TheHarleyMan2
Bronze Member
- Feb 27, 2008
- 1,594
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GTI 2500/Bounty Hunter
Minelab Equinox 800
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I have a friend in Indiana who told me about a situation at a gas station he was at. It seems there is a new tactic for thieves. I know many people are not using debit cards for fuel and many prepay with cash.
He had gone to a Speedway and noticed the cops coming in and just got there as he was walking in the store to get something to drink in there and while he was inside hearing a man arguing with the cashier.
Here is what he heard a man tell the cops;
The man went in and prepaid $50.00 for gas. During this time a vehicle had pulled on the otherside of the pump, (after he was walking away from his vehicle), going to the store. While he was in line for the cashier, a woman had been walking around in the store evidently watching the man and while she was on a cell phone to someone. When the man got up to the cashier to prepay for his gas, the woman was still on the phone by him at the register. As soon as the man prepaid and told the cashier his pump number, (the woman was still on the phone), and stopped the man and asked him if he was from around here and wanted directions to some place and kept talking to him distracting him.
While she kept the man distracted, after the person she was on the phone with to give him a pump number, (what came to the conclusion), the thief reached around the prepaid pump and filled his car with $50.00 of fuel the distracted man paid for. Evidently when the woman got confirmation on the cell phone from theif when the thief pulled away from the pump, the woman told the man ok, I think I can find it, left the store, walked around the side of the store and got into the car that stole the prepaid fuel, (according to security video after the police looked at the videos).
After the woman quit distracting the prepaid man he went out to get his fuel and the pump was not on and then went back inside and told the cashier to turn the pump on and the cashier argued he already got his fuel. After they argued a bit, the police were called. He explained to the police that he came in prepaid, and went outside after a woman asked for directions, (while he was still in the store), the police looked at the video tape from the pumps and saw the man DID NOT get his fuel, but saw a man of color with a car parked on the otherside of the pump, reach around to the prepaid pump on the otherside, start the pump and fill his car with the prepaid fuel, but couldn't make out the license plate number of the vehicle that was on the other side of the pump, that STOLE the fuel.
Also, the store said it was prepaid mans responsibility that he should have watched his pump and the police sided with the store and prepaid man is duped out of $50.00 of fuel!
I know there are a lot of gas stations where you can't even see the pumps from the registers. This is evidently a new tactic criminals are using, especially with fuel prices the way they are and people out of work.
If you have to prepay DO NOT stop to talk to anyone after you prepay your fuel at the register, even though you may be a good Samaritan, otherwise you may end up losing on your fuel you are paying for.
Also it is hard to watch your pump when you are by yourself in a store prepaying for fuel!
He had gone to a Speedway and noticed the cops coming in and just got there as he was walking in the store to get something to drink in there and while he was inside hearing a man arguing with the cashier.
Here is what he heard a man tell the cops;
The man went in and prepaid $50.00 for gas. During this time a vehicle had pulled on the otherside of the pump, (after he was walking away from his vehicle), going to the store. While he was in line for the cashier, a woman had been walking around in the store evidently watching the man and while she was on a cell phone to someone. When the man got up to the cashier to prepay for his gas, the woman was still on the phone by him at the register. As soon as the man prepaid and told the cashier his pump number, (the woman was still on the phone), and stopped the man and asked him if he was from around here and wanted directions to some place and kept talking to him distracting him.
While she kept the man distracted, after the person she was on the phone with to give him a pump number, (what came to the conclusion), the thief reached around the prepaid pump and filled his car with $50.00 of fuel the distracted man paid for. Evidently when the woman got confirmation on the cell phone from theif when the thief pulled away from the pump, the woman told the man ok, I think I can find it, left the store, walked around the side of the store and got into the car that stole the prepaid fuel, (according to security video after the police looked at the videos).
After the woman quit distracting the prepaid man he went out to get his fuel and the pump was not on and then went back inside and told the cashier to turn the pump on and the cashier argued he already got his fuel. After they argued a bit, the police were called. He explained to the police that he came in prepaid, and went outside after a woman asked for directions, (while he was still in the store), the police looked at the video tape from the pumps and saw the man DID NOT get his fuel, but saw a man of color with a car parked on the otherside of the pump, reach around to the prepaid pump on the otherside, start the pump and fill his car with the prepaid fuel, but couldn't make out the license plate number of the vehicle that was on the other side of the pump, that STOLE the fuel.
Also, the store said it was prepaid mans responsibility that he should have watched his pump and the police sided with the store and prepaid man is duped out of $50.00 of fuel!
I know there are a lot of gas stations where you can't even see the pumps from the registers. This is evidently a new tactic criminals are using, especially with fuel prices the way they are and people out of work.
If you have to prepay DO NOT stop to talk to anyone after you prepay your fuel at the register, even though you may be a good Samaritan, otherwise you may end up losing on your fuel you are paying for.
Also it is hard to watch your pump when you are by yourself in a store prepaying for fuel!
