Contractor Fuel Fraud: How 40-Metre GPS Saves R14,400/Year

By Renier Smith, Founder of Plan My Crew · March 2026 · 8 min read

The 3 Fuel Fraud Schemes SA Contractors Face

1. The Office Origin Lie (Most Common)

How it works: Your technician lives 15km from the job site. The office is 50km from the job site. He claims he drove from the office (50km) instead of from home (15km).

On 10 teams doing 2 jobs per day, even if only 3 technicians do this once a week: 3 × R122.50 × 4 weeks = R1,470/month.

2. Scenic Route Inflation

How it works: Google Maps says 42km. The technician drives 65km and claims the longer route. At R3.50/km, that's R80.50 fraud per trip.

Harder to catch without GPS route comparison. Common with technicians who know you're not tracking routes carefully.

3. Personal Errands on Company Fuel

School run before first job. Gym stop. Lunch detour that adds 20km. Each instance: R40–70 in fuel. Not individually alarming — together, across a team, it adds up to hundreds per month.

Why Basic GPS Tracking Doesn't Stop Fuel Fraud

ServCraft, Tradify, and Eworks Manager all have GPS tracking. They show you where your teams went on a map. But they allow clock-in from anywhere — the technician can start his timesheet from home, drive to the job, and the system records both the home start and the job arrival without flagging anything.

The fraud happens at the start of the day — when the technician records where he claimed to start from. GPS tracking shows the actual route, but it can't automatically compare that against the claimed start point and calculate the fraudulent difference.

The 40-Metre GPS Attendance Lock

PMC's approach is different: the technician cannot clock in to any job until his phone GPS confirms he is within 40 metres of the job site address. At 41 metres: the clock-in button is disabled and a manager alert is sent. At 40 metres or closer: clock-in is allowed and the timestamp is recorded as verified GPS proof of attendance.

This eliminates the office origin lie entirely: you can't claim you drove from the office if you can only clock in once you're standing at the job site. The system doesn't care where you drove from — it only cares that you arrived.

Why 40 Metres Specifically?

The Double Benefit for Insurance Panel Contractors

The 40-metre GPS lock doesn't just stop fuel fraud — it also provides the GPS proof of attendance that insurance panels require for every claim.

When a customer disputes that your technician arrived, or when an insurer requires GPS verification for a claim: PMC shows the exact timestamp and coordinates of the check-in, confirmed to within 40 metres of the insured property address. That's undeniable evidence — far stronger than a phone call log or a WhatsApp message saying "I'm there."

The same feature that saves you R14,400/year in fraud also protects your SLA compliance record and insurance panel status. It's arguably the highest-ROI feature in the system.

Real Savings: My 10-Team Operation

Implementation: What Changes for Your Team

The practical change is straightforward: technicians open the PMC app when they arrive at a job site. The GPS check-in button is active when they're within 40 metres. They tap to check in — this starts their job timer and records the insurance-compliant GPS timestamp.

Most teams adapt within a week. The common reaction in the first few days is testing — some technicians try to check in from the street or the driveway. The system rejects it and sends the manager an alert. After one or two rejections, the behaviour stops.

Manager alerts are important: you don't need to monitor this actively. If a technician can't check in because they're in the wrong location, you get an instant notification. You call, they explain — usually a wrong address, sometimes GPS signal issues in a basement flat, occasionally an attempt to fraudulently check in from nearby.

Read next: Insurance panel requirements for SA contractors → | Full software comparison →