Basically as the title says. A local gas station chain has released a new app. They give you a one time $10 off your purchase of any purchase over $10 promo coupon.
The only unique identifiers for your account are an email and your number from a different loyalty points service. I noticed they don’t verify the loyalty points number so you can put any random number in as long as it’s the right length.
The $10 off only requires a $10 purchase. So if I spun up 3 accounts and went to 3 of their gas stations, pumping $11 worth of gas I would get $33 worth of gas for $3. Furthermore, it looks like this promotion works for anything in store, groceries or even gift cards. The only restrictions printed on the promo itself are tobacco, alcohol and lottery.
Their terms of service doesn’t specially state anything about having multiple accounts.
Is there anything actually illegal here or is this a loophole they didn’t consider?
Edit
After comparing two coupons back to back I just realized it’s the same barcode each time. I don’t even need to generate new ones.
You’re getting $63 for $33, not $33 for $3.
And that’s $63 you’re not spending with their competitors.
They’re probably okay with it.
I don’t think you understand the coupon. You get the $10 off to use immediately. As long as your order is over $10 it’ll work. I’ve spun up 3 accounts and pumped just $33 worth of gas and only spent $3 out of pocket. Like literally I just gave each clerk $1 in cash.
Pump $11. Get $11 gas. Get $10 back. Spent $1.
Repeat three times.
Have $33 gas. Spent $3.
Math.
It doesn’t apply to the same order. Coupons are off your next order. Coupon comes after transaction completion. Nemo is right.
Spend 10 to get 10 (you spend 10)
Spend 10 pay 0 (you spent zero)
Spend 10 get 10 (you spent 10)
Spend 10 pay 0 (you spent zero)
Spend 10 get 10 (you spent 10)
Spend 10 pay 0 (you spent zero)
= You spent $30 for $60 worth of gas.
So it’s basically a half off coupon however many times you manage to use it. 3 times if you bought $10 (not sure why 11) you would have gotten $60 gas and spent $30.
In this case, you don’t have to spend anything to use the coupon. You have it immediately available when you sign up for a new account.
People like you always fuck things up for everyone else. Stop doing this.
Use it to help out a neighbor and a needy person or two, once you have enough gas for your needs. The marketing company managing the promotion will probably upload a quick fix to the app or the software on the pumps very soon. Work fast, Samaritan! :)
i would be surprised if they didn’t internally track a device id, so one account in one ‘install’ per phone.
That’s the MAC address isn’t it? It’s possible to use a random MAC address but apparently that only works with random MAC enabled WiFi networks.
You’re almost certainly already committing fraud by fudging the loyalty numbers. It’s not a big deal if you were to do it once, but doing it ~60 times is going to signal to a potential judge that this was very intentional. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is illegal. You can keep doing it, but I’d stop well before your area’s felony limit for theft.
