Safeguarding Your Fleet: Top Tips to Prevent Fuel Card Fraud

In fleet management, where margins are tight and efficiency is paramount, few threats are as persistent and deceptive as fuel fraud. It is a problem that manifests in many ways—stolen cards, skimming schemes, unauthorized purchases—but the result is always the same: businesses lose money, often without realizing it until long after the damage is done.

The real challenge is not just identifying fraud, but preventing it before it undermines financial stability and operational efficiency. Many businesses, despite their best efforts, remain vulnerable. Too often, they rely on outdated tracking methods, where transactions are logged manually or reconciled weeks after the fact. This lag creates a blind spot, allowing fraudulent activity to slip through unnoticed.

The Growing Threat of Fuel Fraud

The scale of the issue is sobering. A recent survey by Fuel Card and Motive found that nearly half of fleet managers estimate up to five percent of their fuel spend is fraudulent¹. Meanwhile, in Canada, digital fraud attempts have surged by 189 percent since pre-pandemic levels, part of a broader shift in financial crime that has made fuel cards an increasingly attractive target². The ability to quickly move money or goods through fraudulent transactions has emboldened bad actors, who take advantage of the fact that purchases not monitored in real-time can go undetected for weeks. By the time the fraud is uncovered, businesses are often left absorbing losses that could have been prevented.

The implications extend beyond financial loss. Fraud introduces inefficiencies that ripple through an organization, pulling managers away from their core responsibilities as they chase down discrepancies and dispute unauthorized charges. And perhaps most damaging is the erosion of trust—both within an organization and between companies and the financial institutions that support them.

The question, then, is how to fight back. Traditional monitoring methods, with their reliance on paper receipts and end-of-month reconciliation, are not enough. What is needed is a comprehensive approach that is not just reactive but preventative, one that flags suspicious activity before it turns into a financial liability.

Build a Stronger First Line of Defense

A critical part of protecting against fraud includes businesses taking internal steps to minimize risk. Educating employees on best practices for fuel card security is essential. Drivers should be trained on responsible card usage, including keeping cards secure, never leaving them in vehicles or shared spaces, and not disclosing PINs to anyone. They should also be encouraged to report lost or stolen cards immediately to prevent unauthorized use.

Beyond standard fuel card fraud prevention practices, businesses should implement ongoing fraud awareness programs. Keeping employees informed about emerging fraud tactics and how to recognize suspicious activity strengthens an organization’s ability to prevent fraud before it happens. The combination of informed personnel and strong security practices creates a more resilient defense against financial threats.

Stopping Fraud Before It Begins with the Right Partner

Even once businesses have implemented strong internal policies, they should seek to collaborate with a strong partner that has the right tools and systems to prevent fraud from happening in the first place. That is precisely what the Shell Fleet Navigator Card and Shell Fleet Plus Card are designed to do. More than a payment tool, they function as an active security measure, providing fleet managers with real-time visibility into every fuel transaction. Gone is the uncertainty of delayed reporting; instead, every purchase is recorded the moment it happens, giving businesses a level of oversight that manual tracking simply cannot match. The ability to monitor spending in real time means potential fraud can be detected and addressed immediately, before losses accumulate.

Put Spending Controls in the Right Hands

But oversight alone is not enough. The Shell Fleet cards allow businesses to impose strict spending controls, limiting purchases by amount, category, or location. Fleet managers can ensure that transactions are fuel-only, enforce daily spending caps, and block purchases that occur outside designated zones. If a card is lost, stolen, or suspected of misuse, it can be locked instantly through Shell’s online portal, cutting off unauthorized access before further damage is done. Each card is assigned to a specific driver and secured with a unique PIN, ensuring that only authorized personnel can make purchases.

Let AI Catch What You Might Miss

Artificial intelligence offers another layer of protection. The Shell Fleet cards’ machine learning algorithms analyze transaction behavior, identifying irregular patterns with a level of precision that human review alone cannot match. Unusual spending spikes, rapid transaction frequencies, or purchases made in unexpected locations trigger automatic alerts, increasing fraud detection accuracy by 35 percent. These real-time notifications allow fleet managers to act immediately, rather than sifting through reports after the fact in an attempt to make sense of what went wrong.

Lean on Experts to Stay Ahead

Even the most sophisticated technology is not a substitute for expert guidance. Fraud prevention is an ongoing battle, and businesses need more than just data, they need strategy. Shell’s dedicated account managers work closely with fleet operators to implement fraud prevention measures tailored to their specific operations. Shell’s fleet management software further strengthens financial control, providing detailed transaction reports that help businesses identify spending patterns and potential vulnerabilities before they become larger issues.

Stay Ahead of Evolving Fraud Tactics

Fuel fraud, like all financial crime, evolves. Fraudsters adapt, finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities as businesses implement new safeguards. But with the right tools, businesses can stay ahead, transforming what was once a costly and unavoidable risk into a manageable challenge. The Shell Fleet cards provide fleet operators with the control, security, intelligence, and support they need to prevent losses and improve operational efficiency. Fraud may not be going away, but neither is the ability to fight back.

¹ _{https://www.trucknews.com/blogs/fuel-fraud-the-silent-epidemic-facing-the-trucking-industry}

² _{https://www.transunion.ca/fraud-trends/reports/2023-state-of-omnichannel-fraud-report}

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