Friend tried shoplifting in Asda via scan and go

[bunnyhops90]

My friend who I was due to meet this evening rang me in tears and really panicked this afternoon following doing her weekly shop in asda this morning via the scan and go thing. She is a newly single mum to a toddler and twin 14 month old and I didn't realise until we spoke today just quite how much she is struggling with everything, she has been left with a lot of debt from her abusive ex-partner and is very much struggling to get by.

Anyway she said always uses the scan and go but today she said she doesn't know what made her do this but with Christmas coming up she is getting increasingly stressed about finances and making it through, she knows this is no excuse and accepts her unwise decision, she deliberately didn't scan a few things including baby food, fruit and pizza. When she went to go and pay it said she had been chosen for a staff member to go through some of her shopping and check for accuracy or something along those lines. Staff member scanned quite a few which were all fine then came to one of the items that she hadn't scanned and was told her full shopping would need to be checked. She panicked at this point, pretended she was taking an important phone call and swiftly walked away and left the shop with all the shopping behind before they realised there was a few I scanned and she drove home. She is terrified the police are going to show up on her doorstep and arrest her and is kicking herself for her stupid choice and worried she's got herself into even more difficulty now, I said I thought was unlikely the police would be contacted but apparently they will have her details since she used scan and go so thinks they will easily be able to find her. Does anyone agree with friend and think the police will come looking for her? I want to try and re-assure her but I really have no knowledge around this kind of thing!

Agree that it's the walking out that makes it look like attempted theft, which it was, rather than it being a mistake, which she could have claimed it was and paid for the groceries. I'd be too embarrassed to go back, personally.

Oh who cares then! She should just forget about it and not do it again.

She didn't steel it as she didn't leave with it. Nothing will happen and it is probably frightened her too much to do again. !

She didn’t in the end though. The shop won’t follow up. This is just a case of lesson learned and she won’t do it again!

They don't do anything any more unless you steal over £500 of items, even if they called the police the police won't do anything under that amount.

I hope this lady can get some help soon. Poverty is a horrible place to be in. I have little time for the kind of shoplifters who steal in bulk to sell things on, they can get proper jobs if they want but this is different.

This is actually incorrect advice. Legally, the theft happened at the point she had placed the goods in the trolley but decided not to pay for the items.

It's possible ASDA will decide that it's too much effort to prosecute for about £15 worth of items, but a criminal offence has been committed.

Good thing it was a large store though! My sister once accidentally shoplifted from a convenience store. She was trying to manage scanning the goods (about £14 worth) and her crying baby, and tapped her card, but it didn’t go through and she didn’t notice. The police came to her door! She was terrified something had happened to her husband. The police said she had to go back and pay the £14. She lives across the street from the convenience store and goes in most days! It was obviously a mistake. She had to go back, gather up everything she had previously taken to be scanned again, and pay the money. I told her she should have handed the police the £14 and let them sort it instead of dragging the baby back to the shop, as they obviously weren’t too busy if they had time to look up her address and come after her for £14!

It doesn’t sound like the security staff got involved but It’s possible the store staff would recognise her again so I would suggest she avoids the store in future. I know the Asda in my area is very strict as I know two people who are banned(!)

I'm sure people miss stuff (intentionally or not) all the time. It's easily done. If she had only missed a few items in a trolley full, it wouldn't be that odd. She has got herself into a panic now by walking away instead of saying that she missed them by mistake.

I'd think it's unusual she got caught the first time she tried to steal, so maybe she has done this a few times and got away with it, and the amount she had not scanned is more than she's saying to you (lots of items instead of a handful)

Either way, it will have hopefully scared her enough not to do it again, and you can suggest places for her to get help like your local foodbanks.

She didn’t leave the shop with anything so she didn’t steal anything. The police aren’t turning up.

Until you leave the store, you haven't stole anythign, therefore no crime.

I did a scan and go shop in Waitrose and was checked and they found that of the two packets of hot cross buns I had taken, only one had scanned. I paid for the second one. It was embarrassing but it's made me check the number of items on the scanner compared to the number in trolley now.

I was followed by the security guard the next time I went in. I felt that was only fair and asked him for advice on what to buy from the wine section.

Nobody accused me of being a shop lifter and I wasn't reported to the police.

Well they aren’t going to track her down but they will likely remember her and keep an eye on her if the sane people are on shift.

I'm not with the police but my sister works in a supermarket and they will just put all the stuff back and nothing will happen. They won't try and trace her, however the staff member will probably remember her so it's whether she's got the brass neck to show her face. Technically though she didn't leave the store with stolen items so has done nothing wrong.

How would anyone know what she’d ’decided’? She could have been going to scan them at the end if she could afford them, or put them back if not . I don’t believe a crime would be committed until she left the shop without paying.

Did she really panic? Because it sounds like a pretty slick operation - scan a load of food and then walk out if caught, knowing she hasn't left the store. I saw a man steal 10 x packs of smoked salmon the other day.

Anyway, they will just ban her from the store most likely. Signpost her to some foodbanks.

I very much doubt anything would happen on the basis that these are relatively low value items and she’s not a repeat offender. A few months ago I went into Waitrose and my scan and go privileges had been taken away so I went to customer service desk and they told me a few weeks before I had scanned a fairly expensive joint of beef and not paid for it. I’d been with my children at checkout so I’d just quickly loaded the shop and tapped my card on the reader. Obviously they thought I’d stolen it. Anyway there were zero consequences I was so aghast at my mistake that they didn’t even make me pay for it!

Nothing will happen, she didn't steal anything. You can't get the police to come out to actual crimes so there's no chance with this since no crime has been committed. If supermarkets want accurate scans, they should pay for more people to work on the checkouts. Tell her to just have a story ready if she needs to go in again.

Is this the first time she’s tried it, op? Or just the first time she’s been caught.

I got a routine check on quite a small shop in Sainsbury about 3 months ago - I think the total amount was only about £15. I had two packets of Ibuprofen in the bag and for some reason, neither came up on the scan. I really don't know why because I thought I'd scanned everything.

Anyway, of course the entire amount was then checked, but I haven't had another check since then.

I've been a regular customer there for maybe 20 years, and always have to ask for help as the machine won't scan my newspaper voucher; so I suppose the staff knew my face and presumably assume (correctly!) that I'm not in the habit of shoplifting!

Staff in Asda have very long memories and (at least in my local one) they work there for many years. I wouldn't go back there if I were her.

If she really has three little children and is struggling she'll get help through food banks. Is she claiming everything she is entitled to? If I were her I wouldn't worry much about getting many Christmas presents for the children. They will get overwhelmed with too much anyway.

I don't think the store or the police are likely to pursue. I'm also guessing that this isn't the first time she has done it, either. Just the first time she has got caught.

She might have to start shopping elsewhere in future. In the meantime, please encourage her to get some proper advice on her financial situation.

She didn't steal anything. The police won't be interested. Yes she's been stupid - scan and go knows how much your shopping should weigh.

I've been stopped twice in another supermarket for checks. On both occasions it wasn't until afterwards I realised I'd taken things out of my trolley and forgotten to delete them from the scanner handset. I can't prove that so they've made money from my mistakes.