Sort of, after getting a flowmaster 30 series installed on my 04 f150. I headed off to get gas. Went to one of those arco's with the automated machine where you put the cash in next to the pump, put in 25, pumped 30 bucks in gas. It was 2.29 out in Oxnard, down the street from my house its 2.43 for REGULAR.

 

So you almost got a quarter tank then?

 

Nice!! Folks around here were sliding their drivers license (we have the magnetic strip) into the CC slot on the pay-at-the-pump pumps and the pumps would kick on! They say it was done over a 100 times before the company got wise to it!! Now THAT'S free gas!!

 

Ya til the cops go to your house and find you because they have all your license information off your card's strip

 

The readers didn't pick it up or record it. They nabbed 'em from the security cams! The Fools!

 

Good lord people are stupid sometimes. Another scam I've heard of is people wrapping a piece of cassette tape (like video cassette, the actuall plastic tape) around any old card and sliding it in there. It seems to work sometimes, not that I would or am advising that people theive gasoline. Just advising any gas station owners to be ware of people with an excessive number of videos.

 

Wasn't what I heard, this was talked about in a previous post (not sure if you saw it)....maybe it's a different instance of the same thing?

 

I stand corrected. You sparked my curiousity and I did a little digging. I nabbed this from mlive.com:

Police:Pumpers will pay for 'free gas'
Driver's license glitch leads to scam
Tuesday, 4, 2004
BY AMALIE NASH
News Staff Reporter

It probably started with one person, who by curiosity or accident, swiped a driver's license through the gas pump charge card reader at the Meijer store on Carpenter Road.

The magnetic strip on the license started the pump, and the person gassed up, as if for free.

And in about three weeks, a total of 107 people did the same thing, some several times over, until store officials finally figured it out and called Pittsfield Township Police.

No one is sure how it started or how word spread, but the scam occurred only at the two Meijer gas stations in Pittsfield Township, primarily at the one on Carpenter. It was never tried at any of Meijer's other 143 stations in a five-state region, although the glitch existed at all of them.

But it wasn't a flawless getaway for the 107 people. Computers recorded their driver's license numbers, and now authorities know who they are. Detectives are in the midst of contacting them for prosecution.

"It probably started with a small group, and then word spread out," Pittsfield Detective Lt. Steve Heller said. "It ended up being thousands of dollars."

A company spokesman would not release the total loss. Police have tallied the total taken by 36 of the 107, and that added up to $3,000.

The thefts began in late March, with some people gassing up 10 to 15 times. Others took gas only once or twice, Heller said. A state identification card also worked, he said.

"No matter how this started, whether it was a prank or something else, a crime is a crime," said John Zimmerman, a spokesman for Meijer. "Fortunately, there's a lot of information on that driver's license."

At least one gas station employee apparently realized that it was possible to use a driver's license at the pump, but officials don't know whether he was the one who started the scam, Heller said.

Meijer officials received a call from a customer within the last several weeks who said he was at a station ready to gas up when an employee came out and asked him to try using his driver's license in the pump, Heller said.

The customer complied and the pump started, then he paid in cash, Heller said. But the incident didn't sit right with the customer, who alerted store officials.

That employee was later arrested for fraudulent bottle returns, and officials began to unravel the scam. "I don't know how the employee knew it - perhaps a customer had done that by accident before," Heller said. "Somehow word got out."

Meijer officials checked records to find a rash of faulty credit card payments at gas pumps, then figured out that data left by the cards was actually from driver's licenses, Heller said.

A disk containing all the fraudulent transactions was sent to the Secretary of State's office, which provided police with the names and addresses. Many appear to be local students based on their Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor addresses, Heller said.

Two people have been charged with third-degree retail fraud, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail. Washtenaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Burke said all of the people who stole gas are likely to face misdemeanor charges.

"It's a lot of work tracking people and interviewing them," Heller said. "Most have admitted it, although one guy said he thought it was a credit card, even though there were multiple uses on his license."

After store officials caught the glitch, they tried using driver's licenses at stations in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, and they worked, Zimmerman said.

The problem was repaired at all of the Grand Rapids-based chain's stores by late last week, Zimmerman said.

Heller and Zimmerman said they aren't sure whether the same glitch could exist at any other gas stations outside of the Meijer chain. "I doubt if our system is unique," Zimmerman said. "But I didn't want to try it at anyone else's station."

Police are asking anyone who committed this scam to call the department and set up an appointment to meet with detectives. People who turn themselves in will be released on personal bond, but police will seek warrants against those who do not, and they could spend a short time in jail, Heller said.

 

LOL. I wish there was such a thing as free gas. If I had the money, I'd buy a gas station with car wash 'cause I spend so much on that now...

 

I would be glad to swipe the drivers licence and then get a bill at the end of the month. Then I could get rid of the credit cards.

 

Revolutionary! Though strangely similar to what credit cards do.