It is absolutely wrong to believe that there is complete chaos going on at gas stations in Mexico; customers are often cheated and deceived. But there are some cases of fraud at gas stations, and if you are a foreigner, the risk of being deceived increases. We will describe the main schemes of such fraud below. There are not many of them, therefore, by observing certain principles of behavior and payments for gasoline, you have the opportunity to avoid the risk of being deceived.
Cash payment
Almost always at Mexican gas stations there are workers who will not only refuel your car themselves, but will even wash the windows or pump up the tires — free of charge, in other words, in the hope of a tip. There may be one or two of them. It would even be strange if you started refueling your car yourself. You have the right not to leave the car at all — they will do everything themselves.
At the moment of payment, most often through the car window, the gas station attendant has the opportunity to begin to distract your attention by asking different questions. Mexicans are generally very sociable, and you don't have any suspicions. Without even looking, you hand over an old-style 500-peso bill. The gas station attendant leaves supposedly to get some change, then returns and says that you didn’t give enough, only 50 pesos. 500 and 50 pesos are very similar in color. «Not enough» It can happen with any set of banknotes. The purpose of his previous communication with you — distract your attention and raise doubts about whether you yourself really made a mistake in your calculations.
For this reason, at the time of calculation:
- don't get distracted by talking
- count the bills for yourself
- defiantly count the bills in front of the gas station attendant's eyes
If you are sure that you are being deceived, confidently state this, threaten to call the police now. You can even take out your phone and pretend to be making a call or filming it. The gas station attendant also has the opportunity to pretend that he does not understand you, but usually after the threat of publicity, a correct recalculation occurs and you receive your change.
Gas station meter readings
Failure to reset the gas station meter after the previous customer — Another common type of fraud. Especially if you do not indicate the exact required volume or amount. Hence:
- Before the gas station attendant starts refueling you, make sure the meter is reset to zero
You may even have to get out of the car to do this.
A much more «severe», but also rare case— The gas station software is initially «twisted» for incorrect readings, in other words, the meter readings are falsified. You probably won’t even be able to determine that you haven’t had enough gas unless you fill up the tank full and know what your dashboard should show in this case. But usually such violations do not happen at large network gas stations.
One way or another, we strongly advise you to independently calculate the amount you must pay for the ordered volume of gasoline.
Fraud with bank cards
If you pay for gas with a bank card, don't lose sight of it! This applies not only to payments at gas stations; this is universal advice. The gas station attendant takes your card and brings it to the operator at the window, where they can clone it or simply copy the data from it. This fraud scheme is widespread not only in Mexico, but this does not change the essence.
If the gas station attendant takes your card, stop him, ask him to bring the payment terminal to the car and only then give him the card. Or take the card to the operator yourself and make sure that the reading occurs before your eyes. Sometimes illegal data swiping occurs with an additional device, and you will be able to notice this if the payment process is different from how you usually pay with a card in a store.
It is, of course, possible to advise paying in cash at gas stations, but this is already an extreme.
Be attentive and confident — This alone will dramatically reduce the risk of being deceived!