The Peters Township Police Department reported that a man hacked into at least 19 accounts in order to steal gas from Giant Eagle Fuel Perks customers. As a result, customers are keeping a closer eye on their rewards.
A woman from Cleveland, Ohio, made the initial report to the police in February when she became aware that her benefits had been taken away.
A notification was sent to her informing her that her GetGo points or advantage card had been used fraudulently to purchase fuel at the GetGo gas station located in Peters Township. According to the report that was written by an officer with the Peters Township police department, “(The victim) stated that she was unsure how someone obtained her advantage card, but the suspect used approximately 1,500 points valued at approximately $30.”
As part of their investigation, the police stated that video footage taken from the petrol station revealed that Paul Kostanich, who was 18 years old at the time, was present at the gas station on the day that the fraudulent activity occurred.
“(Kostanich) then pulls his cell phone out of his pants pocket and places it in front of the bar code scanner at the gas station to activate the points,” according to law enforcement.
Giant Eagle Loss Prevention allegedly connected Kostanich’s credit card to a large number of other fraudulent transactions that included a number of other victims, according to the police said.
“Giant Eagle Loss Prevention explained the male involved has been responding to the same GetGo location almost daily and using multiple different individuals’ Giant Eagle Advantage Cards to fraudulently purchase fuel,” according to law enforcement.
If someone were to hack a Giant Eagle benefits card, I could never even fathom that happening. It’s true, I mean it! Linus Mayernik, a customer of gasoline benefits and a resident of Washington County, stated that in this day and age, anything is possible.
“I make frequent use of them. Another customer who enjoys the benefits of the program, Kathy Nicholson, expressed her gratitude by saying, “I just now looked at my receipt to see how many I had because you know it helps save on gas, and I appreciate that.”
On Friday, a number of consumers expressed their displeasure to KDKA-TV that they were not surprised to learn about the occurrence, but that they were outraged that someone would take their benefits.
The age of my age is 67. For me, technology is something I am unable to accomplish; in fact, there are moments when I am unable to even remember a password. Regarding these children and what they are doing, I believe it is a god-awful pity that they are able to misuse that system,” Mayernik added. “Do you understand what I mean when I say that it is for the average working man? They are striving to achieve that. It’s a terrible shame.”
During an interview with Kostanich, the police stated that he admitted to hacking up to twenty victims’ accounts by utilizing questionable internet and social media platforms in order to take their benefits.
It is going to cause me to pause, that’s for sure! Nicholson stated that it will unquestionably pay attention to the situation.
“I want to tell all of these young people who are trying to take advantage of the system to refrain from doing so, dude. Try to find a job. Mayernik encouraged its members to “be a citizen in this community.”
The company Giant Eagle has stated that there is no evidence to suggest that the incident is connected to any kind of data breach.
“All customers who were potentially impacted by the actions of this individual have been contacted by Giant Eagle to make sure their Perks were restored,” according to a spokeswoman for Giant Eagle.
The value that Giant Eagle customers receive from our myPerks loyalty program is something that we recognize and appreciate, and we are aware of the significance of safeguarding the benefits that are associated with it. In order to protect the information that is linked with any store loyalty cards that a customer may have, including their Giant Eagle loyalty card, we strongly recommend all customers to take the necessary precautions. These procedures include periodically updating your accounts with new, robust passwords, ensuring that the same password is not used across numerous customer accounts, and closely checking your rewards balances. Giant Eagle customers may easily do this by installing the Giant Eagle mobile app, which is one of the actions included in these stages.
At Giant Eagle, we take the security of our customers’ accounts very seriously and take measures to safeguard the myPerks awards that our customers have earned. In the event that a customer has inquiries concerning their rewards, they should contact the Giant Eagle Customer Care staff in order to receive assistance with their account.
Kostanich is currently facing 58 allegations, some of which include receiving stolen property, accessing a device that was issued to another individual who did not allow use, and stealing someone else’s identity.
