A TikToker’s video showing her attempting to pump gas at an ARCO station with nothing coming out has garnered over 872,000 views on the platform. She alleged she was being “scammed,” and commenters agreed that she was—but not by the gas station.
“How is this happening?” the video is captioned. “No gas went in my tank and they are refusing to give me a refund.”
@calicurls_ How is this happening? No gas went in my tank and they are refusing to give me a refund.. 😓 #tiktok #viral #scammed #arcogas #fyp ♬ original sound – Sierra Solis
While the poster Sierra Solis (@calicurls_) may not have noticed it in person, many commenters caught on to the fact that the gasoline hoses had been switched, possibly by the driver of the car on the other side of the gas pump. This swindle results in the scammer getting the gas that someone else paid for, under the impression that the victim’s tank was filling as the meter went up.
Several commenters pointed to the blue tag on the other hose line being a clear indication of what’s happening, explaining what was going on in the video that the poster did not see.
“It’s a scam people do, they hang up the hoses on the opposite side and wait for someone to come pay for gas and they pump it into their vehicles,” one commenter wrote.
Others, like the poster, were not aware of this type of scam.
“Never knew this was a thing,” one commenter wrote. “Imma check my hose all the time from here on out, sorry this happened to (you).”
In a follow-up video, Solis said this was the first time this had happened to her.
“I’ve never been scammed and played in this way,” she said. “But I’d rather be played in that way than having a gun pointed directly into my face, which has happened in the past before. So I’m thankful that we’re okay. The ARCO gas station filed a police report, they’re going to keep me updated, I’m not worried about it. I just thought I was being scammed by the actual gas station, and no—I just got scammed by a scammer.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @caliscurls_ via TikTok DM and a comment on the video as well as to ARCO directly via email.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/arco-gas-scam-tiktok/