sgfleet Drives Away Fuel Fraud
Rising petrol prices and the incidence of fraud at petrol stations go hand in hand. According to research, for every extra 10 cents per litre added to the price of petrol, up to 120 extra incidents of service station fraud will occur each month.
Lloyd Mills, card services manager, Caltex Australia, says “as prices rise, fuel becomes a saleable commodity.” He says a typical case of fuel card fraud is lost or stolen cards being presented at service stations without PIN security.
Combating fuel fraud
The risk of fuel fraud impacting a business’s operations can, however, be significantly mitigated by working with a fleet management company.
“A fleet management company can put in place systems to monitor fuel usage attached to individual fuel cards, reducing the risk of fuel fraud and any associated increase in business costs,” says Andy Mulcaster, CEO of leading fleet management company sgfleet.
The key safeguard every organisation should put in place for fleet cards is to ensure each card has an attached PIN that is known and used by only one employee.
“Another idea is to attach a monthly or daily limit to each card. A limit of $100/day might be appropriate for many companies,” says Lloyd.
It’s also possible to limit items that can be purchased on the card. It might be possible, for example, to purchase petrol on the card, but there might be a stop on the purchase of diesel or other goods.
“It’s also crucial to ensure fleet managers check individual employees’ invoices to make sure the card is only being used for the purpose it is intended,” adds Lloyd.
Avoiding obvious PINs, for example the last four digits of the card, or the numbers 1234, can also reduce the risk of fuel card fraud. “These are the first PIN combinations thieves will always try,” Lloyd explains.
“Ensuring only one person has access to each fuel card is also important so fleet managers can have access to accurate data about how much fuel each vehicle and individual uses,” says Andy.
sgfleet’s fleetintelligence tool is another key weapon in the fight against fuel fraud.
This sophisticated data bank gives fleet managers access to accurate information on individual employees’ fuel consumption, removing the burden on businesses to monitor fuel consumption and reducing the cost and the risk of fuel fraud.
Future protection
The fuel industry is working together to put in place a number of initiatives to reduce the risk of fuel theft.
“We’re looking at trialling volume limits so that only a certain amount of fuel can be purchased,” Lloyd says, adding “transaction limits are also being trialled, so that each card will have only a certain number of transactions per month.”
Above all, says Lloyd “the fuel card should be treated exactly the same as a credit card. And if the fleet manager suspects any fraudulent activity associated with a fuel card, they should contact us immediately and we will make a full investigation.”
For more information contact:
Bryce Grove
0800 SGFLEET
bgrove@sgfleet.com
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