In the quirky world of Nebraska, a clever woman hit the jackpot (or so she thought) with a gas station pump that seemed to mistake her rewards card for a magic wand. With a simple double-swipe, she unlocked a portal to unlimited free gas. Sounds like a modern fairy tale, right? Except in this version, the fairy godmother faces felony theft charges for her innovative, yet not-so-legal, fuel-filling frenzy.

Our protagonist wasn’t alone in her petroleum pilfering; she turned her discovery into a side hustle, charging a fellow conspirator for discounted gas, fueling both their tanks to the brim for a fraction of the price. This “buy one, get several free” deal lasted from the chilly days of November 2022 through the sunny beginnings of June, with over 7,400 gallons of gas siphoned off courtesy of a software glitch that turned the pumps into generous genies.

The plot thickened when the loss-prevention manager at Bosselman Enterprises sniffed out the scam at one of their Pump & Pantry locations in Lincoln. It turns out the fuel pumps, after a software update, had a hidden talent for going into demo mode after a rewards card was swiped twice, unwittingly turning the gas station into an all-you-can-pump buffet.

The law finally pumped the brakes on this free gas gala, tracing the magical rewards card back to our gas-guzzling heroine. Surveillance footage revealed her frequent visits to the gas station, her vehicle’s tank overflowing with the liquid gold that powers America.

Charged with felony theft for a scheme that cost the gas station nearly $28,000, she’s now navigating the legal system with a court date set and the world watching to see how this modern-day Robin Hood of the gas pumps fares.

In the end, this tale serves as a whimsical warning: not all hacks are harmless, and in the quest for free gas, you might just fuel a whole lot of trouble. But hey, at least for a while, she was the queen of the gas station, dispensing petroleum like a modern-day Midas.