7 Methods Used By Petrol Attendants To Cheat Consumers (Part 1)

The office of the SSA to the Governor of Anambra State on Nupeng Petroleum and Union Matters in its avowed commitment to protect the economic interest of Anambrarians who are the end users of petroleum products has continued to informed Ndi Anambra on the development and emerging trend in the petroleum sector through the ”Anambra Petroleum Digest” an online and hard copy petroleum news publication.

Today’s piece will dwell on the subtle methods through which some petrol station attendants defraud consumers and the need to be watchful while purchasing petroleum products.

Investigation has shown that pump attendants have devised means of enriching themselves through nefarious activity without the knowledge of unsuspecting consumers.

The reasons are not far fetched as the petrol attendants are one of the least paid, an average petrol attendant is paid between ₦10,000 – ₦15,000 monthly, but a smart attendant can make his salary in one day by cheating customers.

Fuel Station scams are not something new. There are plenty of foul plays which can leave you cheated at a fuel station.

Ideally, when a petrol attendant resumes for work, he/she takes the reading on the meter on the fuel dispenser, which they call The Opening Meter, and after they close for the day, the reading on the meter, called The Closing Meter is taken by the attendant. Then, they multiply the difference in the readings by the cost per litre, which is the amount they deliver to the manager. If there is any surplus cash, the attendant takes it.

Recall or TIM/CAL button

On the fuel dispenser there is usually a button labelled ‘Recall, TIM/CAL’ or any other label, depending on the machine. The essence of the button is to enable the attendant to see the past sales. If you want to see your last ten sales, you just press Recall, then the number you want to see etc, depending on the number you want, and it shows you the amount.

Beyond seeing past sales,petrol attendants use it to cheat and make money from the customers.

For example, if a petrol attendant sold ₦5,000 worth of fuel to (Customer A), and the next customer (Customer B) also wants to buy ₦5,000. the attendant will clear the screen to ₦00.0 and tell Customer B to look at it (A way of gaining your trust and making you relax) then when they observe that the second customer (Customer B) Isn’t paying attention, they will sell some quantity, like ₦3,500 for example and press Stop or Cancel, depending on the machine, then press Recall 1, and Ok,With that, ₦5,000 will appear on the screen and that is what the customer will see on the meter, believing the sale is complete, meanwhile the attendant recalled the previous sale.

This can be done in few second as some attendants goes to the extent of writing out some past sales on a paper where they can easily have a glance to know which number to recall when a customer is distracted or looks away, since many people prefer to buy based on price and not litre.

For example Recall 1 can be ₦5,000, Recall 2 – ₦3,000, Recall 3 – ₦2,000, so based on the customer they want to cheat, they look at the paper to recall, and the customers would think the machine was fast, so they wouldn’t always suspect anything.

The Okada/Keke Napep advantage.

Most times, the Okada and Keke Napep’s tend to buy petrol in small quantities, for example like 2 or 3 Litres of fuel.

After dispensing fuel for the Okada/Keke Napep, if the next buyer intends to buy fuel in his car or a big jerry can, the fuel attendant will use the Okada/Keke Napep advantage, because of the small quantity sold previously and continue to dispense fuel into your car tank without clearing the previous sale.

For example, if the previous sale to an Okada, Keke Napep or even a commercial bus is about ₦350, the fuel attendant will gently place the nozzle, and naturally, when the next customer (The Car owner) sees that the attendant removed the nozzle from the dispensing machine, he believes that it started from zero. However, it is not always the case, thus the car owner is automatically cheated by ₦350.

Fake hang the nozzle

Almost every petrol consumer is knowledgeable that when the nozzle is hanged on the pump, the readings revert to zero. Thus the fuel attendants have also found a way to manipulate it to make some money for their pockets.

*What they do is that they gently hang the nozzle, such that it won’t click to rub off the old sales and revert to zero, so,they fake hang the nozzle,while the dispenser is still running, so if a new customer comes, they simply continue from where they stopped from the previous customers.

The Fill up your tank system

A report culled from dailyfinance.com says filling up the tank may be another way to lose money and fuel, because when the pump clicks off automatically, no additional fuel enters the tank. “Instead, fuel is likely being diverted through the pump’s vapour recovery system and back into the station’s tank, which means you are paying for petrol that you are not getting.

“More importantly, the car needs space in its tank for fuel vapours to expand. Overfilling can force gas into the car’s carbon filter, leading to poor performance, reduced mileage or costly repairs. So, the next time you want to buy fuel, don’t top off your tank, it’s good for your car and even better for your wallet,” the report said.

The faulty meter

Some petrol pumps have rigged meters that start ticking even before petrol starts to flow from the hose. Have you ever gone to a filling station to buy fuel and it takes lesser time to fill your tank, compared to other places? This is as a result of the meters that have been tampered with, the attendant will make you believe the particular fuel dispenser is faster or slower than normal, depending on how the meters were manipulated.

The office of the SSA to the Governor on Nupeng Petroleum and Union Matters usually deploys Seraphin Can to expose filling stations involved in the nefarious act.

Using Unnecessarily Longer Dispenser Pipe

Pumps save on a lot of petrol when they use long pipes. A perfectly good meter will show that a certain amount of petrol has been pumped out, but that amount hasn’t reached your tank — some of it is still in the pipe, and it goes back into the pump. Through the day, the number of litres that stations save can be enormous, making the attendant accumulate surplus cash from undispensed fuel.

Get friendly, distract and cheat.

How many times have you visited the filling station and you notice that the fuel attendant is trying to chat you up. If he is not talking about the government, religion or politics, he is most likely to dive into football, especially if he noticed you are a fan of a particular club.

‘Oga mi up Arsenal o, me i be Barcelona fan, we go beat Arsenal all the time’

The trick is to make you get very comfortable, argue with him and take your eyes off the fuel meter. Sometimes the attendant can even get his colleague to distract you, so he can focus on fuel pump to cheat you.
He can ask you questions like.. ‘Sir madam do you need engine oil’ or ‘Sir you need to balance your wheels’.

Anambra Petroleum Digest is published by the office of the SSA to the Governor on Nupeng Petroleum and Union Matters.

Hon. Comr Peter Nwosu SSA to the Governor on Nupeng Petroleum & Union Matters
08066382000

Hon. Timothy Nwachukwu
Executive Assistant to the Governor on Nupeng Petroleum & Union Matters and Editor in chief, Anambra Petroleum Digest
08097311499

E-mail: [email protected]