News Police: Woman Pumped $28K in Free Gas via Sneaky Glitch

[subtlySteve]

Nebraska gas station pump was exploited with a rewards card, authorities say

• The glitch: Police say a software update at the pumps at Lincoln's Pump and Pantry allowed patrons to swipe their rewards card twice to throw the pump into "demo" mode, which then allowed them to pump gas for free, reports KOLN.
• Fuel pump perp: The station eventually got wind of the work-around and figured out that one card in particular had been used ... a lot. Police say it was used more than 500 times between November 2022 and the following June, at which point the station fixed the glitch.
• The cost: The station estimates that 7,413.59 gallons were pumped via that one rewards card, at a cost of more than $27,800 in total.
• The suspect: KOLN identifies her as 45-year-old Dawn Thompson, who police say also charged a second person $500 to pump $700 worth of gas using her card. Thompson was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony theft, with a bond of $750, per KLKN. She's next due in court on April 11.

Source: Newser

 

[subtlySteve]

• The suspect: KOLN identifies her as 45-year-old Dawn Thompson, who police say also charged a second person $500 to pump $700 worth of gas using her card. Thompson was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony theft, with a bond of $750, per KLKN. She's next due in court on April 11.

This is #1 Bullshit!

She should not be arrested for exploiting the glitch. It's the fault of the gas station for allowing it to happen.

The biggest mistake she made was letting someone else know about it because I wouldn't be surprised that the way the gas station found out about it because of some jelly snitch ass motherfucker called in an anonymous tip.

 

[Fluffernutter]

She stole. She got caught.

 

[R.N.J.]

If she had an decency she woulda told the gas station, no sympathy.

 

[gspieler]

What she did was unethical IMO, but she should get a slap on the wrist(something like lay back what she owes over time, or maybe community service). It wasn't like she was hacking into the gas stations system to get free gas. She probably serendipitously discovered a glitch, and just ran with it.

 

[jeff7b9]

This is #1 Bullshit!

She should not be arrested for exploiting the glitch. It's the fault of the gas station for allowing it to happen.

The biggest mistake she made was letting someone else know about it because I wouldn't be surprised that the way the gas station found out about it because of some jelly snitch ass motherfucker called in an anonymous tip.

+1

This woman was merely utilizing a demo function.

Some people run a demo mode and get it the first time, other people continue to attempt to learn from it for a few years.

What are they going to punish this poor woman for being a slow learner?
That's bullshit. Discrimination even!!

 

[AFanNotAFighter]

She got caught cheating. Time to pay the piper.

 

[Joshuaace]

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

Something doesn’t add up here.. she’d have to do this for over 20 years to add up to that amount.. unless she just stood at the pump filling up other people’s cars.. even if she drove a truck it’d take roughly 10 years


500 times in 1 year at 1 station doesn’t seem possible

 

[Beechwood]

That's crazy. I'm wondering what the gas station must have been doing to lose so much gas and not notice over months. Maybe they believed they had a leak in their holding tank. That would be an environmental disaster.

Glad she was eventually caught.

 

[AFanNotAFighter]

Something doesn’t add up here.. she’d have to do this for over 20 years to add up to that amount.. unless she just stood at the pump filling up other people’s cars.. even if she drove a truck it’d take roughly 10 years


500 times in 1 year at 1 station doesn’t seem possible

She spent $27,800 for 7,413 gallons. That's an average price per gallon of $3.75.
My Ford Explorer has a 20 gallon tank. If I fill up when on EMPTY that 7,413 gallons divided by 20 means filling my tank up 370 times.
370 times is a lot for the space of time mentioned but wouldn't take 10 or 20 years.
However, it seems certain she was either filling up multiple cars and/or letting someone else use the card.

 

[Elvis.]

I wouldn’t take advantage of something like this , but if you only exploited it once or twice they might not notice, and even if they did you might be able to play stupid and still get away with it .
How are you so stupid that you think your going to walk away with 28 grand worth of anything and nobody is going to notice.

 

[Fedorgasm]

Something doesn’t add up here.. she’d have to do this for over 20 years to add up to that amount.. unless she just stood at the pump filling up other people’s cars.. even if she drove a truck it’d take roughly 10 years


500 times in 1 year at 1 station doesn’t seem possible

She was selling this "service" which is probably how she got caught.

She'd put like $100 of gas in your truck and you'd pay her $60 in cash or whatever. Win-win for both parties.

But she screwed up by doing that. I bet the gas station noticed that they had not enough money for how much gas was missing, so they dug deeper.

If she just used it for her own driving and never sold gas to anyone else, she probably could've had free gas for a few years until they upgraded the software. The gas totals wouldn't be off by enough for the gas station to investigate.

 

[sleepwalk]

This is #1 Bullshit!

She should not be arrested for exploiting the glitch. It's the fault of the gas station for allowing it to happen.

The biggest mistake she made was letting someone else know about it because I wouldn't be surprised that the way the gas station found out about it because of some jelly snitch ass motherfucker called in an anonymous tip.

Gas station shouldn't have in that neighborhood while dressed like that?

 

[Old Man]

This is #1 Bullshit!

She should not be arrested for exploiting the glitch. It's the fault of the gas station for allowing it to happen.

You have a very flexible definition of theft.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Pretty smart. But also illegal. Good job, but she got caught. Time to pay the pied piper.

 

[Jesus X]

I think her lawyer will get her off in court and this sort of negligence falls on the gas station why does it even have a demo mode what type of corrupt city official is getting free gas from them.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

She fucked up a good thing by getting greedy.

 

[Your Salad]

I lived in a small apt complex in the northwest while going to school. The previous tenants of the bungalow whom my gf knew had a key to unlock the washer and dryer machines on the premises that they passed down to us. We could do laundry for free, it was great.
Months later I got drunk while hanging out with some of our freshman neighbors and bragged about getting free laundry on the premises.
Needless to say they started asking if they could use the key because they were poor and struggling. I loved those guys and couldn't say no. I always told them to play it cool and be careful when using it.
It only took 3 weeks of me sharing my special laundry machine key with them before suddenly the lock was changed.
Lesson learned. Sometimes you gotta keep shit a secret if YOU want to keep enjoying the tiny secret club you belong too.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

700.00 bail, and a full tank of gas to leave town? I wonder what she’ll do