When I saw the recent news story about the alleged theft of more than $1.1 million worth of diesel, my first thought was this is exactly why businesses need better fuel control.
Queensland Police allege a man used stolen fuel cards to get diesel from unmanned depots at Parkinson, Bundamba and Karawatha over a 12-month period.
That’s a huge amount of fuel, and it’s a story that should make any business owner ask one very simple question: if something like this was happening with my fuel spend, how fast would I know?
For me, that’s the real issue here.
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This story doesn’t prove fuel cards are bad
I don’t think the lesson is “don’t use fuel cards”. I think the lesson is “use the right fuel card, with the best controls and alerts”.
A fuel card on its own won’t stop every problem. But the best fuel cards give you more visibility, better reporting and more control than cash, loose receipts or staff reimbursements ever will. That means suspicious behaviour is harder to miss and easier to investigate.
That’s why I still see fuel cards as one of the smartest tools a business can use to manage diesel and petrol costs.
Why I recommend Shell Card for fuel control
If fuel control is the priority, I think Shell Card is one of the best options to look at.
The big reason is its Smart Alerts feature. In the Shell Card Portal, businesses can set customised alerts around things like fuel volume and number of transactions. If those limits are exceeded, notifications are sent by email and can also be viewed in the portal. That’s a very practical feature if you’re trying to keep a closer eye on how cards are being used.
What I like most is that Smart Alerts aren’t just a nice extra. They solve real-world problems. A business can set alerts if a driver buys more litres than a vehicle tank should hold, if a card is used more than once in a day, if spend is pushing close to the account limit, or if odometer details aren’t being entered properly. There are also recommended fraud alert presets, which tells me Shell is clearly thinking about control, not just convenience.
No, Smart Alerts can’t promise that misuse will never happen. But they can make it much harder for unusual behaviour to stay hidden for long.
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WEX Motorpass and FleetCard are also strong options
With WEX Motorpass, what stands out to me is how configurable it is. Businesses can assign cards by driver, by vehicle, or by driver and vehicle together. They can also add PIN protection, restrict what the card can buy, and set limits around transaction count, value, litres and even when the card can be used. That’s strong from a security point of view because it gives you a much tighter grip on who is buying what, and when.
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FleetCard is strong for a slightly different reason. It talks a lot about exception reporting, which I think is genuinely useful in a fuel-theft story like this. FleetCard says it can flag things like purchases that exceed tank capacity, multiple fills on the same day, and transactions on unusual days such as weekends. It also allows email notifications for odd behaviour. So if you want stronger visibility into suspicious usage, there’s a solid case for FleetCard too.
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That’s important, because in my experience, messy fuel processes often start when the card doesn’t match how the fleet actually runs.
Another card worth mentioning: BP Plus
BP Plus has some genuinely useful controls through its Care Plus security offering. BP highlights PIN options, odometer prompts, purchase limits by time, volume or dollar value, and suspicious-transaction monitoring through reporting tools. It also talks about exception reports and support from a dedicated card security team. For businesses that want another brand-specific option with a strong control story, that makes BP Plus worth a look.
The benefits of using the right fuel card
For me, there are a few obvious benefits.
First, a good fuel card program creates a cleaner record of every transaction. You can see where fuel was bought, when it was bought and how often a card is being used. That alone gives a business a much better chance of spotting patterns that don’t look right.
Second, the best fuel cards make it easier to build proper accountability. Instead of fuel spend disappearing into a stack of receipts, you’ve got a more structured system around drivers, vehicles and purchases.
Third, better alerts and reporting can shorten the time between misuse and discovery. That’s a huge deal. In long-running fraud or misuse cases, the damage usually grows because nobody sees the pattern early enough.
That’s why I keep coming back to Shell Card in particular for this topic. When a card comes with a feature like Smart Alerts, it gives businesses one more way to catch unusual activity before it turns into a much bigger problem.
My view on the best fuel cards for this issue
If I were choosing with fuel security in mind, I’d put the options like this.
| Fuel card | Why I’d look at it |
|---|---|
| Shell Card | One of the best for fuel control, especially because Smart Alerts can flag unusual volume, repeat transactions, missing odometer details and other suspicious activity. |
| WEX Motorpass | Strong on security because you can assign cards by driver or vehicle, add PINs, restrict product types, and set controls around transaction count, value, litres and usage times. |
| FleetCard | Strong on monitoring because its exception reporting can highlight over-capacity fills, repeated same-day transactions and other unusual behaviour, with email alerts for suspicious activity. |
| BP Plus | Worth considering if you want PIN options, odometer prompts, purchase limits by time, volume or dollars, plus suspicious-transaction monitoring through BP’s Care Plus security setup. |
For a lot of businesses, the answer won’t be just “what’s cheapest?” It’ll be “what gives me the best mix of control, visibility and network coverage?”
That’s a much better question.
The simple takeaway
This diesel theft story is a reminder that fuel is one of the easiest business costs to lose sight of if your systems are loose.
That’s why I wouldn’t move away from fuel cards after reading a story like this. I’d do the opposite. I’d make sure I’m using one of the best fuel cards, and I’d make sure it fits the way my vehicles actually operate.
If tighter control is what matters most, I think Shell Card deserves serious attention because Smart Alerts give it a real edge.
Either way, I think the biggest mistake is waiting until there’s a problem before taking fuel control seriously.
Because once fuel misuse runs for months, the cost isn’t just the diesel. It’s the fact that nobody had the visibility to stop it sooner.
