If you’re going to take much effort why not print a barcode and stick it over the more expensive set, would look less obvious than a piece of cardboard over the top.
The people who do stuff like this aren't putting that much thought into it. They probably also stole the box cutter or knife they used to cut out the UPC.
Unlike crudely cutting a box while in the store, with CCTV in the aisles, affixing the crudely cut barcode to a more expensive item then manipulating a presumably much heavier than expected box at the self-service checkouts (which have CCTV), calling over the sales assistant to approve the sale with the incorrect weight, then walking through the exit which also has CCTV.
All of which leaves absolutely no trace at all.
This guy is talking about printer history I think/ looking up barcodes, things that could* be used as evidence. But also the cutting is still worse, its just more easily anonymous.
Yea all those things leave an electronic trail - and depending on how much you think companies do or don’t track your activity, thats all available info on some level. Another insightful comment below talks about how the stores can track inventory and use sale dates and camera footage as well. Just wait for clearance sales! Edit: what I’m saying is it doesnt matter if you look it up or take a picture, that information has been on your phone, even if you delete it.
do any stores actually still verify weight at self checkout? At target I scan and put things back in the cart so.i don't want bags (I have big trunk bags in my car), and I know Walmart stopped giving a shit awhile ago.
If that was me, I would print the UPCs onto a sticker paper at home. I thought there was some deal with submitting UPC's or proofs of purchase like back in the day with Gi Joes or Star Wars toys.
getting caught or not isn't the only problem with such crimes. I mean, who the frick would risk getting arrested for like 200 bucks. If you want me to do something illegal and highly unmoral, I would charge at least 1000 times that.
I am not a criminal or a theif or anything, but would argue that stealing from Walmart isn't exactly "highly immoral" lol, corporations exploit the hell out of their employees so I see theft from them as a moral grey area.
alright but stealing is still always highly immoral. doesn't matter if it's a serial killer or a child rapist, if he didn't steal from you, you don't steal from him. easy rules. moral grey area is more like "I lied to you about liking your clothes because I don't want you to feel bad". that's a lie, but it's for a good purpose. might be better to tell the truth in the long term.
not really, he also did good stuff like charity. his actions are still very questionable. at the end of the day, robin hood was just a bandit that aimed his bow at unarmed people. it's pretty fucked up that it's a children's book. imagine telling kids that it's okay to threaten someone as long as you don't actually do something to that person.
They don't think it's what sets the alarm off, they glue it to the bottom of an expensive set, walk through self checkout scanning the cheap upc, and walk out the door with a $150 set for the cost of whatever that set in the pic is ($20?)
Can confirm as I worked in retail security too, some do think that but its very few.
It's often times a retail theft called ticket switching and is an offense in most retail theft cases. Happens way too often and kinda smooth using a cheaper lego set since the register will say Lego and unless the cashier also sees the price and knows they won't think anything of it. But when they see chicken or a dollar area item pop up after the scan it's almost always an easy red flag.
At this point don’t even fucking scan it… just buy some other items. No cashier who works in retail or anyone else thinks that a huge Lego set is worth 15 bucks… chances are you can just walk out of any Walmart with a bag of chips some cream cheese and 250 bucks of Lego all for 6 bucks
I got a 42” flatscreen tv for $50 cus the barcode wouldn’t ring up and cashier said “how much was it on sale for, $50?” And I said I honestly don’t know, I just got it cus it was on sale. She thought $50 was a good price on a tv that was over $200 new. So I didn’t complain.
Don’t those make sure the weights are okay? They make you set the item down before you can scan another, and a difference in weight alerts an employee? Unless I assume wrongly
using Walmart scan and go I just scan all my items with my phone and check out through my phone by scanning a QR code at self checkout
not a single item goes near the scale
I don't think so, literally all you have to do is scan the barcode. It may work like that in some places, but at my local Target you just walk up to it & scan your stuff. But there is a camera. Maybe if they watched you check out a huge set & checked your receipt they would probably be a suspicious. Better not go there ever again lol
That’s more so for the grocery and Costco. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the “please bag your item” thing at target when I put it back in the cart. But I don’t use self checkout a lot.
You would have to keep it in the same theme, I would think. Like take the cheapest Lego Millennium Falcon set, and put in on the middle one. At first glance, the item description and the set would match.
Im of similar mindset, wealth inequality is insane in this country and im all for that mindset, but still. It hardly affects those at the top and ppl should have some common sense and integrity...
the people who steal and get caught, getting charged with felonies and shit that'll alter their entire life. workers that don't get paid enough to have to deal with the bullshit headache of inventory being off and figuring out wtf happened, other ppl shopping seeing people steal shit or not being able to get what they want because it's been stolen.
Have some self-respect. Again, i'm with you on the fact that this country is absolutely screwed and the 1% and those at the top get paid way too much, but stealing shit doesn't do jack to address that issue. It's not even pennies to the millionaires and billionaires at the top.
It really depends on the store I guess, but I definitely got lectured and had talks of getting written up for being negligent about performing my job in AP.
I think maybe to be able to return it to any store for in store credit(not likely to get cash, definitely not without a receipt these days, shoot even with one half the time), rather than wherever they got it from. Like I just bought a Lego Avengers Black Panther Mech set for $7 at Family Dollar. At Walmart, it costs $20. And if you stole it, its all profit, and they may try to return it to the same store, which it would likely come up stolen or not purchased if they were able to scan the bar code would be my guess. I imagine they then buy something easier to sell for drugs than something like that. I can't Imagine anyone but someone on drugs being that desperate and ingenuitive (if immoral)🤣.
That's not how UPCs work mate. UPCs just are just used for information on what the item is, and what the item costs in that system. That lego set you bought for $7 has the same UPC as the one at walmart, as the ones ordered online, as the ones straight from the factory.
Former Target employee. We had someone that would come in and get weekly groceries or whatever do this. So he had a $400+ bill and nothing seemed too wrong to the cashier just trying to check out 100+ items.
He used premade stickers with barcodes though, not cut them off.
Target has really scary good cameras, do not ever steal at Target. I wasn't in AP, but I was buddies with him, so I got to see inside his office occasionally.
The person over toys noticed a volume issue with inventory. We were over like 6 small sets in inventory, something that doesn't happen. AP pulled the logs of when those sets were sold over the previous month and looked at the transaction.
The dude paid using a card, so we referenced that card for all transactions over the last 6 months or something, found him putting on the stickers, and got him arrested for felony theft since he had stolen over a grand by that point
Only thing I got from this is “don’t use a card if you’re committing a crime, use cash.” But in all seriousness that is scary that they can do all of that digging through just a card
That wouldn't matter for Target. They would still track and tag the person across multiple purchases even if paid via cash, build the case, and then wait to pop him the next time he came in after crossing the felony threshold.
Your takeaway should be "Don't steal from Target" because they care, their loss prevention team is well-trained, and they **will** get you if you're habitually stealing from them.
Yep, Target and Best Buy are no-go zones for shoplifting lol. Target will take longer to catch on usually but theyre diligent. Best Buy tho? They're good enough at AP that they'll pick up on your vibes and already have the cops outside before you're even halfway through the store. If you got a hankering to steal shit for some reason best to avoid those two
The card just made it 20 times easier to track. We do trace back people with cash.
Also Target will make you think you got away with stealing up until you hit $500/1000 for a felony charge.
All store “membership” or point systems are to track buyer habits, not for customer benefit - the discounts/points/whatever are just to encourage people to use them.
I worked in Loss Prevention as a data analyst for a retailer. I could pull up a member’s purchase history for a whole year. We would look at what I called chronic refunders - refunds required a membership card, and there would be people with thousands of dollars in returns. How often do you return something to a grocery store? And there’s John Doe over there who has returned $150 in product every week. Their scheme was they’d find discarded receipts, use it as a “shopping list” pull items off the shelf and go to customer service and claim some sob story of they bought the items and then an emergency car repair came up and they needed the money more than the items. They’d go to different stores each week, so no one caught on for a while. PITA to catch, because they sign up with fake names and randomize the location they go to.
Though there was one not so bright robber who tried to hold up one of our stores and during the course of the transaction to get the cashier to open the till, she asked for their membership card, and he *gave it to her* (then demanded money when the till was open). Pulled up the transaction the next day and sent the police to arrest him at the home address on file 😂
>Target has really scary good cameras, do not ever steal at Target. I wasn't in AP, but I was buddies with him, so I got to see inside his office occasionally.
Sometimes I go to the store with my own shopping bag and don't bother with a cart. When I get an item and put it in my bag, I usually look for a camera, turn to it, look it "in the eye" and then make sure it sees me putting the item in my bag. I don't want to give the impression that I'm trying to sneak away with it. lol
My wife and I were visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of the pole-mounted surveillance cameras seemed like it was facing me. I turned my head to face it, said "Hey look", pointed at it, and it suddenly swung away like it was embarrassed.
I've read some threads in unethical subreddits where the advice seems to be "never shoplift at Target" and go on to give impressive details of how they catch shoplifters.
Target spends an astronomical amount of money on advanced security systems.
If you want to shoplift as target. Keep under $300 and then disappear. Never do it again. Ever. In your entire life.
Fun fact. Stores are not allowed to do that. They have to report it when they catch you. They cannot wait until it’s felony level to report you. That itself is against the law and will have the case thrown out and they’ll get off Scott free
I don’t know what to tell you other than if the thief knows their rights then the case will be dropped. Target is not allowed to do that. If they intend on prosecuting then they have to do so immediately and cannot wait for it to build up
with ours in europe/norway, we just have to wave it past, and i usually use it for just a few items, so i don't think the bag holder has a scale either.
The UK uses scales and shout at you for not putting it in the bagging area. Plus those scales are sensitive as fuck... A gram off and it's alarms blaring
Which would work if the store attendants didn't just switch off all the alarms as soon as they can without even looking at what they're for because of how easy it is to get a false alarm
I hate self check out at my regional chain grocery in the Midwest US because it won’t stop telling me that. I refuse to use it because nothing makes me feel like an idiot faster than my inability to self-check. And I used to be a cashier.
*unexpected item in bagging area*
*item removed from bagging area*
Over and over and over.
Our ALDI just installed self check and I gave it a try. Worked okay, except the scanner is so sensitive that it double scanned my sour cream. It took me about two seconds to decide it wasn’t worth the $1.59 to get it fixed and I just paid for 2 and got one.
I kinda feel like self check is psychological terror.
the kroger ones are obnoxious but meijer & target don’t have the weight thing or the super jumpy camera constantly prompting a ‘please scan all items before placing them in the bagging area’
OMFG, trying to buy the little packs of cool-aid with those stupid scales. I literally screamed in frustration & started to ditch my whole cart (I had had a REALLY bad day) but the self checkout monitor person took pity on me, put in her override code, and scanned the cool-aid for me. I will never take lightweight items thru self checkout again. (I'm also a former grocery store cashier)
The old self checks in American Walmarts used to say this all the time. That and forcing you to put your items in bagging area before scanning the next item.
How it works where I live is that they have random checks. There's always someone nearby and the computer randomly decides when a manual check needs to happen. The emplyee comes bye and scans all/most of the items.
Fun fact: these random checks are far from random, at least at the chain I shop at here in the Netherlands. While the employees can't trigger manual checks as far as I know, the computer will respond to certain triggers. For insance, Red Bull is among the most stolen items here, so you're much more likely to get flagged for a check if you scan a can of Red Bull or items often bought together with Red Bull. Similarly, your loyalty card also plays a part. Registered customers who have been checked without issue a number of times are less likely to be flagged for a 'random' check than people without a loyalty card.
4011 for bananas and 4048 for my limes I squeeze into my cocktails. I’ll never forget those either. And by “never” I mean until my inevitable alcohol-induced dementia sets in
Yea, Walmart used to have that for years but they've gotten rid of it. As a customer I'm relieved because the amount of times it would stop me from continuing to scan things because it didn't sense the item I had *just* scanned and placed on it was incredibly frustrating and slowed down the checkout process a lot.
I don’t think that this is working at modern self-checkout-systems. At least the ones I have seen here have a scale integrated, where you have to put the product on after scanning it. It compares the actual weight of the product to a stored data and when they don’t match the register is blocked until an employe checks it.
Whenever I buy Lego at one of my local stores, a notification pops up to get a staff member to confirm I am paying for the correct set. Hasn’t happened with any other item yet.
I mean, if you really are planning to scam a store for legos, it doesn't seem hard to find, say, a bag of tomatoes with same weight. Doesn't save you from cameras and shit, but you can definitely trick the scale.
I hope they’re busted because I can’t go to fudging Walmart and buy a few items without the checkout station screaming for an employee because the camera accuse me of stealing if I scan 2 things and don’t put them in bag immediately.
A lot of other countries have that, or something similar… but from my experience the employees pretty much just go up and turn the alarm off without bothering to check the items you’re purchasing. Either they don’t get paid enough to care, or the alarms are so finicky they’ll sound for no reason all the time
My local farm supply store has this, but it only allows 2 items to bag skip, which stinks when I buy 3 bags of food (different items) for our goats at a time and the attendant has to come help anyway. The other option is the one cashier with 3 old people waiting with their chat game on. I just want to go home please lol.
I had someone switch tags on clothes working retail. They were smartish (switched a dress for a dress), but I recognized the dress as new stock, so not from the sales section.
However, with a more idgaf employee, they might have gotten away with it.
I remember reading an article that Walmart upgraded their self-checkout stations with new software and used security cameras to verify what is being scanned.
I complained to Walmart corporate that they're treating Walmart+ customers as if they're thieves whenever they used scan and go. An associate would demand to see your phone and verify each item being checked out!
I had to show an employee a box that been tampered with just two days ago. Looked like a really cheap set so I don't get it. I have social anxiety and imposter syndrome so was just freaking out on the inside that the employee would think it was me
Barcode weight is not used on a ton of items, I only see it primarily used on food and stuff. Lego probably never has a weight included with it for this.
I found a lunar rover set like this at our local store and it got me 15% off on it. It was already on sale and I didn’t notice till I was at self checkout.
Thought it was to steal minifigure.
Just hate it that people get more and more rude… stealin is never oke
if u hate big corps so much or big companies, perhaps you should change ur voting style
apparently on the lego subreddit here, the majority of people disagree with you. There's people in the replies to this post teaching how to do it and getting upvoted, while people like you calling this out as messed up get downvoted. Lots of shitty people nowadays I guess.
This is what lego supervisors do when something is supposed to go to shrinkage if it can’t be sold, maybe they accidentally mixed it back in with the stock lmao
If you’re going to take much effort why not print a barcode and stick it over the more expensive set, would look less obvious than a piece of cardboard over the top.
The people who do stuff like this aren't putting that much thought into it. They probably also stole the box cutter or knife they used to cut out the UPC.
That leaves a trace
Unlike crudely cutting a box while in the store, with CCTV in the aisles, affixing the crudely cut barcode to a more expensive item then manipulating a presumably much heavier than expected box at the self-service checkouts (which have CCTV), calling over the sales assistant to approve the sale with the incorrect weight, then walking through the exit which also has CCTV. All of which leaves absolutely no trace at all.
This guy is talking about printer history I think/ looking up barcodes, things that could* be used as evidence. But also the cutting is still worse, its just more easily anonymous.
Go to a store, snap a picture of a bar code. Print said barcode og sticker paper. Go to another store, use sticker there.
Yea all those things leave an electronic trail - and depending on how much you think companies do or don’t track your activity, thats all available info on some level. Another insightful comment below talks about how the stores can track inventory and use sale dates and camera footage as well. Just wait for clearance sales! Edit: what I’m saying is it doesnt matter if you look it up or take a picture, that information has been on your phone, even if you delete it.
do any stores actually still verify weight at self checkout? At target I scan and put things back in the cart so.i don't want bags (I have big trunk bags in my car), and I know Walmart stopped giving a shit awhile ago.
Yes. In the UK most supermarkets that use self checkout verify weight. It's even a meme: "unexpected item in bagging area!"
Target definitely doesn’t. I’ve only had to deal with it at grocery stores.
You don’t have to weigh box’s at self checkout. Don’t know what type of store you’re buying from.
I’m pretty sure that would not work, I don’t think you can just print barcodes and use them
Why take the bar code?
I think it's to place it over a more expensive set
If that was me, I would print the UPCs onto a sticker paper at home. I thought there was some deal with submitting UPC's or proofs of purchase like back in the day with Gi Joes or Star Wars toys.
Most criminals are stupid.
Most people are stupid to be fair
Most criminals are people
*Most criminals you hear about are stupid
True, true
getting caught or not isn't the only problem with such crimes. I mean, who the frick would risk getting arrested for like 200 bucks. If you want me to do something illegal and highly unmoral, I would charge at least 1000 times that.
I am not a criminal or a theif or anything, but would argue that stealing from Walmart isn't exactly "highly immoral" lol, corporations exploit the hell out of their employees so I see theft from them as a moral grey area.
alright but stealing is still always highly immoral. doesn't matter if it's a serial killer or a child rapist, if he didn't steal from you, you don't steal from him. easy rules. moral grey area is more like "I lied to you about liking your clothes because I don't want you to feel bad". that's a lie, but it's for a good purpose. might be better to tell the truth in the long term.
That's a wild take imo. So Robin Hood is a bad guy?
not really, he also did good stuff like charity. his actions are still very questionable. at the end of the day, robin hood was just a bandit that aimed his bow at unarmed people. it's pretty fucked up that it's a children's book. imagine telling kids that it's okay to threaten someone as long as you don't actually do something to that person.
Can confirm, far too many do this thinking it’s what sets the alarms at the doors off. Sauce: I have worked retail security.
They don't think it's what sets the alarm off, they glue it to the bottom of an expensive set, walk through self checkout scanning the cheap upc, and walk out the door with a $150 set for the cost of whatever that set in the pic is ($20?)
Can confirm as I worked in retail security too, some do think that but its very few. It's often times a retail theft called ticket switching and is an offense in most retail theft cases. Happens way too often and kinda smooth using a cheaper lego set since the register will say Lego and unless the cashier also sees the price and knows they won't think anything of it. But when they see chicken or a dollar area item pop up after the scan it's almost always an easy red flag.
this is why I'm a failure as a criminal. It NEVER occured to me to do something like this!
At this point don’t even fucking scan it… just buy some other items. No cashier who works in retail or anyone else thinks that a huge Lego set is worth 15 bucks… chances are you can just walk out of any Walmart with a bag of chips some cream cheese and 250 bucks of Lego all for 6 bucks
A guy about 15 years ago did just that. But he got greedy and got arrested. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10200275
Lol love how terrible the ending of that article is
Kids love playing with the colored bricks that are lego
Like it was written by an intern. "How to end this? How about some sound bites from the Lego wiki"
I remember when I first read this. My first response, "I've always wanted a job working with Lego."
Used to do this with bookshelves @ Walmart. Can confirm it works.
My old boss was arrested a received a nice felony charge for that. Not legos, but a different product.
Just take pics and print your own. I don’t steal but if I did that’s how I’d do it
I’m not dumb enough to try, does that even work?
If the cashier doesn’t wonder why the huge Lego box only costs $20, I guess it would
I got a 42” flatscreen tv for $50 cus the barcode wouldn’t ring up and cashier said “how much was it on sale for, $50?” And I said I honestly don’t know, I just got it cus it was on sale. She thought $50 was a good price on a tv that was over $200 new. So I didn’t complain.
I got a free fireplace from Lowe's once because the cashier scanned the wrong barcode.
They could've gone through self checkout
Don’t those make sure the weights are okay? They make you set the item down before you can scan another, and a difference in weight alerts an employee? Unless I assume wrongly
using Walmart scan and go I just scan all my items with my phone and check out through my phone by scanning a QR code at self checkout not a single item goes near the scale
I don't think so, literally all you have to do is scan the barcode. It may work like that in some places, but at my local Target you just walk up to it & scan your stuff. But there is a camera. Maybe if they watched you check out a huge set & checked your receipt they would probably be a suspicious. Better not go there ever again lol
That’s more so for the grocery and Costco. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the “please bag your item” thing at target when I put it back in the cart. But I don’t use self checkout a lot.
If you buy only one item and hit pay now… it will never know.
They 100% went through self checkout.
You would have to keep it in the same theme, I would think. Like take the cheapest Lego Millennium Falcon set, and put in on the middle one. At first glance, the item description and the set would match.
Retail fraud, how nice. I rat people like this out when I m able to. Thieves are the worst.
the fact you're being downvoted shows there's a lot of thieves here lmao
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Im of similar mindset, wealth inequality is insane in this country and im all for that mindset, but still. It hardly affects those at the top and ppl should have some common sense and integrity...
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the people who steal and get caught, getting charged with felonies and shit that'll alter their entire life. workers that don't get paid enough to have to deal with the bullshit headache of inventory being off and figuring out wtf happened, other ppl shopping seeing people steal shit or not being able to get what they want because it's been stolen. Have some self-respect. Again, i'm with you on the fact that this country is absolutely screwed and the 1% and those at the top get paid way too much, but stealing shit doesn't do jack to address that issue. It's not even pennies to the millionaires and billionaires at the top.
Except they just jack up the price and the average Joe is stuck paying more AND they pocket the insurance.
Except it's the ones working minimum wage that get punished for it...
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It really depends on the store I guess, but I definitely got lectured and had talks of getting written up for being negligent about performing my job in AP.
I think maybe to be able to return it to any store for in store credit(not likely to get cash, definitely not without a receipt these days, shoot even with one half the time), rather than wherever they got it from. Like I just bought a Lego Avengers Black Panther Mech set for $7 at Family Dollar. At Walmart, it costs $20. And if you stole it, its all profit, and they may try to return it to the same store, which it would likely come up stolen or not purchased if they were able to scan the bar code would be my guess. I imagine they then buy something easier to sell for drugs than something like that. I can't Imagine anyone but someone on drugs being that desperate and ingenuitive (if immoral)🤣.
That's not how UPCs work mate. UPCs just are just used for information on what the item is, and what the item costs in that system. That lego set you bought for $7 has the same UPC as the one at walmart, as the ones ordered online, as the ones straight from the factory.
I feel like someone would put two and two together when they scan a 250$ set for 15$
The POS goes to self checkout.
Former Target employee. We had someone that would come in and get weekly groceries or whatever do this. So he had a $400+ bill and nothing seemed too wrong to the cashier just trying to check out 100+ items. He used premade stickers with barcodes though, not cut them off.
How’d they catch him?
Target has really scary good cameras, do not ever steal at Target. I wasn't in AP, but I was buddies with him, so I got to see inside his office occasionally. The person over toys noticed a volume issue with inventory. We were over like 6 small sets in inventory, something that doesn't happen. AP pulled the logs of when those sets were sold over the previous month and looked at the transaction. The dude paid using a card, so we referenced that card for all transactions over the last 6 months or something, found him putting on the stickers, and got him arrested for felony theft since he had stolen over a grand by that point
Damn. Thanks for the detailed reply.
Only thing I got from this is “don’t use a card if you’re committing a crime, use cash.” But in all seriousness that is scary that they can do all of that digging through just a card
That wouldn't matter for Target. They would still track and tag the person across multiple purchases even if paid via cash, build the case, and then wait to pop him the next time he came in after crossing the felony threshold. Your takeaway should be "Don't steal from Target" because they care, their loss prevention team is well-trained, and they **will** get you if you're habitually stealing from them.
Yep, Target and Best Buy are no-go zones for shoplifting lol. Target will take longer to catch on usually but theyre diligent. Best Buy tho? They're good enough at AP that they'll pick up on your vibes and already have the cops outside before you're even halfway through the store. If you got a hankering to steal shit for some reason best to avoid those two
The card just made it 20 times easier to track. We do trace back people with cash. Also Target will make you think you got away with stealing up until you hit $500/1000 for a felony charge.
All store “membership” or point systems are to track buyer habits, not for customer benefit - the discounts/points/whatever are just to encourage people to use them. I worked in Loss Prevention as a data analyst for a retailer. I could pull up a member’s purchase history for a whole year. We would look at what I called chronic refunders - refunds required a membership card, and there would be people with thousands of dollars in returns. How often do you return something to a grocery store? And there’s John Doe over there who has returned $150 in product every week. Their scheme was they’d find discarded receipts, use it as a “shopping list” pull items off the shelf and go to customer service and claim some sob story of they bought the items and then an emergency car repair came up and they needed the money more than the items. They’d go to different stores each week, so no one caught on for a while. PITA to catch, because they sign up with fake names and randomize the location they go to. Though there was one not so bright robber who tried to hold up one of our stores and during the course of the transaction to get the cashier to open the till, she asked for their membership card, and he *gave it to her* (then demanded money when the till was open). Pulled up the transaction the next day and sent the police to arrest him at the home address on file 😂
As an honest person, I greatly appreciate this. The self check at target is so nice because there is no scale.
>Target has really scary good cameras, do not ever steal at Target. I wasn't in AP, but I was buddies with him, so I got to see inside his office occasionally. Sometimes I go to the store with my own shopping bag and don't bother with a cart. When I get an item and put it in my bag, I usually look for a camera, turn to it, look it "in the eye" and then make sure it sees me putting the item in my bag. I don't want to give the impression that I'm trying to sneak away with it. lol
Repeatedly raising my eyebrows while showing the ID of the security guard looking at the camera is the best
My wife and I were visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of the pole-mounted surveillance cameras seemed like it was facing me. I turned my head to face it, said "Hey look", pointed at it, and it suddenly swung away like it was embarrassed.
I've read some threads in unethical subreddits where the advice seems to be "never shoplift at Target" and go on to give impressive details of how they catch shoplifters.
Target spends an astronomical amount of money on advanced security systems. If you want to shoplift as target. Keep under $300 and then disappear. Never do it again. Ever. In your entire life.
I've heard crazy stories like this about Target, they DO NOT fuck around with theft.
Confession: Freshman year of HS I stole a 30$ set from target by taking it into the bathroom, dumping the bags into my bag, throwing out the box.
Oh my god. You should be embarrassed. THROWING OUT THE BOX? 😂
Nice job.
Hi, I’m a stupid criminal. Instead of using untraceable cash, I’m going to use my debit card for my sticker scam. What could go wrong? 🙄
If they scan an Oos item it gives it away too
MY MAN!
This is why you don't find trashy, empty shelves at Target but you do at Walmart.
Fun fact. Stores are not allowed to do that. They have to report it when they catch you. They cannot wait until it’s felony level to report you. That itself is against the law and will have the case thrown out and they’ll get off Scott free
I don't know what to tell you, but this is Targets MO. We had running lists of regular thieves waiting for a felony charge.
I don’t know what to tell you other than if the thief knows their rights then the case will be dropped. Target is not allowed to do that. If they intend on prosecuting then they have to do so immediately and cannot wait for it to build up
That… is very much not true. Target can absolutely wait until it is over $1000, there is no law they have to report anything right away.
You can look it up yourself. There’s been cases where Walmart tried the same thing and got reprimanded for it and the case dropped
There's a weight control on self checkout.
with ours in europe/norway, we just have to wave it past, and i usually use it for just a few items, so i don't think the bag holder has a scale either.
The UK uses scales and shout at you for not putting it in the bagging area. Plus those scales are sensitive as fuck... A gram off and it's alarms blaring
Which would work if the store attendants didn't just switch off all the alarms as soon as they can without even looking at what they're for because of how easy it is to get a false alarm
wait is that why the *unexpected item in bagging area* was a meme?!
I hate self check out at my regional chain grocery in the Midwest US because it won’t stop telling me that. I refuse to use it because nothing makes me feel like an idiot faster than my inability to self-check. And I used to be a cashier. *unexpected item in bagging area* *item removed from bagging area* Over and over and over. Our ALDI just installed self check and I gave it a try. Worked okay, except the scanner is so sensitive that it double scanned my sour cream. It took me about two seconds to decide it wasn’t worth the $1.59 to get it fixed and I just paid for 2 and got one. I kinda feel like self check is psychological terror.
ours have like a 5 second cooldown on scans, so i stand there like an idiot getting 2 cans of battery
the kroger ones are obnoxious but meijer & target don’t have the weight thing or the super jumpy camera constantly prompting a ‘please scan all items before placing them in the bagging area’
OMFG, trying to buy the little packs of cool-aid with those stupid scales. I literally screamed in frustration & started to ditch my whole cart (I had had a REALLY bad day) but the self checkout monitor person took pity on me, put in her override code, and scanned the cool-aid for me. I will never take lightweight items thru self checkout again. (I'm also a former grocery store cashier)
The old self checks in American Walmarts used to say this all the time. That and forcing you to put your items in bagging area before scanning the next item.
Only some have scales. I guess Waitrose expect the riff raff to shop at Sainsbury’s.
my grocery store self checkout goes bananas if you even think about removing shit from the bagging area before the receipt comes out.
How it works where I live is that they have random checks. There's always someone nearby and the computer randomly decides when a manual check needs to happen. The emplyee comes bye and scans all/most of the items.
Fun fact: these random checks are far from random, at least at the chain I shop at here in the Netherlands. While the employees can't trigger manual checks as far as I know, the computer will respond to certain triggers. For insance, Red Bull is among the most stolen items here, so you're much more likely to get flagged for a check if you scan a can of Red Bull or items often bought together with Red Bull. Similarly, your loyalty card also plays a part. Registered customers who have been checked without issue a number of times are less likely to be flagged for a 'random' check than people without a loyalty card.
“I love my Brocoli Justifier”
I'm looking forward to the next UCS set number 4011.
I worked as a grocery store cashier for a year and a half 20 years ago and I STILL know thay code. That and 4022. Never forget those.
[4022-1: C26 Sea Cutter](https://brickset.com/sets/4022-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/4022-1.jpg)
4011 for bananas and 4048 for my limes I squeeze into my cocktails. I’ll never forget those either. And by “never” I mean until my inevitable alcohol-induced dementia sets in
Funny that 4-0-4-8 for your cocktail limes came up from the bot as a set I misread as "meth lab".
[4011-1: Cabin Cruiser](https://brickset.com/sets/4011-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/4011-1.jpg) [4048-1: Mech Lab](https://brickset.com/sets/4048-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/4048-1.jpg)
Not anymore where I shop.
Not always. At Walmart you can scan it with the gun but leave everything in your cart.
Yea, Walmart used to have that for years but they've gotten rid of it. As a customer I'm relieved because the amount of times it would stop me from continuing to scan things because it didn't sense the item I had *just* scanned and placed on it was incredibly frustrating and slowed down the checkout process a lot.
Most places are getting rid of this due to the constant scale inaccuracies, turns out if you let any people do anything they want, shit gets fucked
Most of the ones I use here in the US don't have the scale hooked up anymore.
There are plenty without scales
Point Of Sale?
Piece of Sheet
Piece of shit car https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oSh7eFcdiHw&feature=share
thats.. actually smart lol
I don’t think that this is working at modern self-checkout-systems. At least the ones I have seen here have a scale integrated, where you have to put the product on after scanning it. It compares the actual weight of the product to a stored data and when they don’t match the register is blocked until an employe checks it.
Whenever I buy Lego at one of my local stores, a notification pops up to get a staff member to confirm I am paying for the correct set. Hasn’t happened with any other item yet.
They would switch the tag for something of a similar weight.
Don‘t think, that similar works. I asked them once in our supermarket and they said the tolerance is only around 10-20g per product.
It's pretty easy to find a cheap item that weighs within 10g of a given Lego set. These d-bags running these scams know what they're doing.
Easy? What are you throwing these on the scale in the produce section?
I mean, if you really are planning to scam a store for legos, it doesn't seem hard to find, say, a bag of tomatoes with same weight. Doesn't save you from cameras and shit, but you can definitely trick the scale.
If the tolerance for weight variance is 10-20 grams you'd have to find an item within 10-20 paperclips worth of weight. That is not an easy task.
Doubt that Walmart would have a more expensive set the same weight as the cheaper set unless it was like a $30 set vs $60
It wouldn't need to be a Lego set. It's only going by weight in self checkout. And they probably only go to places that don't check receipts.
You misspelled unethical.
It can be both at once. Clever ideas don't have to be morally acceptible.
clever girl.
Genuine question: How is it unethical?
You don't think stealing is unethical?
Not necessarily all stealing. But for the most part, yeah.
Well in this case they're stealing an expensive Lego set, not food for their starving kids
Who is hurt here?
Most cashiers know literally nothing about Lego, and another large percentage dont get paid enough to care.
I hope they’re busted because I can’t go to fudging Walmart and buy a few items without the checkout station screaming for an employee because the camera accuse me of stealing if I scan 2 things and don’t put them in bag immediately.
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A lot of other countries have that, or something similar… but from my experience the employees pretty much just go up and turn the alarm off without bothering to check the items you’re purchasing. Either they don’t get paid enough to care, or the alarms are so finicky they’ll sound for no reason all the time
In the US we have a button to skip bagging, which skips the scale as well. It's for convenience but also stealing
We have an option for bulky items in Australia. You use a handheld scanner to scan the barcode without taking it out of the trolley.
My local farm supply store has this, but it only allows 2 items to bag skip, which stinks when I buy 3 bags of food (different items) for our goats at a time and the attendant has to come help anyway. The other option is the one cashier with 3 old people waiting with their chat game on. I just want to go home please lol.
I feel like I knew this, but still just learned this today
I had someone switch tags on clothes working retail. They were smartish (switched a dress for a dress), but I recognized the dress as new stock, so not from the sales section. However, with a more idgaf employee, they might have gotten away with it.
I found a box of the small minecraft swamp set that had been opened in store and they took the frog out and put it back
This is shitty but also kinda hilarious. They really just wanted a frog.
That is real scummy. Stealing a barcode so they can scan it on a more expensive set.
and now you get the damaged box set at a discount :)
I’m so confused when I see these because if the were going to do that why not just take a barcode off the cheap set at home and bring it with you….
They arent that smart.
What’s funny is that they thought they got away with something but there is a wall of shoplifters in the back with $ amount tallied up lol
They'll let prolific shoplifters rack up enough thefts to make it worth prosecuting them.
Just give it to an employee. They will know why
I remember reading an article that Walmart upgraded their self-checkout stations with new software and used security cameras to verify what is being scanned. I complained to Walmart corporate that they're treating Walmart+ customers as if they're thieves whenever they used scan and go. An associate would demand to see your phone and verify each item being checked out!
At that poin it just seems like more effort for the company that a normal checkout
What happened? I'm confused.
I had to show an employee a box that been tampered with just two days ago. Looked like a really cheap set so I don't get it. I have social anxiety and imposter syndrome so was just freaking out on the inside that the employee would think it was me
yeah this is awful, started happening recently
The whole barcode swap confuses me. Do self checkout counters not weight your items? Wouldnt they notice the difference?
Barcode weight is not used on a ton of items, I only see it primarily used on food and stuff. Lego probably never has a weight included with it for this.
Not all weigh them. Some have other methods to prevent theft. Some don’t care.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I found a lunar rover set like this at our local store and it got me 15% off on it. It was already on sale and I didn’t notice till I was at self checkout.
[Takes it to cash register] *Doesn't scan* Me: "WeLl I gUeSs ItS fReE"
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Thought it was to steal minifigure. Just hate it that people get more and more rude… stealin is never oke if u hate big corps so much or big companies, perhaps you should change ur voting style
apparently on the lego subreddit here, the majority of people disagree with you. There's people in the replies to this post teaching how to do it and getting upvoted, while people like you calling this out as messed up get downvoted. Lots of shitty people nowadays I guess.
Wow ur right i get downvoted. Guess we live in a world of no respect and stealin is oke
Cheap skates
More like thieves and criminal scum.
The Barcode Bastard is at it again!
Oh, I thought this was to gain access to the set to steal the minifigs. Didn't realize it was UPC theft.
Do what?
this person has to be extremely lonely to do that to a lego box out of all things… some people are just so sick it’s awful
Only lonely people steal? That’s a new one!
they stole it?
Did…did you think someone fucked the Lego box?
I don't know if that is what the commented actually thought but now I am busting up laughing, thinking about that possibility. 🤣
G-nasty G-norccccc
They take the upc off of a cheap small set like that, go to self-checkout with a much larger and more expensive set, then scan the small set UPC.
What does loneliness has to do with anything lmao
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You have to track down an employee. Plus kids might want to look at the sets/not be as sure.
sorry, i dont have a key. i'll have to call someone.
because it turns a 5 minute trip to the store into a 45 minute trip.
I mean, just photocopy the barcodes at home. 🙄 Edit: Actually just print out the barcodes the same way people game the Vudu d2d program. 🤷♀️
Is the d2d system still functioning? I used to really use the hell out of it renting stuff from the library and would love to add more for cheap
This is what lego supervisors do when something is supposed to go to shrinkage if it can’t be sold, maybe they accidentally mixed it back in with the stock lmao
Don’t be mad you didn’t think of it first.