Dip Test (TTT/TTO) Scams in Fuel Trading: Why "Tank-to-Tank" Offers Rarely End in a Cargo

Dip test scams built around TTT and TTO offers are the most persistent fraud in fuel trading because they borrow the vocabulary of a real procedure. A tank-to-tank offer appears to put the buyer in control: no payment until a dip test confirms product in the tank. In practice the dip test almost never takes place, and the money has already left. This article explains why tank-to-tank offers rarely end in a cargo and how to tell a genuine in-tank transfer from the imitation.

Why tank-to-tank offers rarely end in a cargo

A genuine TTT transaction requires three things that fraud offers cannot provide: a seller with a storage contract in its own name, a buyer with a storage contract in the same terminal, and a terminal that executes the transfer on instruction of both. The scam offer replaces each of these with a document. The storage contract becomes a tank storage receipt, the buyer's tank becomes a "tank lease agreement" the seller's partner will sign on the buyer's behalf, and the terminal becomes a mandate with a mobile phone number. Because no real terminal is involved, no real transfer can follow.

Rule: in a genuine tank-to-tank deal the buyer pays the terminal for its own tank, appoints its own inspector and pays the seller only after the terminal has confirmed the transfer. Any payment that goes to the seller or its intermediaries before that point is the scam.

How the money is extracted

The fraud works in stages, each one small enough to seem reasonable.

1. Tank lease fee. The buyer is told the seller's "tank farm partner" can lease a tank quickly. The fee, often a few hundred thousand dollars for a month, is paid to a company that is not the terminal.
2. Injection or transfer fee. After the lease, a fee is requested for "injecting" the product into the buyer's tank, again payable to an intermediary.
3. Dip test authorisation. A DTA is issued, but the inspector appointed by the seller reports that the terminal "postponed" the dip, or the buyer's inspector is refused entry because no terminal permit exists.
4. Replacement procedure. The seller now proposes a bank instrument, typically an SBLC under ISP98 or an MT760, as "proof of seriousness" to unlock the product. This is where the larger loss happens.

At no stage has the buyer spoken to a terminal officer through a number obtained from the terminal itself. That single omission is what makes the scheme work.

The TTO variant

Tank take-over offers claim that the seller will assign its storage contract to the buyer, so the buyer takes over a full tank. Terminals do permit assignment of storage agreements, but only after their own KYC on the incoming customer, a new contract and a formal tank handover with a gauging report. A seller offering TTO "within 48 hours" against a deposit has never gone through that process. Ask the terminal whether an assignment request has been lodged; if the seller cannot arrange that confirmation, the tank does not belong to it.

Vocabulary that identifies the scam

• "Dip test at seller's expense" combined with any fee payable in advance
• "Tank farm manager" or "logistics partner" contacting you from a free e-mail account
• Injection reports, Q88 vessel questionnaires and authority-to-sell letters offered as proof of product
• Quantities in round millions of litres or exactly 50,000 or 100,000 MT with no tank numbers
• Price well below the published Platts or Argus assessment for the same product in the same hub
• Pressure to lease a tank through the seller's partner rather than directly with the terminal

How a real in-tank transfer works

Product does change hands inside Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Fujairah and Houston terminals every day. The sequence is unremarkable:

1. Seller and buyer are both storage customers of the terminal, or the buyer has concluded a storage contract directly with the terminal's commercial department.
2. The sale contract specifies the delivery point as in-tank transfer or FCA terminal under Incoterms 2020, the quantity determination method and the inspection company.
3. The buyer's bank issues a documentary letter of credit under UCP 600 or payment is made against a terminal transfer certificate, with the inspection certificate of quantity and quality as required documents.
4. The inspector draws samples and gauges the tank under a permit requested by the seller and confirmed by the terminal to the inspector directly.
5. The terminal executes the book transfer or physical transfer and issues a transfer confirmation to both customers; payment follows that confirmation.

None of these steps involves a fee to the seller before the product is confirmed. Storage costs are paid to the terminal, inspection costs to the inspection company, and the product price to the seller only after delivery.

What to do with a TTT offer

Ask the seller for the terminal's name and the storage contract reference, then contact the terminal through its published switchboard and ask whether a tank access permit can be arranged for your inspector. A genuine seller will welcome this because it ends the discussion in its favour. A fraudulent seller will explain why it is not possible, offer a different "procedure" or go quiet. Either answer is the end of the file, and it has cost you one phone call rather than a tank lease fee.