OUR SUIT RESPONSE
Dear Fuel Scam Alert Visitor!
This is an official response to Charita T. Lontoco, Benjamin Lanto, Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation & International Petrochemical Products Trading.
However, we decided to make this matter public, so everyone could see and learn what tactics scammers can use and how important it is to fact-check all information and not fall victim to scammers.
We want to address an issue regarding two companies from the Philippines. Both companies are represented by the same President & CEO, Charita T. Lontoco. Both companies also share the same registration number CS202067533.
• DAVAO CTL TRADING AND MARKETING CORPORATION
• INTERNATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTS TRADING
> DAVAO CTL TRADING AND MARKETING CORPORATION
In November of 2021, we were asked to verify this company and the website: https://www.davaoctltradingcorp.com/.
Upon our investigation, we’ve discovered that this company, through their website, offers petroleum products for sale with incorrect Russian GOST standards and procedures.
As proof, we took screenshots of the website pages:
Here are clarifications to our statement regarding such incorrect GOST standards and procedures:
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DIESEL GAS D2 GOST 305-82: was abolished on January 1, 2015
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MAZUT-100 GOST 10585-75: was abolished on January 1, 2001
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MAZUT-100 GOST 10585-99: was abolished on January 1, 2015
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Product Allocation Certificate Issued by Ministry of Energy: doesn’t exist upon direct confirmation from the Russian Ministry of Energy’s representative
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This company and offers issued by this company were requested to be verified by our team multiple times by different parties between 2021-2022.
Fuel Scam Alert Team officially published Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation on the website, www.fuelscamalert.com, on September 7, 2022.
> INTERNATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTS TRADING
Between March and September of 2022, we’ve been asked to verify this company and the official offers issued by this company on several occasions.
Upon our investigation, we’ve discovered that this company uses the same domain name as the previous company, Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation. This company also shares the same registration number CS202067533.
We have also established that this company offers Russian petroleum products with incorrect procedures, such as an “export license,” which is not required by the Russian law.
Fuel Scam Alert Team officially published International Petrochemical Products Trading on the website www.fuelscamalert.com on September 7, 2022.
On September 19, 2022, we received an “Appeal Letter” from Charita T. Lontoco.
The letter starts: “I, Charita T. Lontoco, the CEO of International Petrochemical Products Trading (formerly known as Davao CTL Trading), would like to appeal against your post on your website,” implying that her company doesn’t go by the name “Davao CTL Trading” anymore.
According to her, the procedures “are strictly imposed on us by the refineries.” We responded by saying, “we are considering the removal of your company from our scam list, but we would like to understand first how you verify the information you receive from so-called refineries and sellers?”
Our question seemed fair to us, considering that many scammers impersonate genuine sellers and lie to uninformed mandates/brokers/agents/sales representatives. We didn’t receive an explanation regarding their vetting procedures. Instead, we received a warning regarding legal actions against our group.
Attached is the email conversation with Charita T. Lontoc. It reads from the last to the first email sent:
On October 25, 2022, our team received an electronic “Notice before Suit” from Benjamin Lanto from attybblanto@davaoctltrading.com.
Apparently, this gentleman represents a law firm called “Lanto Lanto and Associates.” However, the notice was sent from an email address with the same domain name as the company of interest-Davao, Ctl Trading.
According to the Notice, our team posted “libelous accusations without verifying the source and the documents submitted to you.” Since sources can indeed be subjective, we understand this comment.
However, one source for our accusations stands accurate - the company website https://www.davaoctltradingcorp.com/ where they list products with incorrect GOST standards as well as incorrect sales procedures (explained above).
Also, according to the notice, our team “recklessly posted in your website that Davao CTL Trading and Marketing Corporation may not be officially registered in the Philippines.” We want to clarify that our choice of words “might not be officially registered” purposely leaves the matter open for discussion.
We haven’t made a definitive registration statement because our team never discovered any certificate of incorporation that would prove the official registration. And the fact that both companies share the same registration number significantly complicates this situation.
We have also been made aware of the announcement published by Charita T. Lontoco on https://www.davaoctltradingcorp.com/about-1. We want to address this situation from our side as well.
No one influences us to make publications on our website. We make publications only when we have enough evidence to establish a scam.
In this particular situation, both companies (Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation & International Petrochemical Products Trading) have been witnessed offering petroleum products with incorrect Russian GOST standards and procedures. This includes not only different FCOs and SCOs received by us for verification since 2021 but the information on the website itself https://www.davaoctltradingcorp.com/.
Charita T. Lontoco argues in her announcement that other parties edited their original FCO. We are unaware of any inner dealing between International Petrochemical Products Trading and other parties and cannot comment on that.
However, from our standpoint, even the original FCO, officially confirmed to be issued by International Petrochemical Products Trading, is fraudulent due to the incorrect sales procedure in the form of the export license (explained above).
To summarize our response to Charita T. Lontoco, Benjamin Lanto, Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation & International Petrochemical Products Trading:
1. The publication of “Davao Ctl Trading and Marketing Corporation” was made due to the incorrect Russian GOST standards and procedures specified on your website. In simpler terms, your company is trying to sell products that don’t exist with the procedures that don’t exist, which is wrong.
2. The publication of “International Petrochemical Products Trading” was made due to the incorrect sales procedures found in your offer, the ties with your Davao Ctl Trading website, and the same registration number as Davao Ctl Trading.
3. We are open to dialogue with you as we were before your “legal actions” threat to us because we don’t exclude the possibility of you not knowing the industry very well and being confused about what products and procedures are genuine or not.
4. You are also free to take any legal action against our group. We have nothing to hide; we’ve got our facts straight and ready to explain our reasons and actions upon request, as we did with this response.
Stay Alert!