Gas Station Crackdown

Science Daily released this article on August 14, about a new app that can detect fraudulent machines on gas station pumps.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190814081214.htm

Police in San Marcos show how to distinguish from skimmers at ATMs and gas pumps.
https://smcorridornews.com/how-to-avoid-theft-of-card-information-at-the-atm-gas-pump/

An app has been developed by computer scientists that detects machines that will steal costumer's credit card numbers when pumping gas. These "skimmers" use Bluetooth to acquire and transmit the stolen data.

The app was developed by UC San Diego and University of Illinois using data from the US Secret Service to detect Bluetooth signals that are extracting data from users. The app can detect a skimmer in 3 seconds, while the manual checks take 30 minutes or more. Credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard are requiring pumps to use Bluetana to prevent fraud.

The app is only available to law enforcement and gas pump inspectors.

Now this seems fantastic, cracking down on criminals who take advantage of self pumping and paying gas pumps. Gas stations are constantly checking their pumps for these $20 skimmers that bring in big money for these criminals.

But, as a skeptic of the government knowing too much, can this somehow affect privacy? Can this technology be used to track citizen's card usage? Now, I am aware that I may be reaching, but I am big on the government's knowledge and potential abuse with that knowledge. This app is only available to the government and gas station officials. I'm sure there is a lot of programs and apps that are used that we do not know of, but my concern is always if they know too much. I may just be a pessimist, but I am happy that there is a crackdown on criminals and their skimmers. I just hope that knowledge does not get into the wrong hands of a power hungry official.

Yours Truly,
The Skeptic Maddy

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