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Soaring fuel prices incentivize hackers to rig fuel pumps, showing just how vulnerable the whole system is. According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, four people were caught installing sophisticated devices inside pumps to manipulate the "pulsers" that regulate price and fuel flow.
We’re living hard times, with prices for all the basic stuff going to an all-time high. This is caused by multiple factors, starting with the international health crisis, inflation, and ending with the war in Ukraine. Whatever the cause is, it means pain for the most, who will see their savings shaved and the price of living going crazy. This is very well reflected in the gas price, which in some parts of the country surpassed $5 per gallon.
With such high prices, some people started to open their minds to all sorts of creative methods to lower the cost of living. While stealing is bad, cheating is sometimes considered acceptable. So now we have hackers rigging fuel pumps at gas stations to make them dispense the precious fluid for less money or even free of charge. To be sure, this is still theft, no matter how you spin it.
The hackers’ methods have improved rapidly and now they can do all sorts of crazy things with the gas pumps. In an earlier incident caught on camera, one individual pointed a device toward the gas pump to make it dispense free fuel. He and others managed to steal around 400 gallons of fuel from a gas station that was closed for the night at the time.
Now, a similar incident happened in Florida, where four men installed sophisticated devices to manipulate the “pulsators” inside the pumps, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture. The device altered the price of fuel at the pump to pennies on the gallon, allowing the thieves to fill up almost for free. All they had to do was use a remote device while near a compromised pump. It happened at two Circle K stations in Lakeland and Lutz before they were busted while topping up oversized gas tanks.
With increasing gas prices these kinds of criminal activities are sure to expand, warn the authorities. They caution gas station owners to look out for trucks stopped at pumps for unusually long periods. What’s worse is that gas thieves drive up the costs for all consumers.
With such high prices, some people started to open their minds to all sorts of creative methods to lower the cost of living. While stealing is bad, cheating is sometimes considered acceptable. So now we have hackers rigging fuel pumps at gas stations to make them dispense the precious fluid for less money or even free of charge. To be sure, this is still theft, no matter how you spin it.
The hackers’ methods have improved rapidly and now they can do all sorts of crazy things with the gas pumps. In an earlier incident caught on camera, one individual pointed a device toward the gas pump to make it dispense free fuel. He and others managed to steal around 400 gallons of fuel from a gas station that was closed for the night at the time.
Now, a similar incident happened in Florida, where four men installed sophisticated devices to manipulate the “pulsators” inside the pumps, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture. The device altered the price of fuel at the pump to pennies on the gallon, allowing the thieves to fill up almost for free. All they had to do was use a remote device while near a compromised pump. It happened at two Circle K stations in Lakeland and Lutz before they were busted while topping up oversized gas tanks.
With increasing gas prices these kinds of criminal activities are sure to expand, warn the authorities. They caution gas station owners to look out for trucks stopped at pumps for unusually long periods. What’s worse is that gas thieves drive up the costs for all consumers.
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