Stealing Gasoline Results of the High Price of the Fuel
The high cost of gasoline in Costa Rica is producing a new kind of thief: fill the tank and run off without paying.

According to complaints made by gasoline station owners to police, customers, especially at night, ask for a tank full of gas after which they will either offer a stolen credit card or ask for a litre of oil, and take off without paying while the attendant is distracted with either completing the credit card transaction or reaching for the oil to fill the customer's request.

The Organismo de Investigacion Judicial (OIJ) has received various complaints in the past weeks. Berny Ramírez, president of the Asociación de Expendedores de Combustible (gasoline station owners) knows what his membership is going through as his own gasoline station in Pavas has been hit with a similar practice already a couple of times.

The station owners blame the high cost of gasoline as the motive for these types of attacks, as a full tank of regular gasoline in an SUV can run as much as us$45-55.

In Costa Rica, there are no self serve gasoline stations. An attendant will gladly fill your tank while one sits comfortably in the comfort of one's vehicle, and then take your payment. At some gasoline stations attendants will close an eye when a customer fills his own tank while at others get pretty upset at the customer filling his or her own tank.

Due to the seriousness of this type of crime, gasoline station owners are adopting some security measures though they are reluctant to discuss them, other than to say that when they spot a suspicious customer, they will make sure that two attendants are on hand to serve the customer.