Gas Station Pump Hackers

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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At 1:00 p.m. on June 23, 2018, a Marathon gas station in Detroit was the scene of a daring remote hack by a team of gas thieves. The petrol bandits managed to pilfer 600 gallons of gasoline over the course of 90 minutes before the gas attendant was able to realize what was going on, shut the pump down and notify the police. The employee working that shift said that the screen that he uses to control the pump was rendered inoperable by high tech gas bandits during the event. He didn't call the police until he was able to find the emergency kit to override the gas pump.

Over the course of 90 minutes the brazen criminals were able to transport fuel via ten to twenty different vehicles using the single pump. There is an indoor video from the event that clearly shows the faces of the robbers, but it is being withheld from the public at this time. The outdoor cameras at the station were not in working order which probably encouraged the criminals to target the station in broad daylight.

TV News coverage.

Police say the massive gas guzzle took over an hour and a half. Add that to the fact that they say 10 vehicles were involved. The damage comes to about $1,800 worth of gas. "I can't even imagine how they could pull that off without the gas people inside knowing," gas customer Ida Lewis wondered. "Couldn't they shut the pumps off?"
 
Wait you mean transferring and communicating authorization to pump gas to a remote device over wireless transmission is not impregnible and someone could act as a man in the middle hijacking your gas pumps to allow free gas to flow?

This is my complete and utter lack of surprise.

You don't want shit like this happening? HARD WIRE YOUR PUMPS DIPSHITS.
 
I give it 6 months to a year before this becomes more common.

Just wait.. go online, buy a wifi/3g/2.4ghz jammer. walk up to pump and turn it on. If you can't get gas... you probably don't WANT to get gas from them.
 
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news...detroit-gas-station-steal-600-gallons-of-gas_

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ZeqOBpf6 said:
Seems like a lot of work and jail time for $2k split ten ways
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I doubt they will catch them, the only evidence they have is that at some point during the 90 minutes 2 black guys drove up and used that pump and came into the store, that is circumstantial at best as a lot of people probably used that pump during that time. They had shit security and they got punished for it, in BC this happened a few times then a gas station attendant was killed trying to stop the thieves because their boss said they would start taking the losses out of employee pay. As a result of that death they required all gas stations across the Provence to install new pumps that are not only hard wired but also pre-authorise and pay for the gas before they even start pumping so the pump itself starts and ends the transaction and only reports back how much gas was pumped. Since that they did that gas thefts have decreased substantially and now thieves resort to just drilling into peoples gas tanks and siphoning it that way and we are probably closer to $5 a gallon here.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
Seems like a lot of work and jail time for $2k split ten ways
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Seriously, $2k worth of gas isn't worth the man power to catch the thieves. The attendant didn't notice that two guys were taking 600 gallons of gas for 90 minutes. The cameras to catch the thieves were broken, so we don't even know how they did it. That gas station has a lot more problems than two thieves getting free gas.

Also, the real crime here is that gas is $3 per gallon.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Watch it was an inside job, sure they may have "hacked" the pumps but the attendant just let them do it.

I'm guessing that they had cans to fill up though? Because 600 gallons divided between 10 vehicles doesn't add up.
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They have no outside cameras so they can’t say for certain it was 10 vehicles, it could have been 1 with an external tank.

Depending on how old their pumps are and how they were setup their signals can be easily intercepted and manipulated. In places where fuel is more expensive Europe especially, a lot of work has gone into how to hack those pumps, you can buy the tech to do it on EBay.
 
So a while back, I filled up my car at a MAPCO. After I was done, the pump came up and said that the pump was prepaid for $100.

I had to go inside and talk to the manager in order to get them to fix it.

I could have called friends/family to come use the "free" $100 worth of gas.

Their whole system was screwed up that day.
 
DukenukemX said:
Seriously, $2k worth of gas isn't worth the man power to catch the thieves. The attendant didn't notice that two guys were taking 600 gallons of gas for 90 minutes. The cameras to catch the thieves were broken, so we don't even know how they did it. That gas station has a lot more problems than two thieves getting free gas.

Also, the real crime here is that gas is $3 per gallon.
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Why is that a crime? Have you seen the breakdown of fuel costs per gallon? The margin is not that high. About 51% of the cost of gas is crude oil cost. 25% of the cost to refine it. Thats 76% right there...then you have to tack on distribution and taxes. Remind me how they are raping everyone again? Per gallon they dont make much but they do make a lot BY VOLUME. That however is no excuse to say they are thieves for selling A LOT of their product at pretty darn near what it costs them.

cyclone3d said:
Taxed properly????

Ummmm, the amount of tax that is already paid per gallon of fuel is already waaaaayyyyy too much.
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What? Do you even know how much it is? The federal gas tax is 18.4 CENTS per gallon. At $3/gallon that equates to about 6%. The highest state tax that I am aware of is 10 cents. So 28.4 cents/gallon which equates to 9% tax in the highest taxed state. How is that too much? Thats less than the tax to eat out in DC (10%). Seems pretty much in line with most other sales taxes...

Caveat: I dont know all state taxes so there might be higher...but still that doesnt seem out of line.
 
TrevorR said:
Not really, I lived in Europe for 2 years. We Americans think our gas prices are too high but to the rest of the world (Besides the Middle East), gas prices are ridiculously low here.
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Yep. Their "Awesome" free health care has to come from somewhere. It is why mass transit is important in those countries. Familes are lucky to have one car. It is just to damn expansive to have your own car in the EU. It is popular in some of the EU countries to modify Yugo type cars to run on propane since it is a hell of a lot cheaper. In the US everyone has a car. Hell I had a car before I could even legally drive. I am thankful for how cheap it is here. Even when it reached over $4 years ago.
 
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Petrol?!

Go back to the Commonwealth, you can't English right.
 
vegeta535 said:
Yep. Their "Awesome" free health care has to come from somewhere. It is why mass transit is important in those countries. Familes are lucky to have one car. It is just to damn expansive to have your own car in the EU. It is popular in some of the EU countries to modify Yugo type cars to run on propane since it is a hell of a lot cheaper. In the US everyone has a car. Hell I had a car before I could even legally drive. I am thankful for how cheap it is here. Even when it reached over $4 years ago.
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America also spreads shit over too far of space. We don't condense properly and that creates problems like requiring cars. Anyone who says "driving is a privilege and isn't a right" has never lived without a car before. I have. it SUCKS.
 
viscountalpha said:
America also spreads shit over too far of space. We don't condense properly and that creates problems like requiring cars. Anyone who says "driving is a privilege and isn't a right" has never lived without a car before. I have. it SUCKS.
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I am sorry that I dont want to live in a 9x5 room with eight other people ;). Space is one thing we have plenty of...there is no reason to force everyone to live in a confined space. Those that do want to live like that can in big cities. Those that dont...dont have to!
 
Lakados said:
Since that they did that gas thefts have decreased substantially and now thieves resort to just drilling into peoples gas tanks and siphoning it that way and we are probably closer to $5 a gallon here.
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This happened here in California the last time gas prices peaked. Crooks get $50 in gas, and the owner gets a $500 repair bill.

That's one of the reasons I cleared out my garage so we could park both cars inside.
 
kju1 said:
I am sorry that I dont want to live in a 9x5 room with eight other people ;). Space is one thing we have plenty of...there is no reason to force everyone to live in a confined space. Those that do want to live like that can in big cities. Those that dont...dont have to!
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Yep. It is common for kids to live with their parents til their 30s cause even with a decent job it is expansive to live on your own. It is that or move into a small studio apartment with 5 other people.
 
PaulP said:
$3 per gallon is the equivalent of $0.50 per gallon in 1970 after adjusting for inflation, so that's not really a bad price at all.
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It is when you realize the average cost of fuel in 1970 was .36 per gallon, which would only be $2.16 per gallon today

That said, I would welcome $3 gas here, however we all fall victim to the "because we can afford it" mentality of gas companies. There's a refinery not but 25 miles away, yet in the middle of fuckall America where there might not be a refinery for hundreds of miles gas is super cheap relative to us, and yeah while some of that can be explained by taxes, it's not all explained away by taxes it literally is because we have the means to pay more, they charge more.
 
kju1 said:
I am sorry that I dont want to live in a 9x5 room with eight other people ;). Space is one thing we have plenty of...there is no reason to force everyone to live in a confined space. Those that do want to live like that can in big cities. Those that dont...dont have to!
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This.

I don't want to live in some expensive crowded multistory condo or apartment.
It's much nicer (and quieter) living in a single family home at the end of a single loaded cul-de-sac (nohomes across the street or behind my house).
Even better, due to the curve of the street, I don't even see my neighbors houses when I look out the back windows (I'm on a hill with a good view).
 
yea, a few months ago they hit Albuquerque hard. They used a circuit board thingy they somehow slid into the card reader. Police got it fixed though

PaulP said:
$3 per gallon is the equivalent of $0.50 per gallon in 1970 after adjusting for inflation, so that's not really a bad price at all.
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I remember back in the 70's I was paying $.75 for a pack of Marlboro cigs (what an irony that the Marlboro smoking cowboy who did their commercials died of, you guessed it, lung cancer


Lakados said:
Its easy because they are minimum wage, have other shit to do, and just don't care.
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ya get what ya pay for. Min wage is not a living wage yet employers whine how their min wage workers don't care, are lazy, etc. Maybe pay a living wage and get a good worker ... Duh
 
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TrevorR said:
Not really, I lived in Europe for 2 years. We Americans think our gas prices are too high but to the rest of the world (Besides the Middle East), gas prices are ridiculously low here.
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I'm curious how many billions each year do European nations spend to secure oil at various places around the world? This really is a "hidden" cost of gas that we don't see at the pumps.
 
vegeta535 said:
Yep. It is common for kids to live with their parents til their 30s cause even with a decent job it is expansive to live on your own. It is that or move into a small studio apartment with 5 other people.
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This is the biggest load of whining horsesh1t I have read on here in a while. They live with their parents one, because the generation of helicopter parents are a joke, two you can't live on your own because you expect to eat 80% of meals out because none of you kids have been taught that it is ok to cook at home without it being a meal showcased on the Travel Channel. You will come back with some "study" that attempt to provide an adult sounding excuse for why I am incorrect, but nothing has changed. Prices of food have increased, but so have expectations. Your 24/7 internet is not a right...it is a luxury. Your $800 smartphone is not a right...it is a luxury. This computer you are typing on right now is not a right...it is a luxury, and before you say you can't function in today's society without one...bullsh1t. There are tons of trade skills that actually require REAL skill outside of pivot sheets that require none of those. But keep wallowing in your despair and blame others, every generation has those types of people.
 
_l_ said:
ya get what ya pay for. Min wage is not a living wage yet employers whine how their min wage workers don't care, are lazy, etc. Maybe pay a living wage and get a good worker ... Duh
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Doubtful, then they will just complain how they cant afford X or Y. Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
 
sfsuphysics said:
It is when you realize the average cost of fuel in 1970 was .36 per gallon, which would only be $2.16 per gallon today

That said, I would welcome $3 gas here, however we all fall victim to the "because we can afford it" mentality of gas companies. There's a refinery not but 25 miles away, yet in the middle of fuckall America where there might not be a refinery for hundreds of miles gas is super cheap relative to us, and yeah while some of that can be explained by taxes, it's not all explained away by taxes it literally is because we have the means to pay more, they charge more.
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I randomly picked 1970, but if I had picked 1976 it would be close to the same. Or if I had really wanted to goose the numbers in my favor I could have picked 1980 when it was a lot more expensive. On average though, $3 a gallon in today's dollars is a pretty good value.
 
kju1 said:
Why is that a crime? Have you seen the breakdown of fuel costs per gallon? The margin is not that high. About 51% of the cost of gas is crude oil cost. 25% of the cost to refine it. Thats 76% right there...then you have to tack on distribution and taxes. Remind me how they are raping everyone again? Per gallon they dont make much but they do make a lot BY VOLUME. That however is no excuse to say they are thieves for selling A LOT of their product at pretty darn near what it costs them.



What? Do you even know how much it is? The federal gas tax is 18.4 CENTS per gallon. At $3/gallon that equates to about 6%. The highest state tax that I am aware of is 10 cents. So 28.4 cents/gallon which equates to 9% tax in the highest taxed state. How is that too much? Thats less than the tax to eat out in DC (10%). Seems pretty much in line with most other sales taxes...

Caveat: I dont know all state taxes so there might be higher...but still that doesnt seem out of line.
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According to the DOE, on average taxes make up 16% of the cost of a gallon of gas.
 
kju1 said:
What? Do you even know how much it is? The federal gas tax is 18.4 CENTS per gallon. At $3/gallon that equates to about 6%. The highest state tax that I am aware of is 10 cents. So 28.4 cents/gallon which equates to 9% tax in the highest taxed state. How is that too much? Thats less than the tax to eat out in DC (10%). Seems pretty much in line with most other sales taxes...

Caveat: I dont know all state taxes so there might be higher...but still that doesnt seem out of line.
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Doesn't seem so bad compared to California (from the LA Times Oct 2017):

"The bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown will raise the state excise tax on gasoline by 12 cents, from 29.7 cents per gallon to 41.7 cents per gallon. The excise tax on diesel fuel will increase by 20 cents, from 16 cents per gallon to 36 cents per gallon, and the sales tax rate on diesel will increase from 9% to 13%."
 
viscountalpha said:
America also spreads shit over too far of space. We don't condense properly and that creates problems like requiring cars. Anyone who says "driving is a privilege and isn't a right" has never lived without a car before. I have. it SUCKS.
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Condense properly? You mean like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, etc with mass transit systems yet the cost of living is beyond the reach of the common person? Plus between the City and HOA, your ability to use your own place is often limited by a plethora of rules that either mention safety or property values as the reason.

I wonder about the clerk's reason for the delay in calling police. Most reasonably modern gas stations have some kind of emergency kill big red button.

I do remember filling my motorcycle up for between 25 and 35 cents in the early pre embargo 70's. Used it throwing papers to earn some spending money. Too young for a license but was never stopped.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
Seems like a lot of work and jail time for $2k split ten ways
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My exact thoughts. What morons for so little money. It's like trying to do a bank robbery over the course of 90 minutes for only $2k. That is INCREDIBLY stupid.

Like...even if you had a gas transprotation truck - typically holds ~8,000 gallons if I recall, it would still take forever to fill up because the nozzles will only go so fast.

This is hands down the dumbest crime I've ever heard of.
 
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