7 types of Petrol Pump frauds (its a nation wide scam)
POSTED BY ON September 16, 2020 COMMENTS (68)
I got cheated at a Petrol Pump yesterday for ₹ 400.
Yesterday I went to a BPCL petrol pump to fill petrol in my car, where it all happened.
I asked the attendant for a “Full Tank”. I generally get out of my car and stand near the person filling it, but I was in a conversation with my friend and trusted the petrol pump as I have been there quite a number of times. However, this time I made a mistake.
The attendant asked me to see the ZERO on the meter and then started filling the petrol. Once the meter started and I thought that everything is fine, he stopped at ₹ 400 and started billing.
I knew this tactic where they say “Oh .. I thought you said ₹ 400”. So I told him to leave it at that point and bill it to me for ₹ 400 only. I paid the amount and went ahead.
However, my car indicator was still showing the same “51 km” which it was showing before I went to petrol pump and did not go past it. That’s when I realized that I was a victim of another Petrol Pump fraud, which I was unaware of. I already went too far from the petrol pump and had no proof of the incidence that happened. However, I was surely tricked.
I got back my Rs 400 and offer to terminate the employee
My immediate next was to lodge a complain on BPCL website with all details and I was quite surprised and happy to see that I got a call back from the petrol pump manager within 30 minutes.
He accepted the mistake and offered to pay back the fuel worth ₹ 400 and also terminate the employee if found guilty. I told the manager that I do not wish him to get terminated in this hard times. It will be enough if he can warn that person strictly and take measures to ensure this does not happen again.
Please listen to my 3 min audio recording with Petrol Pump Manager.
Update
Today I visited the petrol pump again as requested by the petrol pump main manager (he was not present that day when I got scammed). He was quite helpful and courteous in explaining all the things to me. He also got my car filled for Rs 400 petrol so that I am not in loss. Apart from that, he also showed me their automation system which records each and every entry with the time stamp.
I was able to see the entry of Rs 401.50 for the exact time and date. However as I said, the petrol did not reach my car at all. As I said I was not attentive enough that day. I guess the petrol was getting filled in some other vehicle or container (check Fraud #4 below) which I will leave the petrol pump to investigate using their CCTV. I was also offered by petrol pump to do 5 ltr fuel test incase I want to.
Please note that I am not holding BPCL or manager responsible for what happened. After I met the manager, and asked all the questions I had – I am convinced that it was purely employee mischief in this incident.
Also I want to acknowledge that BPCL was quite fast in resolving my case and the petrol pump manager was also quite prompt to investigate the case.
Is this a new kind of petrol pump scam which got invented?
This got me thinking about the quantum of these kinds of scams and frauds which happen almost every minute in our country in almost all the cities of India, where people get cheated of small amounts like ₹ 50, ₹ 20 or ₹ 500….
99% of the people who get scammed are not even aware of it. Others who are bit aware, they make a scene for 2 minutes, may get a refund and the matter is closed.
Massive “Small Scams” going on across the Petrol Pumps
There are close to 60,000 – 70,000 petrol pumps in our country. Imagine the amount which is looted together by all petrol pumps (leaving those who are clean) even if they do small frauds.
I feel it’s so rampant that it might amount to thousands of crores which is yet to be investigated in detail.
So to make everyone aware, I started digging internet, YouTube and various other platforms like Team-BHP, Quora, etc to check experiences of other people who got cheated and thought of compiling a list of different ways through which petrol pump attendants along with owners/managers in some cases defrauds customers.
So let’s see various frauds one by one ..
Fraud #1 – Short Fueling by distraction
This is most common and widely experienced fraud which can be done quite easily if you are not alert. Here is how it happens;
You ask for petrol worth ₹ 500, and the meter is already at ₹ 100 (the person before you filled it for ₹ 100) . The person tries to show that he is resetting the meter to ZERO, while you are distracted by another person. He does not reset the meter in reality, but starts from ₹ 100 itself and goes till ₹ 500.
You pay ₹ 500, but you get the fuel only worth ₹ 400 only.
If the meter is already set to ZERO, then they use another trick.
So you ask for petrol for ₹ 500, the attendant asks you to check the meter at ZERO and then stats filling the petrol and stops at ₹ 100. When you ask him why he stopped at ₹ 100, he tells you that he heard ₹ 100 only. Then he says that no issues, he will reset and fill another ₹ 400 (will give some crap technical reason why he can’t continue from that same point).
At this point someone from his team distracts you while the attendant starts filling from ₹ 100 onwards itself, when you think that he had reset the meter back to ZERO. Then he goes till ₹ 400 and charges you ₹ 500 (₹ 100 + ₹ 400). You get petrol worth ₹ 400 only, but pay ₹ 500.
In both these tricks, someone distracts you in the name of PUC, cleaning of vehicle, or will just ask you some silly thing and you turn your eyes away from meter.
Here is an image showing how it works
Unless you make a scene then and there itself, it becomes quite tough to catch them later because by that time the incident in old enough and you also loose the interest in fighting for few hundred rupees.
Fraud #2 – Tweaking fuel-dispensing machines using integrated chips
This is a clear cut fraud from the main owners of the petrol pumps or at manager level, because in this fraud – an integrated chip is installed in the machine itself. This chip makes sure that 3% less oil is filled every time while the meter shows the full amount. So if you ask for ₹ 1000 petrol, everything will look perfect but you will get petrol worth ₹ 970 only.
Even the receipt will be generated for the full amount. This is a small tweak which is done in the machine itself.
Imagine 10,000 customers coming to a petrol pump and everyone gets 3% less fuel. How big is that as a scam .. Now multiply that with hundreds of petrol pump who may be doing this.
To read more on this kind of fraud, you can read this article where it’s explained in detail about how the chip works and the methodology
Fraud #3 – Filling the costly version of Oil (Speed / Power) without asking
This is not exactly a fraud, but an unethical thing which most of the petrol pumps do.
They by default start filling the costlier version of the oil (Speed Petrol or Power Petrol) without customer asking for it. Most of the cars or bikes in India run totally fine with the unleaded version of oil which is the default thing. Then there are high octane fuels which can cost 5-10% more than the normal price.
A lot of petrol pumps guide their employees to NOT ASK which version to fill and directly start filling the high performance fuel. And if you catch them and question them, they inform you that it’s your responsibility to clear in start which one you wanted.
You may want to refer to this video from AskCarguru on this topic or read my article
Fraud #4 : Blocking your Mirror and Filling Oil to another Vehicle
This is an advanced level of fraud done by some high risk taker employees of the petrol pumps. This is done to those who like to sit in the comfort of their cars and completely trust the petrol pumps.
In this case, the person filling the petrol pump will show you the meter and set it at ZERO and then come in between of your left mirror and fuel tank. While fueling, he will stop at ₹ 200, ₹ 300, ₹ 500 or some number like that and will give you various reasons for why he stopped, for example, he is coming in 2 min or he has to bring swipe machine or start generator, etc. Once he is back, he will start from the same point.
You will feel everything is normal; however, the trick is that before he left, he was actually filling the oil in some other vehicle (obviously another guy is involved). Your mirror was blocked from seeing what is happening and you were either on a phone call or were listening to music, etc.
I guess this is what happened with me recently as I was in a conversation with my friend and was bit careless (as I had used the same fuel station many times! poor me)
Here is experience of Mr. Rananjay Singh shared on quora
Fraud #5 – Start-Stop Trick to create an air lock (Long Nozzle)
A lot of times, the attendant while filling the oil, does not lock the dispenser nozzle into the tank neck and manually keeps pressing the start and stop button repeatedly. This makes sure that some quantity of oil is locked into the dispensing machine due to the air lock which is created.
As per the studies, 200 ml of oil is saved for every 10 liters of oil. Which means that if you are asking for FULL Tank, you are probably loosing close to 500-750 ml depending on your tank size.
Also if the dispenser nozzle is a long one, a decent amount of oil remains in the nozzle.
Considering thousands of liters of oil sold by a petrol pump every day, it probably saves them dozens of liters of oil, which I and you are paying for.
The solution for this is simple. Make sure the attendant locks the nozzle and does not interrupt till the auto-cutoff point is reached. Also the hosepipe should be raised as high as possible while taking it out of the tank.
Fraud #6 – Resetting the Meter to your final amount in between
This is a trick which shows how innovative people are.
In this trick, suppose you asked the attendant to fill petrol for ₹ 2,000. He shows you ZERO in the meter and starts filling the petrol.
Everything is going fine.. But towards the end when the meter shows around 1600-1700 and you get a feeling that now no one can scam you, some random guy will disturb you for various things like “Card or Cash” or “PUC” or “Lucky Draw” and things like that.
You are already relaxed now because you have been cautious enough from start thinking “what can go wrong now”.
The billing time comes, you check the meter and it shows your final amount of Rs 2,000. You pay the bill and leave.
Congratulations! You are scammed of few hundred rupees.
What happened?
So when the meter was at ₹ 1,700, and you got disturbed and diverted your attention to something else. The guy who was filling the petrol stopped filling the oil, did reset the meter to ₹ 2,000 (while the number of liters did not change).
We generally look at the amount only and not pay much attention to the quantity displayed. Some websites where I researched about this fraud also mentioned that in this kind of unauthorized meter reset, the meter amount blinks which is an indication that it was reset in a wrong manner.
Here is Vivek sharing his experience of a similar incident in our old article comments section
Here’s another trick used by the pumps. This one in Pune. Mauli Petrol Pump (Baner Road) – HP dealership. You ask the attendant to fill Rs 1000. He asks you to check the Zero (reset) to gain your trust. Thereafter you don’t pay attention till it’s time to pay – that’s a mistake. You should pay attention throughout the process. Here’s why.
Attendant punches in Rs 1000 into the dispenser, asks you to see the Zero and continues filling. Then when it is close to being Rs 1000, say at Rs 800 or so, he pulls a switch to reset the counter – apparently there is a way to “round-off” or reset the amount, so that the amount on the screen is seen as Rs 1000. You feel that Rs 1000 has been filled when in actuality only Rs 800 is filled.
Modus operandi is this. After around half way of fuelling, someone at the pump will distract you for Cash/Card or Car Polish or PUC, etc. It is during this time that the attendant cheats you by pressing the reset switch. This particular pump does not have an electronic receipt system and gives handwritten receipts to hide this fraud – an electronic receipt would have indicated the exact volume of fuel dispensed.
Fraud #7 – “Low Engine Oil or Coolant” Scare
Another fraud is not about the petrol or diesel, but scaring car or bike owners of low engine oil or low coolant and then selling their products. I have seen this multiple times happening at some petrol pumps where they offer to check the engine oil level and refill the water level. I don’t understand why my engine oil is always low only when I reach the petrol pump.
Once I realised that it was just to scare me in order to sell their products, I always tell them that my car is going for the servicing next day.
Here is an incident which was reported at Moneylife where they were cheated into believing that their engine oil was diluted and they were sold 5 packets of servo engine oil, which they got refund for later once they figured out the scam.
This even happens at Shell Petrol pumps which are generally quite famous for no scams (which I agree). Here is an incident which was reported at Team-BHP website by one of their members
Who is involved in these frauds? Employee or Owners?
Majority of the time, it is the attendant who is responsible for the small frauds and cheating which involves few hundred rupees.
They carry out some on their own and some with help of fellow attendants. However, in some cases even the petrol pump incharge/manager might be involved with the attendants in such frauds.
A lot of people say that manager/owner might be involved because the attendents take payments using the cards/paytm/google pay and not cash always. Even in this case the attendents might be able to benefit. This is because the payments happen by both cash and card and at the end of the day, they may adjust the amounts.
Having said that, some of you might think how exactly the entire process is carried out.
To understand this let’s look at a scenario.
At every petrol pump, meter reading on the petrol vending machine is taken at the start and end of the day. Sometimes it’s taken during shift changes. So, the point here to note is that the meter reading of start and end is taken.
Each transaction is not reported one by one. So at the end of the day only thing which is checked is the oil sold and amount collected through Cash and Card. If a fraud is done for Rs 500 and the payment happened by card, the attendant can take the Cash of Rs 500 out of all the cash collected. That’s all
Here is a simple example
Now suppose according to meter reading the sale made for that particular period is ₹ 900 just for understanding the system. There were two buyers who filled the oil, you and me.
You paid through card and I paid through cash. Now you asked for ₹ 500 fuel, but the attendant filled your tank only with ₹ 400 of fuel. Then I came and asked for ₹ 500 fuel and got fuel for entire amount and paid ₹ 500 in cash. Now, at the end of these two transactions. The amount that is with attendant is ₹ 1,000 (₹ 500 card payment slip + ₹ 500 in cash). However, the total fuel sold is only for ₹ 900 (₹ 400 to you + ₹ 500 to me). Hence, he conveniently takes out ₹ 100 cash from his collection and pays ₹ 900 to the petrol pump incharge/manager.
This ₹ 100 will then be distributed among the conspirators as per the agreed percentages.
Note that only in the big frauds which are manipulation of machine it self, the owner or manager might be involved.
Where to complain against Petrol Pump?
The first step is to ask for the “complaint book” of the petrol pump and register your complaint locally. Each Oil company has a complaint register book at every petrol pump station which they look at during audits and inspection. The petrol pump attendant or owner/manager will first try to give you reasons for not having it or will persuade you not to register the complaint. But make sure you do it.
Apart from that you can lodge your complaint online on the oil company website. I did complain on Bharat Petroleum website about this issue
When I checked on internet, many people reported that it’s helpful and actions are taken in few weeks or months. Here is the links which you can use
| Company | Complaint Link |
|---|---|
| HPCL | https://www.hindustanpetroleum.com/cms |
| BPCL | https://ebiz.bpc.co.in/Ccsext/CorporateSite/PetrolPumpComplaintRegistration |
| Indian Oil | https://cx.indianoil.in/EPICIOCL/faces/GrievanceMainPage.jspx |
| Central Complaint Website | https://www.pgportal.gov.in/ |
Important Precautions to Take
- If you are in car, always come out and keep a close watch at the meter and how they are filling the petrol
- Always make sure the meter is reset to ZERO in front of your eyes.
- Always make sure that the meter shows ZERO while the oil nozzle is entered in the car tank.
- Always ask for the electronic receipt after the oil is filled. Make sure before filling the petrol you check if there is digital meter or not.
- Always avoid talking or entertaining anyone in between as far as possible.
- Make sure you pay at the end of the transaction
- Incase meter is stopped for any reason, offer to just complete the transaction and fill the petrol at next station or next day.
- In case you are not satisfied with anything or want to complain – do insist for the complaint book, as the oil companies take the complaint book very seriously.
Please share if you have any experience of getting scammed on Indian petrol pumps..
Thanks for shedding light on this crucial issue! Awareness is key to combatting these deceitful practices. Let’s stay vigilant and protect ourselves and our communities from falling victim to these petrol pump scams. Together, we can make a difference!
Thank you for this wonderful eye opening post. I felt i have been cheated today , had no clue what to do.
I asked the attendent to fill full tank. He showed me zero which was already there. He started filling and when i looked at the metre it was running at 136. How in such short span of time meter can jump from xero to 136. Looks like he started from 100. My bad i didnt know this type of scam exist. My bill was 480, i asked him receipt , he gave me 480 electronic receipt. What can i do in this situation ? I am thinking going forward i will video record the meter reading to prove that meter started didnt start from zero. What other way is there ?
All you have to from next time is be more careful. When they show 0 , have a look at it and keep your eye on it and see that it moves from 0 .. At the same time, someone from their team will come and distract you .. Just be careful!
I am quite skeptical about Normal vs Speed pertrol. Some on net are saying it’s better and some are saying it’s not. Kindly clarify on this in detail.
It makes sense for very high end cars costing 25-30+ lacs ! ..
For basic cars which we all drive in our day to day life costing 10-12 lacs or less.. Its not going to make much difference!
Good article an informative
Thanks for your comment Dipti R Barik .. Please keep sharing your views like this..
Vandana
You really need to be vigilant to avoid this type of frauds, “savdhani hati, durghatna ghati”
Thanks for your comment Dipti R Barik .. Please keep sharing your views like this..
Vandana
Thanks for informing us
This type of fraud really Increasing.
True
Yes ..mere sath bhi esa hua h .
&
Thanks ..for giving complaint website.
Welcome
A very well written article, Altough I would not paint all the Petrol Bunks with the same paint but yes there are issues and slowly they are getting resolved. I have a friend who owns a Petrol Bunk and his lament is that he is not getting correct product QTY from the Oil Companies (but that’s not an excuse) and also not getting commissions in line with increasing expenses, (well that’s between you and the Oil Company). My MANTRA FOR CORRECT FUELING
1. Get out of your Car
2. Ensure the amount is entered in the Machine before you
3. Ensure ZERO at the beginning and FINAL reading of your requirement at the end.
4. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT GET DISTRACTED the whole Fueling process takes a max of 5-7 min in case of an empty tank also YOUR VEHICLE GIVES YOU SO MUCH COMFORT PLEASE SPARE THESE 5-7 minutes for it.
5. Always ask a Bill for your transaction.
But a great well written article altough many petrol bunks are now under FULL AUTOMATION and hence cannot do the stop and go thing as there is a cut off timer for the transaction of 5secs idle time.
Thank you for making us aware. JaagoInvestor
Thanks for sharing .. let me check things more and will make appropriate changes !
A number of petrol pump frauds mentioned.My one suggestion to the vehicle manufacturers is to instal a fuel meter in all vehicle. Is it possible.We can stop these kind of frauds.
I am not of that happening any time soon
very useful article and the best part is that it is Jago investor, which I thought confines itself to investment.
Welcome .. We write on non-investment topics also if its related to investor protection
Sir, I am in disagreement with your point no.1. If u refill ur vehicle with Rs 500 or below u will always face this issue irrespective of the Company or distributor. I used to face similar problem when I used to refill my car tank with Rs 500 or blow. The fuel indicator is designed or set in a way that it will not show any deflection due to such small amount of refilling especially when tank is empty. To prove my point u can refill the car when tank is half filled or above . I think u should be thank ful to the BPCL manager who has accepted the mistake and paid ur money back in spite of knowing that he or his company is not in fault. Plz try this practically before replying to my comment in hurry. Rest is ok.
Is it ?
I have filled petrol many times for amounts like 300 or 400 or 200 in past when petrol tank was almost empty .. It shows the KM remaining going up .. I will try it once again !
Manish
I totally agree. Cars these days dont register fuel below 500rs on the Distance to Empty indicator. The distance to empty remains same but will reduce very slowly. So point 1 can happen anywhere and everywhere always fill more than 500.
This was exactly what my reply was going to be too. I’ve experienced this innumerable number of times in my sedan. Everytime I fill less than 500 rupees, especially when my range is 50kms or below, it does not change once fuel is filled. Am sure no one at the filling station was at fault. But because this is your first time experiencing this, am sure you felt you were duped for real.
Let me test this next time and see how it goes with my car! .. Thanks for sharing this Sibi
Why we can use petrol pump by ourselves
In foreign and Middle East companies they have allowed auto pump features.
This is a big mafia and this is on going process.My recommendation is to have self filing system.
I wonder if our country is ready for it when we have long lines on the petrol pump station !
Govt know all this type fault why not use transparent pipe, and instit at installation time, company managers also involved in this type of cheating.
True .. govt should take charge of this
One more type of fraud I came across at Highway Petrol pump Company owned… Attended smartly Puch my card 10,000 instead of 1000. When I saw the recipiet & raise the issue they simply acknowledge as Human error & return rest 9000/-…..Be careful
Is it happening very frequently? Because it might have happened by mistake ..
Good article. Informative as well as educative. Thanks Sir
Welcome
I believe this might have happened ,that guy may have cheated on you.But many times it so happened that when I filled my car it showed 25 kms after talking petrol of 1000 rupees it remained 25 km.I thought I have been cheated but the fuel metre rose from E to Half full..
So at times car shows faulty .miles to go.
In my case, it never went up .. the next day it was 30 KM .. thats when I got full tank on a SHELL petrol pump
Manish
Informative ! Just one more point to add.I once read somewhere that all common amounts such as Rs100, Rs500, Rs1000 etc do not come automatically set in the machine.It is done manually, and is to be done on daily basis after 12am since fuel prices change everyday.How do we know it is done everyday? The only solution is to fill fuel in litres and that too in multiples of any number other than tens, such as 15, 17, 23, 25, 35 etc.. Anyway, no one would take the pains in setting the quantity litre-wise for all number ! My 2 cents !
I think we just have to trust the petrol pumps on that.. also you can see the price and quantity displayed on the screen anyways !
Manish
I guess they’ll do it everyday, coz the prices are increasing almost Everytime and if they don’t change the settings they’re in loss. It’s a benefit for us, unless there’s a price drop.
Hi there,
Very well articulated post.
In gist , 60 crores+ litres of fuel theft is happening every year in India that’s yearly fuel consumption of Afghanistan, Bhutan and Laos combined as per Global Fire Power 2018 report.
Happy to let you know, we at Readymotive startup have built a device named Mice+ i.e. world’s cheapest fuel telematic device to solve for this. Go checkout our website for more details.
Regards
Glad to know about the stats ! .. thanks for sharing that!
Will check out your site!
Manish
I have been scammed at a petrol bunk on JC Road in Bangalore 3 times. And this is not by filling in less petrol than you pay for, but by giving you the wrong change. They even ask you if you need change for big notes. The count out the notes so that you can see them counting it, but they cleverly slip one note out by covering their hand with their money bag before passing you the change. The first time i lost 500 from a 2000 rupee note and the second time 100 from a 500 note. The 3rd time i caught him red handed doing it and he said sorry sir mistake, but i blew my top and told them the game was over and i had him on camera and was going to the police. I had every attendant at the bunks attention and they were all using the same trick. I have never had that problem again at that bunk, but i am sure that they use other methods now.
Thanks for sharing that incident .. it shows how we loose a big amount over a course of a year ..
Poor you …. got duped twice by same trick , luckily u caught him in third attempt.
Very well explained thanks public vigilance can definitely curb this I am also running two petrol pumps in Chennai I want to thank you in person because public awareness will also save honest people like us otherwise all think owner’s are involved in all these cases except few greedy people always I will check my boys on your lines too though we are checking every day secretly
Glad to know that Mr. Kamal !
Hi Manish, thanks for sharing this very informative article. First 2 frauds are very common in Pune and it’s happened with me multiple times on the same petrol pump. i complained also many times on wesbite.
Glad to know that.. did you get any resolution or call back?
It is a known fact that in Bangalore, some of the corrupt pump owners do not pay their attendants the full salary and let them earn through these tricks. In a busy metro, there is so much volume of customers, that pissing off a few does not matter to the owner.
Yes.. its a good point.
If they under pay the attendants, they are bound to take this route of earning money by cheating!
Indeed very helpful & eye opening information.
God bless you brother
Thanks
Thanks for the info. I had such an experience at HP pump in sector 14, Vashi.Navi Mumbai.
I lodged a complaint on HP website, and to my amazement, I got a call next day from HP and followed by a call from owner of the pump. My complaint was against employees and manager, who on the day of fraud took employee’s side.
Finally i was offered fuel equal to fraud amount.
Reading about all such frauds, I’ll be more vigilant for sure. Thanks.
Glad to know that your complaint was also taken seriously and resolution was done .. thanks for sharing !
Brilliant article !! Very informative and will be definitely useful to people in case this fraud happens with them. Will definitely share it with all my friends and family. Thank you very much Jagoinvestor team. Really appreciate it
Welcome Manpreet 🙂
I prefer to use COCO (Company operated pumps) to avoid these kinds of scams. But there is definitely a lot of scam going on in these pumps.
They are not limited on highways mostly?
This happened with us as well as friends. Thank you so much for publishing this and spreading awareness.
Welcome !
Hi,
This is a good information & alert.Congratulation to the author.
However the author should not have used his mobile phone in fuel station as it is a dangerous act and illegal.
Got enriched,
Thank you very much for the information.
Welcome
There should be an option to refill our tanks by ourselves as they have in western countries.
I wish it happens asap in India
The best way I feel to penalize the petrol pump owners income on that day ..
These things are going on ages and every employee of petrol pump is aware of it..
Rather than solving the errors.. I would request the petrol companies bpcl.. indian oil. Hp.. to deduct the days income of petrol pump owners .
By this method they will instruct the employees not to involve in fraud..
Good point .. However a lot of times its very tough to catch these small cheatings ..
Never fill fuel for a round amount I have started filling fuels for amounts like 1,235 or sometime 1,765 avoid the 100 and 1000 as the machines rounds up to the nearest and depending on how the rounding up is set it can jump from 800 to 1000 as mentioned above.
Thanks for sharing your view ..