Herein, a simplistic quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) approach for discrimination of petroleum based fuels is presented. In this regard, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) virtual multisensor array (VMSA) was employed to discriminate between different petroleum based fuels and to detect gasoline adulteration with high accuracy. First, an ionic liquid based V-MSA was used to discriminate between four fuel types (petroleum ether, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel). Subsequently, the system was used to successfully discriminate between three gasoline grades as a precursor for studies of gasoline adulteration. Finally, the system was used to detect and determine the nature of several gasoline adulterants at different v/v ratios (1%, 10%, 20% and 40%). Excellent accuracy (100%) was achieved for each study extolling the potential of this approach. This report represents the first example of a QCM sensor array utilized for detection of gasoline adulteration. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.