Submission + - Six arrested after manipulating gas station pumps to steal 30,000 gallons of gas (mercurynews.com)
k6mfw writes: [Note: Legal definition this not a robbery but theft. Robbery is theft using means of force or fear. But "we wuz robbed" is good click-bait title.]
From the SJ Mercury News article:
Police in Sunnyvale said they had arrested six men in a series of robberies of a gas station that netted some 30,000 gallons of gasoline — a haul authorities estimated was worth at least $180,000.
Upon further inspection of surveillance video, authorities said, police saw one of the suspects activate a gas-pump computer, allowing another suspect to pump fuel into his vehicle.
An employee from the Valero station, who declined to give their name, called the process the gas thieves used “nearly untraceable.”
“You must have a deep understanding of how the pump system works,” the person said. “There is a time frame anywhere from 75 seconds to two minutes for the authorization to go through the network [after sliding a credit card into a gas pump]. In this (time period), there’s an opportunity to manipulate the pump You’re able to manipulate the pump and confuse the programming to an extent that the pump starts dispensing gas.”
From the SJ Mercury News article:
Police in Sunnyvale said they had arrested six men in a series of robberies of a gas station that netted some 30,000 gallons of gasoline — a haul authorities estimated was worth at least $180,000.
Upon further inspection of surveillance video, authorities said, police saw one of the suspects activate a gas-pump computer, allowing another suspect to pump fuel into his vehicle.
An employee from the Valero station, who declined to give their name, called the process the gas thieves used “nearly untraceable.”
“You must have a deep understanding of how the pump system works,” the person said. “There is a time frame anywhere from 75 seconds to two minutes for the authorization to go through the network [after sliding a credit card into a gas pump]. In this (time period), there’s an opportunity to manipulate the pump You’re able to manipulate the pump and confuse the programming to an extent that the pump starts dispensing gas.”
