The Anatomy of a $22,000 WEX Fuel Card Theft
It happened to a family business in Beaumont, Texas. MCT Sheet Metal, Inc. had issued about 30 Wright Express (WEX) cards to their drivers, and probably felt they had a controlled fuel spending program in place. After all, isn’t that what fleet card systems are supposed to be providing? So how did a thief manage to use a stolen card to steal $22,000 in seven days time using what is supposed to be a well controlled system?
According to MCT, the Wright Express fuel card went missing around August 7th. The first of almost seventy five charges throughout the week occurred that day, with as many as twenty eight (28) on a single day. According to a spokesman for MCT, WEX notified him roughly a week later of the unusual charges.
Let’s deal with the first question that comes to mind. How can one card be able to execute nearly twenty eight (28) purchases in a single day? Doesn't WEX implement controls that would prevent this? We know how and why it happened, and this is something we teach in our sales training and seminars. In fact, based on our investigation, we think a lot of WEX customers are exposed to the same risk as MCT.
According to MCT, “the thieves managed to guess the correct PIN before going on their fuel-up frenzy”. What? Oh yes, this exposes one of WEX’s weaknesses, which we can also teach your sales team. For all of you who have been through our training programs, here is the exact example of what we said could happen!
On top of it all, MCT said that “single charges ranged from $1.26 to nearly $800”. Once again, most people think WEX can limit dollars to what is set in their host. We can teach your team the truth about their system, as well as other similar competitors.
The real truth is that no other card system on the market offers the high level, reliable controls that unattended commercial fueling programs can offer. If you are fortunate enough to be affiliated with CFN or Pacific Pride, you have the best program in terms of front end restrictions that prohibit these types of events, but only if you implement the controls that are available.
PowerUp Fleet will be conducting a sales training seminar in San Francisco CA on November 12th, 2008. Be sure to register early.
Downs Energy Implements The Fleetcard Marketer - June 2008
PowerUp Fleet is pleased to welcome Downs Energy as new, fully implemented users of the Fleetcard Marketer™
Scott Effinger, sales manager for Downs Energy, had this to say when recently asked about the impact PowerUp has had on their business: “
“Wow! The information, efficiency and opportunity provided by your program is unrivaled. As a new subscriber of Power-up Fleet, I have been able to quickly get my sales team trained and focused on a consistent, effective multi-touch sales methodology that not only provides structure to their daily sales activity, but more importantly, delivers and tracks results on-demand. As a 14-year veteran of the fleet card marketing industry, both at the Jobber/Marketer level and the National Network level, I have seen a number of different sales programs, CRM’s and resource tools designed to improve sales and customer service performance. However, Power-up Fleet is the first program, that I’ve seen, that has been able to create a cohesive fleet card sales & marketing suite, which successfully integrates all three elements into a targeted, dedicated program guaranteed to produce sales growth if executed properly. Additionally, the recent on-line launch of Power-Up Fleet University provides my team great market information, informative industry analysis and helpful sales development tips and techniques all designed to improve their skills and product knowledge, thus enhancing their ability to be a true fuel management consultant.”