LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - A gas station in Lincoln has fixed a glitch that allowed someone to pump thousands of gallons of fuel for free.
Dawn Thompson, 45, is charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking $5,000+. Police said she used an exploit to pump free gas for more than six months.
Lincoln Police got a call from Bosselman Enterprise’s loss prevention manager on Oct. 20, 2023. The manager got word from the Pump and Pantry near West O Street and Sun Valley Boulevard that someone had been participating in a fuel scam.
Upon further investigation, police learned that the fuel pumps received a software update in November of 2022. The update managed orders and reward cards, and it was made at the request of customers and staff.
Unbeknownst to the company, however, the update was exploitable. It allowed anyone to swipe a rewards card twice to enter the pump into a demo mode. From there, the user could pump gas for free.
The loss prevention manager discovered one particular card had been repeatedly used to get free gas. By tracing the card’s information, police were able to identify Thompson, court records show.
Video surveillance showed Thompson pumping fuel into her vehicle on multiple occasions.
Police think that fuel was stolen between Nov. 13, 2022 and June 1, 2023. In those months, the rewards card was used 510 times. It was also used multiple times on the days it was used, police wrote.
It’s estimated that 7,413.59 gallons of gasoline were pumped during those uses. The manager estimated the average fuel cost between those months to be approximately $3.758 per gallon, bringing total losses to $27,860.27.
Court records show that the rewards card also accrued minimal rewards points because it wasn’t being used in an intended manner.
Police also learned of another person using the card in 2023. The woman was contacted by officers, and she claimed that Thompson would let her use the card to get “discounted fuel.”
The arrangement was that the woman would pay Thompson for using the card, according to the arrest affidavit. In total, police think the woman paid Thompson $500 for $700 worth of gas between 10 uses.
The woman also said that Thompson sold the card some time in June of 2023. The fuel exploit was fixed on June 1, 2023, police wrote.
Police said Thompson received the card in lieu of payment from a man paying off a car debt. The man could not be contacted because he was deceased by January of 2024.
Thompson was arrested on March 6 after a months-long investigation. She was arraigned on Thursday, and she was not listed in the Lancaster County jail’s inmate roster as of Friday.
Her bond was set at 10% of $7,500. Thompson’s next court hearing is scheduled for April 11.
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