CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — The "screw method" is making the rounds on social media right now, causing drivers to question whether they're being scammed somehow at the gas pump.
I've noticed a handful of posts from Cleveland to Parma in the last week where drivers claim thieves are putting a bolt or screw in fuel nozzle dispensers, keeping the pump from resetting for the next driver, then allowing someone else to swoop in and gas up on another's dime.
I stopped by downtown Cleveland Sunday afternoon to see if drivers had heard of the "screw method" and if they were concerned at all.
"I thought it was a scam for sure," Aaliyah Foster said. "Why y'all gotta do that? It's wrong."
Taylor Gaffney told me, "I do think it's kind of like a hoax to try and scare people."
Gaffney said she didn't understand the correlation between the bolt and how it could scam someone.
"I think seeing a screw at a gas pump and automatically thinking somebody's scamming your card is a little far to reach," Gaffney said. "What about it would make you think they're scamming your card, like, do you think there's a chip in the screw? Do you think the screw has some type of digital inferences, you know what I mean? I can understand seeing something weird at a gas pump and thinking like, oh, this could be fraudulent because there are many scams, many frauds, but I don't think necessarily a screw in a gas pump means somebody's scamming your card."
I asked Cuyahoga County Weights and Measures Supervisor Shaun Bland about the "screw method" this week to see if there was any validity to it.
"It's completely false," Bland said. "That is not happening whatsoever. I would be more concerned with getting scammed if something like this is happening to you if somebody is coming up and unsoliciting and offering help to you if you haven't asked for it."
While the screw in the dispenser is an unapproved, out-of-regulation solution, Bland told me there is a real purpose to it.
"When the flap comes down and you remove the nozzle from your car, if the flap comes too far, which it tends to do occasionally, the customer can no longer select what grade of octane fuel they want," Bland said. "Instead of replacing the entire receiver, which is expensive, a cheap fix is to put a bolt in there, and that bolt will catch the flap, allowing the pump to operate in the way it's intended."
Bland said this inexpensive fix has been around for years and is nothing new.
"No customers being harmed by this whatsoever," Bland said. However, social media posts have spread the misinformation that it is, Bland said.
Screw complaints started pouring into the Cuyahoga County Weights and Measures Department two weeks ago, according to Bland.
"We actually had five complaints come in that morning and a local police jurisdiction reached out to us because of complaints they were receiving as well," Bland said.
But each complaint came up empty-handed. No alleged scam.
There are ways to ensure protection at the pump, though.
Bland recommends double-checking the pump has reset after you finish fueling. You can pull the nozzle back out to make sure it is no longer going to pump.
Bland suggests drivers always get a receipt and snap a picture of the final cost.
If you believe there is something suspicious going on at a gas station, call the Cuyahoga County Weights and Measures Department at 216-443-7035.
But again, as Bland said, the "screw method" is not part of a scheme.
The drivers we talked to on Sunday said they're relieved, telling me the only crime to continue focusing on is the inflation of gas prices.
"I'm a new driver, so I don't like it. I need the gas to go down," Foster said.
Gaffrey said, "It's ridiculous. It's even harder in a lot of states that rely on public transportation. You take away the trains, you take away the buses, you take away bus passes. That means more people have to buy cars, travel with cars, which then includes buying more gas. I feel like an even kill price for everybody in the economy will do a lot. We need it to go down."
