A gasoline particulate filter (GPF) diagnostic technique utilizes an upstream temperature sensor arranged at an upstream point relative to a GPF brick that the GPF is configured to house and configured to measure an upstream temperature of exhaust gas produced by an engine, a downstream temperature sensor arranged at a downstream point relative to the GPF brick and configured to measure a downstream temperature of the exhaust gas produced by the engine, and a controller configured to detect whether the GPF brick is damaged or missing based on a temperature difference between the upstream and downstream exhaust gas temperatures, a set of temperature thresholds, and a current operational mode of the engine.