It might seem like stuffing merchandise under your clothing and then passing out in a store is a solid method for shoplifting without being noticed, but this is not true. When a woman who passed out twice in a Utah Kmart store was taken to the hospital, medical personnel noticed that she had Kmart merchandise hidden under her clothes. [AP] [More]
shoplifting
Police: Shoplifter Bit Off Finger Of Walmart Worker Who Confronted Her For Stealing
By 1.11.16
While it’s surely upsetting to be caught shoplifting, one Walmart shopper accused of trying to steal condoms, lubricant, and underwear took things to an extreme when she allegedly bit off the finger of a store employee who attempted to stop her. [More]
Police: Couple Gets Engaged In Walmart, Allegedly Goes On Shoplifting Spree
By 1.7.16
After getting engaged, it’s normal to want to celebrate. But one Michigan couple took their celebration in a different direction after their public Walmart proposal: they allegedly went on a small shoplifting jaunt that included pilfering assorted sex toys. [More]
Man Accused Of Shoving Steak Down Pants, Cans Of Beer Up Shirt
By 1.5.16
The Internet puts stories from news outlets all over the world at our fingertips, which leads to one inevitable question: why do people steal meat by stuffing it down their pants so often? It’s a crime that has suddenly increased in some areas, and people commit crimes against meat out of either hunger or desperation for cash. The latest alleged meat thief was making a nice meal out of a package of steaks, two 24-ounce beers, and a package of cream cheese. [More]
18 People Arrested In Return Fraud And Gift Card Sales Scheme
By 12.15.15
Last week, we explained how thieves can easily convert stolen merchandise into cash through shoplifted goods and gift card marketplaces. This week, a months-long investigation in Florida with the delightful name “Operation Plastic Paradise” came to a conclusion, with 18 people involved in the scheme arrested, and more arrests expected soon. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Macy’s Detains Minorities In Shoplifting Cells, Makes Them Pay Bogus Fines
By 12.4.15
More than a year after Macy’s agreed to pay $650K to settle allegations of racial profiling in its stores and promised it would incorporate more staff training to combat such behavior, a woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against the department store, claiming it unfairly detains minority shoppers and puts them in holding cells, whether they’ve done anything wrong or not. On top of that, the complaint claims, Macy’s then extorts those people for bogus fines. [More]
Shrimp Shoplifter Stuffs Shellfish Down Pants, Up Shirt
By 11.13.15
We always like to keep an eye on the latest incidents where shoplifters are caught in the act of stuffing meat down their pants. The usual choices of criminals against meat, steak and lobster make sense: they’re pricey, for people who want to resell the meats, and they’re tasty high-status foods, for those who would prefer to eat them. It’s been a while, though, since we’ve heard of anyone stuffing shrimp down their pants, which happened recently in Connecticut. [More]
Walmart Tried, Gave Up On Using Facial Recognition Software To ID Shoplifters
By 11.9.15
If you’ve ever known a shoplifter, you’ve probably noticed that he or she has a tendency to hit up the same stores over and over until those victimized retailers either nab the shoplifter or do something to make theft more difficult. It would make seem to make sense then for Walmart to deploy a facial recognition program to identify known or suspected offenders. So why did the company recently give up on this sort of system? [More]
Man Recruited Homeless To Help Him Steal As Much As $800K From Home Depot
By 10.6.15
There’s shoplifting, and then there’s organizing a network of people help you pull off illegal activities: law enforcement in Detroit said a man who recruited homeless people and others on the streets to steal from Home Depot made as much as $800,000 over a few years, by returning those shoplifted items for store credit. [More]
Walmart Employee In Trouble Over Facebook Video Of Shoplifter Scuffle
By 10.2.15
We’ve told you before of Walmart employees who were fired for intervening in violent or potentially dangerous situations at the store, but here’s a story of a Walmart worker who’s in trouble for not stepping in. Of course, it doesn’t help that he posted video of the incident along with his wisecracking running commentary. [More]
Police: Women Steal TV From Walmart, Change Clothes And Steal Another One
By 9.28.15
Earlier this month, a man masquerading as a Walmart employee walked in the door, grabbed four big screen TVs and simply walked back out the way he came. While that was no doubt a brazen shoplifting incident, two women may have topped him over the weekend: police say the women swiped one TV from a local store, changed their clothing and then stole another TV — from the same store.
[More]
CVS Employee Charged With Assault For Dragging Suspected Shoplifter Back Into Store
By 9.18.15
A CVS customer tried to return some batteries without a receipt, and was told that she wouldn’t be allowed to. Oh, well: she went to leave the store with her merchandise, and an unidentified man dragged her back inside the store. He was a CVS loss prevention officer, it turns out, but she claims he didn’t identify himself. [More]
When Attempting To Shoplift From Walmart, Be Careful To Not Stab Yourself
By 9.16.15
As always, we do not in any way condone shoplifting. Not just because it drives up retail prices for the rest of us, or causes stores to resort to overzealous security measures, or because it wastes the time and resources of police who probably have more important crimes to investigate. It can also land you in the hospital with a self-inflicted shoplifting-related wound. [More]
Man Spotted Shoving Pork Tenderloin Down His Pants
By 9.15.15
Here’s another story from the meat-down-pants beat: last week, a man was caught at a Wisconsin co-op grocery store with a pork tenderloin and two sandwiches stuffed down his pants. He told police that he shoplifted the items because he was homeless and hungry. He received a citation for retail theft and, one hopes, a referral to a place that could provide him with something to eat. [La Crosse Tribune] [More]
Man Stuffs Box Of Raspberry Cookies Down His Pants, Heads To Grocery Checkout
By 9.14.15
What is the impulse that leads people to say, “I would like to steal this item from this store, and I’m going to do it by stuffing it down my pants”? Why does it always happen with food? All we know is that it has happened again, this time with a grocery shopper caught with raspberry cookies down his pants. [More]
Woman Allegedly Instructs Kid To Push Cart Of Stolen Merchandise Out Of Walmart
By 9.9.15
Over the years, we’ve reported on several incidents in which a parent or guardian has taken their child along on a shoplifting excursion: there was the Toys ‘R’ Us shoplifting spree, the women who left their baby in the store, and the mom who used her kid’s stroller as cover for a stolen sex toy. While we haven’t heard too many of these stories lately, it’s still happening: a Chicago woman reportedly had a child accompanying her take stolen goods out of a Walmart. [More]
Two Men, Two Colostomy Bags, Two Shoplifting Accusations, Three Steaks, One Arrest, One Apology
By 8.13.15
Two men on different continents who have similar medical problems and have undergone the same surgery, and recent trips to these ended poorly for both of them. They both have colostomies, and store employees mistook both of their bags for stolen merchandise and became suspicious. The difference: one of them men was allegedly trying to leave the store with $75 worth of steak stuffed in his colostomy bag, and the other was innocent. [More]
Disingenuous Shoplifting Suspects Claim They Misunderstood “Tax-Free Holiday” Concept
By 8.5.15
During back-to-school season, some municipalities have tax holidays, where sales tax isn’t charged on clothing purchases. Georgia is holding one right now, and some shoppers took advantage of the holiday to… pretend that they didn’t understand that the term doesn’t mean “grab everything you can and run out of the store.” [More]
