Theft and a missing fuel card often share a week

A theft mention in a previous carrier’s write-up is usually an employment mess, not a police file you already purchased. When equipment or a fuel card never returned sits in the same history, you are looking at one week: a card issued, a tablet handed over, then inventory that does not close. Treat that pairing as a stop before you issue either.

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 8.8% mention theft or money games. That figure describes those reviews, not drivers in general: carriers write after a bad run, so the share tells you what shows up once someone bothers to report it.

Inside that slice, 8.7% also mention equipment or a fuel card never returned. Read the denominator before you use the number. It is 8.7% of theft reviews, not 8.7% of all reviews, and not 8.7% of equipment-return reviews. Flip the pair and the share changes: 20.6% of equipment-return reviews also mention theft or money games. Same overlap, two bases.

That pairing is not random. Equipment or a fuel card never returned is 3.7% of all reviews. If theft and a missing card showed up together only by chance, you would expect about 3.7% of theft reviews to also mention equipment or a fuel card never returned. The observed share is 8.7% — about 2.3 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier. It is not a probability that the next person you issue a card to will keep it.

Inventory, not a mugshot

The write-ups talk about a stole truck, stole fuel, a fuel card, a stole tablet, stole equipment, a cash advance next to a missing unit, left equipment, didn’t return, return truck. That is the incident register.

Stay away and waste your time are a different register. Those are the author’s recommendation to the next recruiter, not a description of what the driver did. In 37.4% of theft reviews the carrier also writes a verdict. That is a fact about how these reviews end, not a fact about the driver. Read the scene. Do not hire off the temperature of the last sentence.

The companion that dwarfs this pair is abandonment. In 35.5% of theft reviews the carrier also mentions an abandoned truck. A crash or damage sits in 13.7%. Aggression or threats sit in 10.8%. Drugs or alcohol sit in 9.2%. Logbook and hours problems sit in 7.9%. Paid travel with no arrival sits in 7.2%.

I keep the missing card next to theft because it is the part of the week you still control. You decide when the fuel card is issued. You decide when the tablet leaves the office. A walk-off is the ending. The card is the door. The theft trend itself is in theft mentions that never become a filing. A cash advance in the same history is a shrinking signal; that fall is in the cash-advance request in reviews.

The share of reviews mentioning theft or money games ran 6.6% in 2018, 9.0% in 2019, 10.5% in 2020, 7.8% in 2021, 9.1% in 2022, 9.4% in 2023, 9.5% in 2024, and 9.0% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. 2026 is still open. 2020 is the high you should not smooth over, 10.5%. 2021 dipped to 7.8%, then the share settled around 9% and stayed there. Equipment-return mentions moved from 2.3% in 2018 to 3.8% in 2025, with a 2019 trough at 1.6% and a higher floor after that. How these shares are counted is on the methodology page. Compare percentages inside each year, not year totals.

From the other side of the pair, 20.6% of equipment-return reviews also mention theft. That is the heavier read if you already have a missing card in the file. Always name which base you are standing on.

What the pairing is not

It is not proof that every theft review is a missing fuel card. Most theft reviews do not also mention equipment or a fuel card never returned. 8.7% is a heavy overlap relative to chance, not a majority.

It is also not a police blotter. Carriers write about fuel, a fuel card, a tablet, equipment that never came back, and money games next to a walk-off. A tractor taken home and stripped might become a police report. Many of these write-ups never do.

A crash in the same review is the exception that can leak into a filing. 13.7% of theft reviews also mention accident or damage. That part can show up if it was recorded. The missing card that came with it usually cannot.

Why the packet you already buy stays quiet

PSP, an MVR, and the Clearinghouse hold what someone filed: a roadside inspection, a recorded crash, a failed test, a license action. A fuel card run up and a tablet that never came back are usually not filings. A clean PSP is doing its job when it is silent on an employment theft nobody reported to FMCSA.

Previous-employer forms are not much better. Eligible for rehire can come back blank while the same desk will later write that the driver stole fuel or left with equipment. The behavior lives in carrier-to-carrier memory. Most of that memory never becomes a query result. The same gap, on a different incident, is why official reports miss an abandoned truck.

I am not going to pretend this is an independent study. CDLScan is the source, and I write from the data they share. Theft or money games are common enough in what carriers bother to write down, a missing card rides along far above chance, and the packet you already run is not designed to hold most of it.

What was visible before you handed over a card

The pattern I’d watch for is the order of asks and a previous carrier who already used stole fuel, fuel card, stole tablet, left equipment, or didn’t return. Those words are not a violation code. They are a reason to look the name up before you issue equipment.

Typical sequence, built from how these reviews cluster, not from one person’s file: two carriers in a year and a hole between them. Slow references. They start. A cash advance or a fuel card comes early. The first load is messy. Then the equipment is gone, or the card is spent, or the truck is not where dispatch left it. People who left cleanly can usually tell you where the unit was parked and who took the card back. People who walked often skip the inventory and jump to home time.

A cash advance in the same history is a signal, not the whole screen. Mentions of a cash advance have been falling while theft mentions have not. If your only stop is whether they asked for money on day one, you are watching a shrinking slice of a problem that found other doors.

None of that is a reason to stop issuing cards. It is a reason to run the name before the card is charged.

What to do before you spend

Run the name before you issue a fuel card or a tablet. Search what previous carriers wrote, not only what the state and FMCSA stored. If you see stole fuel, fuel card, stole tablet, stole equipment, didn’t return, or a truck that did not come back, treat that as a stop even when the MVR is dull.

Ask the candidate to walk the last inventory. Where was the truck parked. Who took the card back. What will the previous carrier say. Then make the call.

If you already assigned a unit, freeze the next piece of equipment until someone has looked. A clean packet on Monday morning does not tell you whether the tablet comes back on Friday. Those are different claims.

The 8.8% share is not a reason to treat every applicant as a theft risk. It is a reason to stop reading a clean packet as “this person returns the card.” Check the name on CDLScan before the spend. It takes less than a minute.

Frequently asked questions

Does 8.7% mean a theft mention usually includes a missing card?

No. 8.7% is the share of theft reviews that also mention equipment or a fuel card never returned, among reviews carriers left on CDLScan. Most theft write-ups do not include that companion. The pairing is far above chance. It is not a majority.

Why is the other share 20.6%?

Because the base changed. 20.6% of equipment-return reviews also mention theft or money games. Same overlap, counted from the other side. Always name the denominator.

What does lift 2.3 mean here?

Equipment or a fuel card never returned is 3.7% of all reviews. Seeing it in 8.7% of theft reviews is about 2.3 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier, not the odds on your next hire.

Will PSP or an MVR warn me?

Not about the card and the tablet. Those reports hold filed crashes, inspections, and license events. A fuel card that never came back is usually not filed there.

Is every theft review a stolen truck?

No. Carriers also write about fuel, a fuel card, a tablet, equipment that never came back, and money games next to a walk-off. A police file is the exception, not the template.

What should I ask before I issue a fuel card?

Ask where the last truck was parked, who collected the card, and what the previous carrier will say if you call. Then go read what previous carriers already wrote.

Where do I check the name?

On CDLScan, before the card is charged. Previous carriers already wrote this pairing down. You should read it while the money is still yours.