In this article, we study under what circumstances a gas station is more likely to commit fuel fraud. Using a new and hitherto unexploited list of fuel fraud detections, we find evidence that stations under less favorable economic conditions – higher operating costs and possibly more competitors – engage in fraudulent activity more often. Chain-affiliated stations commit fraud less often, suggesting an effectiveness in harnessing reputational incentives. Also, fuel fraud tends to cluster among nearby stations, consistent with propagation of illicit activity from one station to others nearby. As for pricing behavior, in general gas stations appear to keep price constant and take higher price-cost margins when selling adulterated fuel, suggesting that consumers are harmed by this kind of fraud.

在本文中，我们研究在什么情况下加油站更有可能实施燃油欺诈。使用迄今尚未开发的新的燃油欺诈检测清单，我们发现证据表明，在经济条件欠佳（运营成本较高，可能还有更多竞争对手）的情况下，加油站更经常地从事欺诈活动。连锁店的欺诈行为发生的频率更低，这表明在利用声誉奖励方面的有效性。另外，与不法活动从一个站点到附近其他站点的传播相一致，燃料欺诈也倾向于聚集在附近的站点之间。至于定价行为，一般而言，加油站在销售掺假燃料时似乎保持价格不变，并获得较高的价格成本利润，这表明消费者受到这种欺诈行为的伤害。