Six Arrested After Manipulating Gas Station Pumps To Steal 30,000 Gallons of Gas

A Valero gas station sells approximately 5,000 gallons of gas a day, one employee estimates.

But local police arrested six men who, in a series of robberies, tricked the pumps out of 30,000 gallons of gasoline, reports the Mercury News, "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...."

In a Facebook post, authorities said the three suspects had been "conspiring together in a sophisticated operation to thwart security devices and pump electronics to steal large amounts of gasoline from the business...."
Authorities say $20,000 of damage was done to gas pumps.
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