Uncertain Economy Leads to Rise in Company Fuel Theft

How companies can protect themselves from internal and external fraud

It is no secret there has been an increase in fuel theft reported over the past few months. With wildly fluctuating gas prices and an unstable economy, the temptation for thieves to steal or take advantage of company fuel cards is at an all time high.

Take for example the recent case where the Raleigh police in North Carolina charged a person with peddling cheap fill-ups at area stations with stolen fuel cards. According to the article in the Raleigh News & Observer on October 9, 2008 called "Cheap gas online auto insurance quotes too good to be true," more than 300 people took advantage of the illicit gas business.

The accused used the stolen fleet gas cards to fill up "customers" vehicles for $20 each. Another recent news example was in Lewisboro, New York's local paper, Lewisboro Ledger on October 9, 2008 titled "Town employee arrested for theft." The article stated a Lewisboro Town Highway department employee was arrested for identity theft after using other employees' personal information to steal homeowners insurance from High School fuel pumps.

In this time of economic uncertainty, what can companies do to protect themselves from incidence of fraud?

Investing in a comprehensive fleet fuel card is one way business owners can be proactive about theft prevention. Unlike a gas card or a credit card or even cash, fleet cards have the ability to set internal controls, such as how much fuel can be purchased per vehicle, per day or even by mileage. If a user tries to exceed this volume, the card is literally shut off.

Comprehensive fleet cards require users to input a unique pin number in order to access funds. In the unfortunate circumstance of the fleet gas card being stolen by an outsider, without knowing the unique pin number, the card is useless," says Mike Noles President of FleetCards USA fleetcardsusafleetcardsusa a fleet card industry expert that acts as a trusted advisor in matching fleet cards to small and medium sized businesses. "Fleet fuel card programs can also instantly alert management of irregular or suspicious fuelling activity so action can be taken immediately to cancel the card." For more information on the benefits of fleet cards and to learn about the best fleet fuel card option for your company, please visit fleetcardsusafleetcardsusa

Chris M. Jones

Rome: City of Seven Hills

Rome, the capital city of Italy, is historically known as City of Seven Hills. According to Roman mythology, the seven hills of early Rome were the Cermalus, Cispius, Fagutal, Oppius, Palatium, Sucusa and Velia. But now the modern City of Seven Hills includes Myrtle, buy meridia Clock Tower, Jackson, Lumpkin and Old Shorter hills and Mount Aventine.

In the beginning, all the seven hills were occupied by different small hamlet and were not grouped or recognized as a city called Rome. The residents of the seven hills started participating in a series of religious games which started bonding the groups together. The city of Rome thus came into being as these separate settlements acted as a group, draining the marshy valleys between them and turning them into markets. Rome became the most beautiful city in the world that soon started governing the whole world.

Five out of seven hills of current Rome are populated with monuments, buildings and parks. The Capitoline now hosts the Municipality of Rome and the Palatine Hill is an archaeological area. The monuments of Rome still stand as a reminder of Rome as one of the greatest centers of western civilization.

The Eternal City is home to rich heritage and art. There are many lavish ancient palaces and one of them is the Golden House of Nero. Built on about 200 acres of land, the palace has a 150 foot statue of Nero in the nude at the entrance. The only ancient building which remains intact today is The Pantheon whose spatial concept makes it an architectural wonder.

Further, there are many more things such as Pantheon, Roman Forum, Vatican Museums, Piazza Navona and Capitoline Museum that grab attractions of the visitors from all corners of the globe. The charming city has some of the best collection of a1romehotelsinexpensive budget hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and shopping mortgage co that promises to make your journey a pleasant one.

Author is a content developer and a freelance travel writer.