Caught a petrol pump scam today
I genuinely think I caught one of those petrol pump scams today, and if I hadn't been paying attention, I would've walked away none the wiser.
For context, I'm 29, a Product Manager by profession, and I've been riding a Royal Enfield Meteor for the last 5 years. Maybe the job has made me paranoid, but I have this habit of watching processes. Petrol pumps included.
Today I asked for XP95 because E20 makes my Meteor sound like it's negotiating its resignation.
"Full tank," I said.
The attendant pressed a few buttons, pointed at the meter and said, "Sir, see, it's zero."
He filled exactly ₹200 worth of petrol.
Then... nothing.
He pulled the nozzle out and just stood there, staring at me. The nozzle was hovering near the tank as if he was waiting for me to ride off.
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
Finally I said, "I asked for a full tank."
"Oh! Sorry, sir."
He immediately put the nozzle back in, stepped directly in front of the display, blocking almost the entire meter, and continued filling.
That's when every alarm bell in my head went off.
I shifted slightly to peek around him.
The meter never went back to zero.
It continued from ₹200.
A few seconds later he stopped at another ₹1300 and asked me to pay ₹1500.
Unfortunately for him, I'd seen the meter.
I said, "It's ₹1300."
There was a brief pause.
Then came the most unconvincing, "Oh... I thought the first ₹200 wasn't included."
Right.
The scary part isn't that he tried.
The scary part is how smooth the entire sequence was. It felt rehearsed. Show the customer zero. Fill a small amount. Create confusion. Block the meter. Continue from the previous amount. Hope they pay the total.
It also made me realize why attendants insist on making you look at zero before they start. That's the last time most people actually look at the display.
Now I'm wondering how many people pay without noticing.
Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a known scam, or did I just meet an attendant who was having an exceptionally ambitious day?