How to spot the most common signs of fuel fraud

With the current cost of living crisis putting a lot of pressure on many households and businesses, more and more people than ever are being tempted by fuel theft or fuel fraud as a means of easing their financial burden. 

Now, some people tend to think that the biggest threat of fuel theft lies in organised gangs attacking isolated drivers out on the roads. And while this some sometimes happen, instances of it are very rare. The vast majority of fuel theft happens internally, committed by company employees. It’s called skimming, and it’s exactly what it sounds like - employees take just a little off the top of each tank of fuel, using it for their own personal vehicles, and saving themselves some money in the process. 

That’s exactly the kind of problem we’re determined to help you tackle here at TankSafe, so we’ve put together a list of the top 5 telltale signs of fuel fraud that you need to look out for in your commercial business, as well as a few handy tips on how you can prevent it.  

Types of fuel fraud 

• Frequent fuel fill ups - this is perhaps the most common sign of fuel theft. If one of your drivers is filling up excessively on route to a job, this could be a sign that they’re either siphoning fuel for their own gain, filling up a personal vehicle and charging it to your business, or using a company vehicle for personal use. If you suspect an employee of ‘over-filling’, a pattern may emerge if you look over their receipts.

• Distance creeping - this is when an employee inflates how many kilometres they’ve driven in order to claim extra fuel allowance from you. Fortunately, you can easily prevent this from happening by checking the odometer readings of your vehicles to see if anyone’s been exaggerating their claims.

• A fuel receipt for a different location - if you run a commercial business, you’ll know the routes and locations that your fleet operates within. By keeping an eye on the fuel receipts, and locations that your drivers are stopping to get it, you can more easily identify signs of external fraud. For example if one of your drivers tends to operate in more Northern areas of the country, and brings you a fuel receipt from a petrol station located in the Midlands, you may want to investigate.

How to prevent fuel fraud 

Now that you’re aware of the main giveaways of fuel fraud, the big question is obviously: how can you prevent it from happening in the first place? 

For starters, be honest with your employees. By being open with your drivers about the downsides of fuel theft, and how it can negatively affect the business, as well as their job security, you’ll more than likely deter any members of your workforce from indulging in fuel fraud. Ultimately, most people don’t like to think of themselves as criminals, especially not if it means their actions adversely affect their colleagues as well. 

Another idea would be to introduce a fuel card system to your company. These make it really easy for businesses to keep on top of employee spending, as they can be linked up to a single account which you can easily monitor. As an added bonus, fuel cards need to be accepted by a petrol stations when being used, which makes every transaction easily trackable should something go awry with your accounting system.

Finally, by investing in a piece of fleet management software, this can really help you to automate the reporting and analysis of all the fuel purchases being made by your drivers. By having a comprehensive overview of your fleet’s fuel usage, you’ll be able to eliminate as many fraud variables as possible. 

Of course it’s not just fuel fraud you should be on the look out for during these difficult times. Fuel theft, in the form of siphoning and skimming, is becoming increasingly common as a result of the cost of living crisis here in the UK. Fortunately, we have a few products to help you deal with this issue. 

Here at TankSafe, we’ve got over 40 years of experience developing a variety of solutions to help our customers tackle the problem of fuel theft. One of our most sophisticated offerings is TankSafe Optimum, which guarantees to protect your fleet against 100% of fuel theft. TankSafe Optimum is an antisiphon device which we’ve specifically designed to provide 100% protection against fuel spills, overfilling, and skimming. You can find out more on its dedicated page on our website, or find out answers to some of the most common questions over on our FAQs page. If you’ve still got queries, our experts will be happy to resolve them - fee free to give us a quick call on 01253 400 401, and we’ll be happy to help however we can!