South Amboy Gas Station Attendant Admits To $78K Fraud

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ — A South Amboy man who worked as a gas station manager in Metuchen admitted Tuesday in federal court to making approximately $78,000 in fraudulent fuel charges using corporate fuel credit cards.

He stole the corporate credit card numbers while they were used to make legitimate gas purchases at the gas station, said federal prosecutors.

On Tuesday in Newark federal court, Umer Hassan Mir, 40, of South Amboy, pleaded guilty to fraud.

His guilty plea was announced by the office of U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, who prosecuted the case. The case rose to a federal level because some of the credit cards he stole were owned by federal agencies, including the General Services Administration, part of the federal government. Some of those fuel credit cards were also assigned to Amtrak, for the use of Amtrak cars and other vehicles.

From February 2018 through August 2021, Mir was the manager of the Delta gas station in Metuchen. He made numerous fraudulent fuel charges on up to 17 fuel credit cards.

Mir would save the corporate card numbers used to make legitimate fuel purchases at the Delta gas station.

After he would put in the false fuel transactions, Mir withdrew cash in the amount of the fraudulent transaction from the gas station’s cash register. Mir then used the cash for personal expenses and to pay another gas station employee for working extra hours on his behalf.

He is facing up to 15 years in prison.