Several ways to disarm a satellite-based vehicle monitoring system and drain fuel if GLONASS is installed
Driver to boss: “I know 8 proven ways to cheat the GLONASS system and how to drain fuel” Boss to driver: “And I know 18 ways to lower your salary.”
In 2023, satellite-based transportation monitoring systems are virtually impossible to fool. The fact is that the signal is transmitted online 24/7. However, as we know, Russian people do not believe their eyes, but will check. Savvy drivers can't resist everything, and MONTRANS has already accumulated a whole collection of the most ridiculous “deceptions” of tracking systems. There is a saying - forewarned is forearmed. Our analysts anticipate ALL possible (even the most surreal) situations of deception and exclude them in advance.
You can find a huge amount of “step-by-step instructions” YouTube videos and other “educational” information on the Internet under the queries “How to cheat GLONASS”, “Cheat GPS”, “Disable GLONASS”, “How to bypass a fuel control sensor”, “How to drain fuel if you have GLONASS” and so on. For the most part it looks quite funny, if it were not for two “BUTs”:
All of these methods are long known and easy to “read”. It is impossible to deceive someone who has the information.
The consequences of these actions entail serious financial damage for the manager of the transportation company. It is impossible to deceive the tracking system, but its repair on the fact of various vandal interventions can cost a lot of money.
So, let's make it clear at once that all the proposed methods are not about deception of the transport monitoring system and fuel consumption control. They are about deception of the specialist who analyzes the data received from these systems. When trying to bypass tracking systems, drivers usually have three key goals: - To make their presence invisible while making “left” trips or violating the schedule on a route; - to hide the fact that they have drained fuel from their supervisor; - to present their superiors with a fictitious appearance of work (as an option, clearing snow while standing in one place).
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A joke video about a driver who was draining fuel from a vehicle monitoring system
HARDCORE-vandal ways to cheat GLONASS
Let's start with the most primitive (and, unfortunately, the most common) so-called HARD methods of deception of satellite tracking systems. Physical impact on the antenna (if the devices have it on the outside) and the body of the GLONASS/GPS tracker. Some people roughly tear the antenna out of the device (soulless drivers), others pierce it with a needle (cunning drivers), others, on the contrary, very carefully, lovingly, wrap foil around the whole unit or its parts (caring drivers). Some put a huge iron or magnet on the controller, or even “bathe” the device in acid (maniac drivers). The most erudite and industrious ones mold a box of lead into which they stuff the tracker. All these methods have one goal - to make it impossible to receive a signal from a communication satellite. And! It would have been achieved, if not... MONTRANS equipment installers have long ago learned to protect tracking systems from such acts.
In particular, as mentioned above, to disrupt the work must first open the sealed terminal and manually get to the hidden antenna, which will immediately be noticed. Also, our specialists install systems in places that are difficult for drivers to access, the units themselves are sealed, special stickers are applied, photo reports are sent. ANY physical intervention cannot go unnoticed. Transportation monitoring systems are configured in such a way that if the controller detects a break, damage or malfunction, in most cases it is possible to understand by reports and graphs what happened, which wire fell off and from which sensor the information was lost. Of course, it will not save the GLONASS-tracker 100% from a sledgehammer blow, but it will let you know that “something went wrong” and the transport was lost from the visibility zone not by chance. After that, the system will send a delicate hint of a fine to the driver in the amount of the cost of the damaged equipment.
Each equipment installation is documented in a job report with a description of the work and photos.
In order to “cut off” the receiver from the navigation network, drivers also try to cut off the power supply: they remove special protective fuses, cut wires, reverse polarity, and often, out of desperation, they fight with the equipment with a stun gun and (ATTENTION!) a bolt cutter (real cases from the experience of our installers). But even here the “woe of skillful” expects a fiasco. The fact is that all modern models of controllers are equipped with a backup power supply system, which means that after the damage will actively work for some time, which is enough to send an SOS signal to the system. And again before the manager there is a distinct figure of an employee-candidate for salary reduction with reimbursement of iron repair and subsequent removal of his picture from the board of honorary workers of the month.
Examples of how they try to break the transportation monitoring system
The fuel gauge wiring was ripped off
GPS/GLONASS antennas were ripped out.
The contacts on the fuel consumption control sensor chip have been broken off
Fuel gauge bent
Broken GPS/GLONASS antenna
Plugged the fuel gauge with a cap.
Plugged the fuel gauge with a cap.
Filled the sensor drain holes with sealant
LIGHT-intelligent ways to cheat GLONASS
A well-known, widespread and the only way to interfere with the operation of a vehicle monitoring system is to use so-called “Glonass jammers”.
Glonass jammer is a special device designed to suppress or completely block Glonass signals. Such a device is used to protect against eavesdropping and abuse of information transmitted through the Glonass system. Depending on the type and model of jammer, it can block all frequencies or suppress signals on certain frequencies.
It is usually a modulator that is tuned to a given frequency. All today's products of the company “MONTRANS” allow you to see on the graphs of the temporary “disappearance” of transport and the number of visible satellites, so you can not cheat GLONASS. All actions are noted in the dispatching software. In particular, when using glonass jammer, signal disappearance usually occurred when the vehicle was used by a specific and certain driver. In this case, the signal disappears not immediately at the point of departure, but after some time after the start of the movement, can also suddenly appear and disappear. It is not very difficult to find out the driver: it is only necessary to send a checking person with him on a trip. In 99% of such cases, all the equipment starts to work as usual and the malfunctions stop. And to prevent such situations from occurring in principle, it is enough just to install a modern system “MONTRANS.ONLINE”, or “OMNICOMM ONLINE”
Example of jammer usage
MEDIUM-hidden ways to cheat GLONASS when draining fuel
Let's move on to manipulating the fuel gauge - this is one of the most popular ways to cheat the management and an illegal source of income for unscrupulous drivers. It should be noted at once that it is IMPOSSIBLE to cheat the fuel gauge! It can either be broken (broken wiring or physical breakage of the sensor itself is easily detected by a mechanic during the inspection of the vehicle or by the installer of monitoring systems), or it can be made to malfunction and “lie” by various physical actions both with the sensor itself and with the fuel tank of the vehicle.
Our installers have encountered many things during their work: deliberate jamming of tanks so that the fuel sensor rests on the bottom or changes the geometry of the fuel tank, throwing massive objects into the tank, and as a unique example: inflating wheel chambers inside the tank. It is also independent dismantling of the sensor, stuffing the measuring tube with rags, newspapers, putting plastic bottles on the measuring device, sealing the holes in the measuring elements with sealant and other amazing tricks....
Manipulations with throwing objects into the tank are done to physically reduce its volume by a certain number of liters. For example, we have a tank of 100 liters. We put there a few voluminous objects for 30 liters. After that, when filling up with 70 liters of fuel, the sensor will show 100 liters. We pour these underfilled 30 liters of fuel into a separately prepared canister or container and then use it for personal purposes. It is easy to calculate the fraud: the dispatcher can see that the car has increased fuel consumption per 100 kilometers compared to previous similar periods, which means that something is wrong. The technique should be inspected by a mechanic. Finding foreign objects in the fuel tank is a real reason to conduct a service inspection. It is also not uncommon for metal objects to be thrown into the tank to interfere with the sensor. When it comes in contact with metal, it starts to “hang”, but, again, this is easy for a mechanic to figure out.
Пример отображения слива топлива в программе через «обратку»
Drainage of fuel through the return
One of the common ways to cheat is to drain through the fuel return system, popularly known as “return drain”. A “drip” is inserted into the return hose, the hose of which is lowered into a canister or bucket, and the fuel from the tank slowly leaks out while the vehicle is running. In such a scheme of deception, the dispatcher should notice the increased consumption of the vehicle, and take appropriate measures.
Drainage of fuel through the return
Well, the most favorite and popular method today is cashing in fuel cards and colluding with the gas station operator. With the introduction of fuel cards, many drivers are cashing in fuel. The scheme is simple: the driver colludes with the operator of the gas station: for example, 50 liters of fuel gets into the tank, and the receipt is written for 100 liters of fuel; accordingly, the money for 100 liters is officially deducted from the fuel card, 50 liters gets into the tank, and the remaining difference of 50 liters is given to the driver in cash at a rate 30-40% lower than the price of fuel at the gas station.
Even if the gas tank of the car is protected from unauthorized interference - this will not help to detect the fact of cashing in the fuel card. With the help of the solution “FUEL BALANCE” from “MONTRANS” and the control of fuel cards linked to gas stations, it is easy not only to identify the fraudster, but also to calculate the amount of money he has embezzled to the nearest penny: in the reports we can see how much fuel actually got into the tank, and how much fuel was charged from the fuel card. If the data do not match, we receive an instant signal, as well as a report on the discrepancy between the receipt and the fuel poured into the tank.
Summarizing all of the above, we can state: if the company has an interested employee (it can easily be the manager himself, who controls the work of equipment in special software from the company “MONTRANS”, tracks all the simple processes displayed in the monitoring system), it is impossible to cheat “GLONASS” at such an enterprise.
Attention! Our company does not sell jammers and means of deception of GLONASS\GPS system.
What ways of deception of GLONASS/GPS transportation monitoring system have you encountered?