Scam patternsadvance-fee-fraud
Advance-Fee Fraud
The core trade-fraud typology — extracting upfront fees for a cargo or instrument that never materialises.
Advance-fee fraud is the engine under most physical-commodity scams. The target is induced to pay an upfront cost — a tank rental, POP fee, transmission charge, TTV cost, or inspection deposit — before any verified cargo or payment instrument exists. Each fee unlocks the next demand; the cargo never arrives. The defence is sequencing: never pay any fee before independently verifying the cargo at the named terminal and the counterparty's standing. See the fraud-pattern playbook and the cluster registry.
Related: Mandate chain, POP.
See also