Recently, there has been an increase in diesel fuel thefts reported at locations with Gilbarco high-flow diesel dispensers. Criminals are breaking into the bottom panel of the pump and manipulating the pulser gear to steal large amounts of fuel.  

How it works: 

The criminals place a soft pin inside of the gear so the pump only registers a small dollar amount of fuel compared to the actual amount of fuel that is being dispensed. Once this pin is in place, the culprit will go inside to prepay with cash. Once the purchase is authorized, the criminals can then steal hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel with only what was prepaid for in the c-store. The pin is then left in place for the thieves to return and obtain more fuel at a later date. During this time, legitimate customers who use that dispenser will also be able to pump large amounts of fuel for a small amount of money until it is reported to management or they recognize there is an issue. Once the issue is identified, a pump technician will need to be called out for repairs. 

It is critical for sites to continue and further educate employees to monitor high-flow-diesel pump transactional activities.

Below are potential red flags for you and your employees to be aware of to help protect your site(s) from this type of theft: 

• Identify the drivers that prepay small amounts of cash for diesel fuel. 
• Watch for drivers that are at the diesel pump for long periods of time.
• Recognize “bladder trucks”, which are trucks that have auxiliary fuel tanks installed in the beds of the trucks and are covered by utility bed covers, tonneau covers etc. and can be used to carry extra, stolen fuel.
• Watch for drivers that are wearing large amounts of facial coverings (hats, sunglasses, hoodies pulled up, face masks etc.) to conceal their identity from the security cameras. 

The Phillips 66 Fraud Department continues to recommend the basic fraud prevention tools: 

• Upgrade the dispenser locks to CompX Turbine model locks and place a lock on the main dispenser door and on the lower panel. 
• Use security labels on both the upper main pump door and on the lower panel. Keep a log of the security label sequence numbers and inspect them daily to assure that a counterfeit security label has not been installed. 
• Conduct at least one inspection a day. It is recommended to conduct inspections at each shift change. 

To help protect your site(s) from having these pins placed, Gilbarco manufactures a Pulser Security Kit that costs approximately $750.00. Once installed, the security kit encapsulates the gear and prevents it from being able to be tampered with. They can be purchased at your local fuel dispenser parts supply company. 

The photos below show an intact pulser (Figure 1), a pulser gear with the gear on the right removed, exposing the gear shaft (Figure 2) and the third photo showing the pulser gear on the right with a black piece of rubber attached to the gear shaft to misrepresent the true amount of fuel being pumped (Figure 3).