Shell reports 2-5% of fuel spending lost to misuse

According to data from Shell Card and partner technologies, Shell found that 80% of the fuel incidents they found are due to misuse, while 20% are due to fraud. However, fuel fraud can be more costly, with a single incident costing $60,000-$80,000.

For more specific examples of what constitutes ‘misuse’ versus ‘fraud,’ Shell characterized the former as incidents internal to the fleet or company, and sometimes unintentional. A few examples include:

• Using fleet cards for unauthorized personal purchases
• Unnecessary premium fuel
• Using company cards for personal errands,
• Entering false mileage

Meanwhile, fraud tends to come from external sources, and can range from card skimmers and stolen credentials to what the FBI has called ‘White plastic’ fraud. White plastic fraud is when thieves use cloned cards using data from magnetic stripes at fuel pumps, which the FBI estimates has cost about $1 billion per year. A few more examples of fraud include:

• Lost and stolen cards
• Using ‘bladder trucks’ to steal fuel, which is when a truck is outfitted with fuel storage systems to transport fuel for black-market resale

"Almost every fleet manager will say, ‘yeah, I know this stuff happens,” said Shell Key Account Manager Cole Metcalf. “But they don’t always get just how prevalent and costly this problem is. And that’s exactly why fleets need to be proactive about prevention.”

Preventing fuel fraud and misuse

According to Shell, some of the best ways to prevent fuel fraud and misuse is through visibility and purchase controls. To keep a better eye on fuel fraud, the company said that fleets need access to Level III data, including fuel grade, driver ID, and vehicle transaction time. These elements make it easier to spot issues before they become too costly. Here’s a couple examples Shell provided of how fleets can tell when they might have a case of fuel fraud:

• The wrong card is used for the wrong vehicle
• One card is used to fuel multiple vehicles
• Drivers are caught sharing PIN numbers
• Former drivers keep using cards after termination or retirement
• Fuel purchases exceed tank capacity (e.g., 100+ gallons)
• Purchases occur well outside normal operating geography
• Fuel type mismatch: fuel purchased is the wrong grade for a given vehicle
• Too many transactions occur in a given day or week, or outside normal business hours

Once a fleet has this kind of visibility into their fuel usage, they can implement controls to cut down on misuse and fraud. Some controls are behavioral, and some transactional. The former can include setting strong fuel expectations with drivers, reminding them to store their cards securely, and to keep their PINs to themselves. Then transactional tools can include tailoring fuel card limits (based on vehicle type, fuel grade, driver role, and location), setting up alerts, and using secure payment tools like virtual or tap options or mobile apps.

These transactional controls are also where fuel cards can help. In Shell’s report, 58% of fleet managers ranked security as one of fleet cards’ best benefits. Shell’s fleet card provides chip-enabled security and integrates with the Safer Payments system, which helps detect suspicious activity. It also provides Level III data to bring visibility to fleet fuel usage, along with remote access tools like Shell Account Manager Online, which lets fleets shut down cards, change pins, and set alerts for odd activity. Other beneficial features include:

• ClearView analytics (powered by AI from WEX) to identify behavior trends over time
• Purchase controls by product, location, amount, and frequency
• DriverDash app, which provides biometric authentication and automatic receipt capture