A large local gas chain offers $10 off when you sign up for their app. Is there any legal trouble when spinning up new accounts to claim it over and over again?
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.
I don't know if it's legal or not, but i very highly doubt they would do anything to try to get you in trouble with the law or try to recover money from you. I think the worst that could maybe even possibly happen is they might send you a few threatening sounding letters that are just trying to scare you into voluntarily deciding to give them money.
If you have the time to do that, it would probably work at first until the staff recognizes you and either doesn't let you repeat that move or even outright bans you from purchasing there.
No further trouble expected, but don't expect this to work for long for you.
There's about 20 of these gas stations within 15 minutes of where I live. Couple that with rotating staff I suspect it could be used about 60 times before the same clerk would see me twice. If spaced out over a week I'm not sure a clerk would even notice given this is a real promotion that people use.
If the amount of money you save that way is larger than what you'd earn in the time it takes you to create new accounts and the time you spend for refueling at 3-4 gas stations than it would if you'd only hit one, then go for it.
And don't forget the fuel it takes you to get to the next station.
For me it wouldn't be worth it, but if you have more time than money, go for it.
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.
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.
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.
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! :)
Their terms of service doesn’t specially state anything about having multiple accounts.
I'd be surprised if it didn't at least state something to the effect of "Offer is only available once per customer" or similar. That's their loophole to tell you to GGF, if and when they notice you taking advantage.
On a PC it can be a number of things from MAC to various hardware IDs, but on a phone it's a UUID assigned by the phone maker (different function calls for Android and iPhone).
Lawyers are expenaive. The cheapest option for them, once they notice, is a quick patch to ask for more information or rejecting multiple accounts. Unless this loophole is part of their marketing campaign. After you tell your friends, you are all slightly more likely to refuel by them, both because you used their service or in hope of another loophple