YOUNGSVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — Police in North Carolina are looking for a man after a cellphone app allowed him to scam $800 from a gas station this month.
Gift cards were central to the scheme — following a similar theme involving rip-offs by other thieves at North Carolina gas stations.
Like previous gift card scams, the most recent theft took place in a Franklin County town, according to a Youngsville Police Department news release last week.
On Nov. 7 around 10:40 p.m., a man entered the Speedway at 130 West Main St. in Youngsville, police said. The suspect brought $800 in gift cards from the store using “a cellphone application,” officers said.
“The phone app caused the computer system in the store to reboot,” the news release said.
The reboot allowed the suspect to then charge $800 back to the Speedway store, police said.
Officers said the man left the store in a black Jeep Cherokee.
This sophisticated gift card scam comes after two men ripped off more than $3,500 from gas stations in North Carolina, including one in Youngsville.
In March, the men targeted Sheetz stores by approaching the cash register with “multiple gift cards,” officers said in a news release.
The duo “convinced” the clerk that he had to press the register’s “cash tender” button for their PayPal debit card to work — and charge funds onto the gift cards, police said.
The suspects then charged seven separate transactions totaling $3,476.26 at the Youngsville store, police said. They also pulled the same scam at a Hickory store, police said.
Officers said anyone with information about the suspect at Speedway should contact Youngsville Police Cpl. C. Wisnieski at 919-925-3367.
