"It's certainly elevated compared to last year," Lanard said. "Anytime there's elevated prices, there's always more interest from criminals in exploiting a way to find a way to make money."
Lanard said this information about elevated theft of gasoline is based on a survey among NACS members.
The NACS spokesperson pointed out that the number of gasoline thefts so far this year are not a record high but is definitely a problem that is punishing the person least responsible for high gas prices: the retailer.
Lenard noted that gas thefts in the United States have most commonly been done using an electronic device attached to a gas pump or retrofitting a truck to siphon gas from a store's fuel storage tank.
A gallon of regular gasoline in the United States costs an average of $4.88 as of Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association.