The pre-deal checklist for fuel buyers and sellers
Before you reply, before you sign an NCNDA or IMFPA, before you send POP or POF, before you pay anything: the checks that stop fuel-deal scams, with free tools for each step.
Use it on every offer
Four moments where deals go wrong
Physical fuel deals outside the big trading houses fail in predictable places. Run through this list each time; it takes minutes, and the free tools do most of the work.
1Before you reply
- Run the offer through Scam Check (paste the text or answer 10 questions)
- Compare the price with the public benchmark
- Look the company up in the official register of its country
- Ask where the product physically is: refinery, terminal, tank
2Before you sign
- Read the NCNDA/IMFPA: who pays whom, how much, when (plain-English template)
- Make sure no fee is payable before delivery
- Know your position in the chain and who the principals are
3Before you send POP or POF
- Verify the counterparty independently, not from their own documents
- Confirm the terminal or refinery directly, using contact details from its official website
- Send bank documents only bank-to-bank, at the stage the procedure calls for it
4Before you pay anything
- No storage, injection, dip-test, “license” or registration fees before product is verified
- Independent inspection (SGS, Intertek, Saybolt…) appointed by your side
- Payment only against title and documents, per a signed SPA
Red flags
Walk away (or at least stop and check) when you see these
⚠ Pay before you get anything
Storage, injection, tank lease, dip-test, “DTA endorsement”, document, license or registration fees before product is verified. This is the single most reliable scam signal.
⚠ Tank procedures where the buyer pays
“TTT/TTO Rotterdam/Houston/Fujairah, dip test, then pay”: the classic storage-spoofing structure. Terminals confirm customers through their own channels; a seller-signed “tank take-over deed” proves nothing.
⚠ Prices far below the benchmark
Refined products don't trade 20% under market. “Platts minus 15–25%” or diesel priced near crude is bait.
⚠ Proof of funds first
Real sellers can evidence product first. Demands for your MT760/SBLC, bank comfort letter or passport before any verification are often document harvesting.
⚠ Non-existent or sanctioned product
“JP54” isn't a jet fuel specification. “Virgin D6”, “fresh cut”, GOST specs or Russian-origin fuel oil bring scam and sanctions risk together.
⚠ Everything on one sheet
One offer listing diesel, jet, crude, LPG, urea and gold is a recycled template, not a refinery's offer.
⚠ Claimed national oil company allocation
Aramco, NNPC, Sonangol and other NOCs sell through their own published processes, not via a mandate on WhatsApp.
⚠ Free email and messaging apps only
A genuine seller corresponds from a company domain you can verify, and will do a live call.
The free toolkit
One tool for each step
Scam Check
Paste an SCO, FCO, LOI or ICPO. Get a risk score, the red flags found and why they matter.
Price Check
Enter the offered price and unit. See it against the matching public benchmark.
Market Snapshot
Brent, WTI, ULSD, jet, gasoline and propane spot prices from the EIA, twice a day.
Document Kit
Plain-English explainers and templates: NCNDA, IMFPA, LOI, ICPO, verification request.
Tools give information, not guarantees: a clean result means no known red flags were found, not that an offer is genuine. Scam Check is free with one condition (2% of the commission you earn if you close a deal on a checked offer; terms).
Bonus
Take it with you: the info2fuel app, $0.99
Everything on this site stays free. The app puts the same checks in your pocket, plus things a website can't do: price alerts pushed to your phone, the Document Kit offline (fill it in and share it as a PDF), Scam Check from a photo or PDF of the offer, and portal updates the moment info2fuel replies.
What's in the app · One-time $0.99, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads.
Passed your checks? Deal through someone accountable.
Post your requirement or offer on the anonymous portal. info2fuel verifies the other side before anyone is introduced.