A Nebraska woman has been charged with theft after she allegedly took advantage of a gas pump fault to get greater than $27,000 worth of free gas over nearly seven months.
Imagine someday you discover out you can use a faulty fuel pump to get all the fuel you wish without spending a dime. Would you do it? Well, one 45-year-old woman from Lincoln, Nebraska definitely did, and now she’s paying for it. According to Bosselman Enterprise, the corporation that owns the Pump and Pantry near West O Street and Sun Valley Boulevard, Dawn Thompson used the exploit to obtain 1000’s of gallons of gasoline undetected over a six-and-a-half-month period. The woman by some means realized she could access the pump’s demo mode by swiping her rewards card twice, and from there she could pump gas without recharging. By doing so, she was able to pump over 7,400 gallons, which led to the theft of almost $28,000.
Photo: akyurt engine/Unsplash
It all began in November 2022, when Pump and Pantry received an update to the software that manages order and reward cards. However, unbeknownst to the company, the update included a easy exploit that allowed access to the pump’s demo mode by swiping the card twice. The exploit was eventually discovered and the software was patched on June 1, 2023, but by then the specific card had already been used to steal significant amounts of fuel.
By tracking the card, Bosselman Enterprise identified Thompson, and surveillance footage confirmed that she had refueled her vehicle at the station multiple times. The data shows that the rewards card was used a total of 510 times between November 13, 2022 and June 1, 2023, sometimes several times a day. During this time, her card collected minimal rewards since it was not used as intended.
Bosselman Enterprise notified Lincoln police about Thomson after one of its loss prevention managers learned of her behavior. During the investigation, police also found one other woman who had used Thompson’s rewards card several times. She told investigators that Thompson allowed her to use the card to get “discounted fuel.” Basically, she paid a 45-year-old woman $500 for about $700 in gas.
Court documents showed Dawn Thompson sold her rewards card in June 2023 after an update that finally fixed an exploitable flaw. She was arrested on March 6 after a months-long investigation and was arraigned the next day. Her next court hearing might be on April 11.
