds (POF). The seller then promises an FCO or a draft SPA. After the buyer signs, the fees begin. Those fees are described as ordinary logistics. Common labels include: - a tank storage agreement, or TSA, that must be paid before the buyer can "enter the tank" - an injection or transfer fee, so product can be moved into a tank the buyer has rented - a dip test, Q&Q, or "seller-appointed" inspection that the buyer is told to prepay - document fees for "proof of product" (POP), allocation letters, ATSCR, tank receipts, or SGS-style reports - a mandate, lawyer, or "logistic company" invoice that has to be settled before the SPA can be performed The International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau has warned about fraudulent petroleum cargo sales that rely on official-looking ownership papers and, in many cases, an advance fee or a heavy discount. The same logic applies here, even when the email never mentions a discount. The fee, not the cargo, is the score. If you have already been told that product is sitting in a named farm, read [Fake Tank Storage and Terminal Spoofing](https://www.financely-group.com/fake-tank-storage-terminal-spoofing?ref=blog.financely.io) before anyone asks you to pay a TSA. A related flourish is the fake refinery mandate. The sender claims to represent a well-known refiner, sometimes with a letterhead, a scanned "authorization," or a title such as "mandate," "seller's representative," or "facilitator." ICC's Financial Investigation Bureau has flagged oil-trade documents presented as coming from a well-known producer whose genuine contact details did not match the papers. Do not call the number on the PDF. Open the company's official site yourself and ask a known desk whether the person, the domain and the mandate exist. Proof of product and proof of funds are inverted in these pitches. In a real deal, product is verified in custody, and payment terms are agreed in a contract. In the scam, the buyer is asked to prove funds first, often by sending bank letters or statements to a stranger, and then to accept POP documents that the buyer did not independently confirm. A PDF is not custody. A photo of a tank is not an inspection. ## What scammers say versus what real traders do | What scammers say | What real traders do | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Unsolicited email or WhatsApp: we can supply petroleum to any secure port worldwide, immediate lift | They deal with known counterparties, on a named grade, quantity, incoterm, load window and load port or terminal | | The message comes from a free throwaway domain, signed with a personal name and a WhatsApp number | They write from an official corporate domain and use switchboard numbers and desks that can be checked independently | | We will send an SCO with products, prices and procedures; you then issue an ICPO | They negotiate a term contract or a spot SPA. An unsolicited SCO is not a basis for sending funds or bank letters | | We are the mandate of a refinery; here is our authorization letter | They confirm any agency or mandate with the named principal, using contact details taken from the official website, not from the letter | | Product is already in tanks or on vessels; pay for a TSA, injection, dip test or POP documents and you can proceed | The buyer appoints an independent inspector, of the SGS or Intertek type, and confirms tanks or vessels with the terminal or operator directly. No fee is paid to the seller's "mandate" to release papers | | Send proof of funds, passport copies and a company profile first, and we will release proof of product | KYC runs both ways. Banking details and payment instruments are handled bank to bank under the contract, not emailed to a mandate as a condition of seeing the cargo | | A letter of credit or SBLC must be issued before any independent inspection, or in favour of a person who is not the seller | Payment instruments are issued by a real bank, in line with the SPA, usually against compliant documents and after the buyer has a way to verify the product | ## How real physical oil trade actually works Physical oil is a relationship and a logistics problem, not an inbox procedure. Refiners, majors and established traders sell under term contracts or under spot deals with counterparties they have already accepted. They do not harvest buyers with "Re:" subject lines and a promise to send an SCO. If you need a legitimate path to product, that work starts with a qualified sourcing process, not with a reply to a stranger. Financely's [commodity sourcing](https://www.financely-group.com/commodity-sourcing?ref=blog.financely.io) page sets out how a sourcing mandate is supposed to work. Financely is an advisor and arranger only. It does not sell petroleum, and it does not lend. A real file has specifics. The grade and specification are stated. The quantity and tolerance are stated. The delivery basis is stated, for example FOB or CIF at a named port. The laycan or delivery window is stated. The load terminal, or the vessel already on the water, can be identified and checked. Price is tied to a quoted market and a stated differential, or to another basis the parties can actually calculate. None of that arrives as "direct quotations from Refinery" with no name attached. KYC and sanctions screening run both ways. The seller wants to know the buyer. The buyer wants to know the seller. That work is done through official records, banks and the companies themselves, not through a WhatsApp chat. The same discipline shows up when capital is raised: real counterparties accept being checked, which is the point of [what real investors and lenders actually do](https://www.financely-group.com/what-real-investors-and-lenders-do?ref=blog.financely.io). Inspection is not a courtesy the seller grants after a fee. In a normal transaction the buyer (or both parties) appoints an independent inspector, typically a firm of the SGS, Intertek or Bureau Veritas type. The inspector takes samples, measures quantity and issues a report to the party that appointed it. The buyer does not prepay the seller's "mandate" for a dip test the buyer does not control. If the seller insists on a house inspector, or on inspection only after a storage or document fee has been paid, treat that as a reason to stop. Payment follows the contract. Letters of credit and standby letters of credit are issued by real banks, against documents the parties have agreed, and in favour of the contracted seller. They are not a fee, and they are not sent because a procedure PDF said "buyer issues DLC after ICPO." Nobody should pay a mandate, a lawyer nominated by the email, or a "logistics agent" in order to activate an offer. If the only way to see the product is to send money first, you are not buying oil. You are funding an advance-fee scheme. The same advance-fee idea appears in other costumes. A [KTT scam](https://blog.financely.io/ktt-scam-fake-downloads-upfront-fees/) uses fake payment downloads and a release fee. [IPIP and IPID pitches](https://www.financely.io/ipip-ipid-scams-fake-sender-receiver?ref=blog.financely.io) use a fake sender and receiver and, again, an upfront fee. The petroleum SCO email is the cargo version of that story: pay a little, or send a bank letter, and a large consignment will be released. It will not. ## A practical verification checklist Use this list before you reply with an ICPO, a passport copy, a bank letter or a payment. 1. Look at the email domain. If it is a free or throwaway domain, or a slight misspelling of a known company, stop. Find the official website yourself and write to an address published there. 2. Ignore the "Re:" in the subject. If you did not start this correspondence, it is a cold email. 3. Treat WhatsApp, Telegram and similar apps as convenient chat, not as proof of identity or authority. 4. Ask for the legal name of the seller, and for the legal name of any refinery or principal the sender claims to represent. Then confirm both through official registers and through the official switchboard. Do not use the phone number in the signature block as your only check. 5. If a mandate or authorization letter is produced, call the named principal on a number you obtained independently and ask whether the mandate exists, is current, and covers this grade and this volume. 6. Refuse any procedure that requires you to issue an ICPO, POF or passport copies before you have identified a real counterparty and a real cargo. 7. Demand a named terminal, tank number or vessel, a load window, a grade specification and an incoterm. Then confirm the tank or vessel with the terminal operator or the shipowner, using contact details you look up yourself. The Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Dutch tank-storage association VOTOB have described storage spoofing in exactly this setting: papers and websites that invent tanks and inventory that are not there. 8. Appoint your own independent inspector. Do not prepay a seller-controlled dip test, injection, TSA or "POP document" invoice. 9. Do not send a letter of credit, a standby letter of credit, or a bank comfort letter to a person who is not the verified seller under a signed contract. 10. If money has already gone, stop further payments, tell your bank at once, keep every email and invoice, and report the matter to local law enforcement and to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at [www.ic3.gov](https://www.ic3.gov/?ref=blog.financely.io). A fast check will expose a basic falsehood, such as a throwaway domain or a refinery that has never heard of the sender. A more careful fraud can take longer, especially if cloned letterheads and invented tank numbers are involved. The point of the checklist is not speed. It is that every check runs through a channel the offeror does not control. ## What to do instead Delete the email, or file it and do not engage. Do not "just send the ICPO" to see the SCO price. Do not argue on WhatsApp. If your company actually needs product, work through counterparties you can verify, or through a sourcing process that starts with due diligence rather than a procedure PDF. Financely can help a company think about that process as an advisor and arranger. It is not a petroleum supplier, and it is not a lender. If you want to discuss a legitimate sourcing mandate, start with the [commodity sourcing](https://www.financely-group.com/commodity-sourcing?ref=blog.financely.io) page and request a conversation from there. Need a verified path to physical product, not another unsolicited SCO? Review how Financely approaches [commodity sourcing](https://www.financely-group.com/commodity-sourcing?ref=blog.financely.io). Financely advises and arranges. It does not sell cargo and it does not lend. [Commodity sourcing](https://www.financely-group.com/commodity-sourcing?ref=blog.financely.io) ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a fake petroleum seller scam? It is an advance-fee or document fraud in which someone poses as a refinery, a mandate or a petroleum seller and offers EN590, Jet A1, D6 or similar grades, usually by unsolicited email. The cargo is not independently verified. The buyer is steered into a procedure, then asked to pay for tank storage, injection, a dip test, proof-of-product papers or some other "activation" cost. ### What does an SCO or an ICPO mean in these emails? In this traffic, an SCO is a soft corporate offer: a non-binding looking sheet of products, prices and procedures. An ICPO is an irrevocable corporate purchase order the buyer is told to issue next. Real oil is bought under a negotiated sale and purchase agreement with a verified seller. Sending an ICPO to a stranger does not reserve a cargo and often becomes the pretext for fees and for collecting bank details. ### Should I pay for a dip test, tank storage, injection or POP documents? Not to the person who sent the unsolicited offer, and not as a condition of being allowed to inspect. In a genuine transaction the buyer appoints an independent inspector and confirms storage with the terminal itself. Fees paid to a seller's mandate to release papers, book a dip test or "open a tank" are the usual score of the scam. ### Do real refiners send unsolicited WhatsApp or email offers? Not in the form described here. Established refiners and majors sell under term contracts or under spot deals with accepted counterparties, from official domains and known desks. A cold message from a throwaway domain, offering immediate lift to any secure port and a soft corporate offer, is a warning, not an introduction. ### How can I check whether a petroleum offer is real? Identify the legal seller and any claimed principal, then confirm both through official channels you look up yourself. Confirm the terminal, tank or vessel with the operator. Appoint your own inspector. Do not issue an ICPO, a proof-of-funds letter or a payment to see the cargo. If the offer cannot survive those checks, it is not a cargo you should pursue. Sources: ICC International Maritime Bureau, warning on fraudulent petroleum cargo sales; ICC Financial Investigation Bureau, review of suspect oil-trade documents; Port of Rotterdam Authority and VOTOB, storage spoofing task force announcement, 6 February 2026; FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, reporting portal at www.ic3.gov. Financely is an advisor and arranger only.