The Port Authority of Rotterdam and VOTOB (Dutch Tank Storage Companies Association) have signed a cooperation agreement at the World Port Center to continue and expand a working group aimed at combating the fraud scheme known as storage spoofing. With this step, both parties send a clear signal to international scammers targeting the port of Rotterdam and other seaports with this persistent form of deception. TCT The Commodity Traders and the Police (Port Police District, including the Digital Experience team) are also part of the working group.
Storage spoofing is the term coined in Rotterdam for all forms of selling nonexistent storage capacity and inventories of raw materials and products at terminals, particularly in the Rotterdam port area. In this form of internet fraud, criminals offer goods through fake websites that impersonate recognized tank storage companies. Victims include, on one hand, international traders who are deceived and lose substantial sums of money in nonexistent operations, and on the other hand, legitimate companies in the port area whose names and data are misused. In some cases, even tanker trucks arrive at the terminals to pick up products that do not exist.
The annual damage to traders is estimated at least 10 million euros, as a lower limit based on knowledge of the amounts actually paid, meaning only the amounts that are known. In 2025, operations with a total offered value of 2.5 billion euros were reported to the working group. Additionally, there is significant damage to companies whose names and data are misused, as well as reputational damage to the port or ports as a whole.
"Several of our members have been dealing with this for years," says Willem-Henk Streekstra, Director of VOTOB. "With this cooperation, we are providing professional support to reduce storage spoofing. It is positive to address this issue so actively together with the Port Authority and other partners. Together we can do more than each of us individually. It remains extremely frustrating when your company name is misused and people lose large amounts of money."
The first examples of this type of fraud date back about 15 years. Around ten years ago, the number of incidents began to increase, leading to the establishment of a working group in 2017, at that time under the umbrella of Ferm Rotterdam (now Ferm Seaports). Among other things, an awareness campaign was launched, laying the foundation for the current working group.
Through interviews, background articles, and tools on the website, a blacklist of unreliable websites and a whitelist of websites where entrepreneurs can do business safely, the fight against storage impersonators was undertaken. The blacklist of fraudulent websites currently contains more than 1,250 domains and is continuously expanding.
The working groups, composed of Ferm, the Port Authority of Rotterdam, the Port Police, and several members of VOTOB, initiated cooperation with the Dutch Foundation for Internet Domain Registration (SIDN) in 2020 and with The Commodity Traders (TCT) in 2024. SIDN supports the removal of fraudulent websites with a .nl domain. TCT supports the working group with due diligence to assess the reliability of offers and submitted documents, determining which websites should be added to the blacklist.
"Ferm Seaports is a national platform for the cyber resilience and robustness of nationally important seaports," says Marijn van Schoote, Director of Ferm Seaports. "Storage spoofing is a form of digitized crime that affects the economy and integrity of ports, as well as the people who work in them. Therefore, it is positive that this new cooperation ensures ongoing attention to the fight against this type of fraud. We are very pleased that the Port Authority of Rotterdam and VOTOB recognize this urgency."
The main tools used by scammers are fake websites, emails, and other forms of digital contact based on trust and forged documents. Much information about the impersonated companies is publicly available (via websites, chambers of commerce, Google Maps, etc.), and the content can be easily copied. This has led to a proliferation of unreliable websites that are increasingly difficult to distinguish from legitimate ones. The working group is actively committed to identifying these websites, adding them to the blacklist, and ensuring they are removed.