Gasoline thieves grow more sophisticated; tips on how to stop them feature1

Just as gasoline thieves come up with inventive ways to steal fuel, petroleum marketers need be creative – and just plain watchful – to stop them.

Arrests in Flower Mound, Texas, on Feb. 7 show how technologically adept some thieves can be.

Police said three thieves cracked the codes on a gas pump giving them access to hundreds of gallons of free fuel, NBC News in Dallas-Fort Worth reported Feb. 7.

An officer spotted a truck parked next to a pump at a Payless Fuel gas station in Flower Mound and became suspicious, knowing the gas is turned off when the store closes, according to the news report.

Police said the men had a key and knew a generic password used to override the code and unlock the pumps, according to the news report. There were 15 gas containers in the bed of the truck.

The men face misdemeanor theft charges.

"It was one of those deals where somebody accessed the pump. They called several people, and they called several people. A merchant can lose several hundred dollars in gasoline in one night,” Lt. Wendell Mitchell said, according to the news report.

"It is important for other merchants to know that if they have not changed the code, they definitely want to go out and change the code," Mitchell said.

Here are some additional tips that can help deter fuel theft, provided by the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Low-tech solutions can be effective. Simply greeting all customers - whether by intercom or in person - can be effective. This takes away the feeling of anonymity.

Technologies like the patented program developed by Pump-on LLC largely protect the customer's convenience and still ensure that theft is eliminated. With this program, cash customers use their driver's licenses (where basic identification information is read) at the pump to authorize dispensing. As of January 2007, a number of retailers have committed to work to further develop this program, including Sheetz, Wawa, RaceTrac and QuikTrip. QuikTrip has been using this type of program to great success in a number of cities. If customers fill up and fail to pay, their names are turned over to police. In Tulsa and Kansas City, gasoline theft was "reduced to a trickle," QuikTrip reports.

According to the association, As of June 2005, 27 states passed laws in which a judge has the discretion to suspend the driver's license of someone convicted of gas theft. Missouri's law requires (making it mandatory, not discretionary) that a judge suspend the driver's license of a person who pleads guilty to, or is convicted of, stealing fuel.

  • Here are the states and the year the law took effect:

    1998: Georgia
    1999: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi
    2000: Kansas, South Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee, West Virginia
    2001: Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington, North Dakota, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, North Carolina
    2002: Colorado, Pennsylvania
    2003: Maryland, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Ohio
    2005: Iowa, Minnesota
  • In 2005, Oklahoma and Virginia increased the fine for those convicted of gasoline theft. Also in 2005, South Dakota passed a law (which took effect July 1) that makes the owner of the vehicle used by someone who drives off without paying for gas liable for the cost of the gasoline plus a service charge. If the fee isn't paid, a civil fine is assessed.
  • Gas thieves are getting their driver's licenses suspended. According to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the state recorded 171 license suspensions for gasoline theft in 2002, 366 suspensions in 2003 and 246 suspensions in the first half of 2004.
  • An important part of Georgia's campaign, developed by the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores and Georgia Oilmen's Association, and many of the other states, included stickers on the gas dispensers that warned customers of the impact of gas theft. A typical message showed a state trooper holding someone's driver's license, accompanied by the message: "Pay for your gas or lose it!"
  • A provision of the South Dakota gasoline theft law states that if an operator can get a license plate number and description of the vehicle, they can request information in writing to law enforcement, obtain the drivers information and send them a bill in the mail.