Thief Hacks Gas Pump via Bluetooth, Gas Station Loses 800 Gallons

A thief pulled into a gas station in Detroit, Michigan, and hacked the pump using an unknown device that allowed him to connect to the device remotely. He and other patrons ran away with almost 800 gallons of gas.

Gas pumps are a well-documented and well-known target for skimmers, attackers who try to steal credit card data by attaching cloning devices over the automated POS. But it turns out that other attacks are happening at gas stations that are targeting the pump operators and not the people filling up.

According to a FOX 2 report, someone pulled into a gas station in Detroit, spent some time near the pump, and eventually compromised the device, allowing him to drive away with 800 gallons of fuel without paying.

From what the gas station owner managed to ascertain, the thief used a Bluetooth device to control the pump. Moreover, he left the pump open, and other people came and filled their cars. Before the owner figured out what was happening, he lost almost 800 gallons of gas.

In fact, the owner tried to shut down the pump from the software, only to discover that he couldn’t actually do it. He had to use the emergency stop that turned off all the pumps.

It’s unclear what kind of device the attacker used when he hacked the pump, but just last year, portable multitool devices were used to change the gas price in real-time.

Reports say that whatever method the hacker used in this latest incident is not new. It’s not only the time when gas station owners reported pump hacks. If that’s any indication, these incidents will continue to occur until companies figure out what’s happening and deploy a fix.