Crime of stealing fuel from vehicles, filling stations, or pipelines
A common method of gasoline theft involves destructively drilling a hole into a vehicle's fuel tank.
Gasoline theft is the crime of stealing gasoline. The theft can occur from a variety of sources, including vehicle fuel tanks, filling station pumps, and industrial pipelines. The methods used by thieves range from traditional siphoning and destructive tank puncturing to sophisticated electronic manipulation of fuel pumps.
As a high-value commodity, gasoline is a frequent target for theft, which has a significant economic impact. In Greece, for example, annual losses from fuel theft are estimated to be around 120 million euros.[1] The crime is often correlated with fluctuations in fuel prices and can involve everyone from opportunistic individuals to large-scale organized crime rings. In Great Britain, police recorded a 77% surge in incidents of drivers leaving filling stations without paying for fuel in a single year, highlighting the growing scale of the problem.[2] For commercial vehicle fleets, preventing fuel theft is a major aspect of fleet management, leading to the widespread adoption of telematics and other fuel-management systems to monitor and secure fuel supplies.
From vehicle tanks
Theft from a vehicle's tank is a common form of gasoline theft, accomplished through various methods. For private vehicle owners, this often involves traditional siphoning or, more destructively, puncturing the fuel tank to drain the gasoline, which can cause significant and costly damage to the vehicle.[3]
For commercial fleets, where fuel is a major operational cost,[4] fuel theft is a critical issue managed through a combination of physical deterrents and advanced technology. Beyond external theft, internal fraud—such as the misuse of company fuel cards or drivers siphoning fuel to sell—is also a significant concern.
Prevention and monitoring strategies are central to modern fleet management and represent a key area of fleet digitalization. The core technology used is telematics, which integrates a GPS tracking unit with various on-board sensors to provide real-time data on the vehicle's status.[5] These fuel-management systems can automatically monitor fuel levels using ultrasonic or other sensors and are designed to detect theft by:
Generating an alert if a sudden and significant drop in the fuel level occurs while the vehicle is stationary.[6]
Comparing fuel card purchase data with the actual amount of fuel added to the tank.
Identifying discrepancies between fuel consumed and distance traveled.
In addition to telematics, companies often employ physical security measures such as locking fuel caps and installing anti-siphoning devices that prevent a hose from being inserted into the tank. These technologies and practices are essential for reducing costs, preventing fraud, and improving the overall efficiency of fleet operations. While some thieves have turned to high-tech electronic devices to steal fuel, these are typically used to trick gas station pumps into dispensing fuel without payment, rather than to steal directly from vehicle tanks.[7]
From filling stations
Gasoline theft (sometimes known colloquially as fill and fly, gas and dash, and drive-off in the US and bilking in the UK) is the removal of gasoline from a station without payment. The thief will usually use some form of decoy to prevent nearby witnesses from noticing the lack of payment until they have left the station. Common decoys include pretending to press the wrong buttons after the credit card are swiped or having multiple people get gas at the same time, with one paying for another person and the other running off with both cars.
With typical gas thefts costing station owners in the range of $50 per incident, many stores have fought back by installing better video equipment and requiring prepayment.
Since the oil price increases after 2004, a surge in fuel theft has occurred,[citation needed] which has included license plate thefts (when gasoline is stolen with the vehicle having the original tags and the vehicle tags identifying the registered owner).[citation needed]
↑ Fuel Theft(pdf). National Vehicle Crime Reduction Programme (Report). Retrieved September 19, 2025. The most common method used to steal fuel from a vehicle is to siphon it from the fuel tank... A more recent, and concerning method, is to puncture the fuel tank.
↑ "Managing and monitoring fuel". Fleet Forum Knowledge Base. Retrieved September 19, 2025. For many organisations, fuel is the largest or second largest running cost for their fleet, after depreciation.
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