Shoplifters

[BumbleFlump]

I’ve noticed a couple of times people loitering around the exit of a shop, waiting until I walk through the barrier and then either walking out at the same time or directly behind. Then, lo and behold the alarm goes off.

This happened to me today and I actually stopped so the lady behind couldn’t get past me and walked off when the store’s security came over, explaining that shed deliberately walked out at the same time as me. She was directly behind me, way too close for comfort. I told her and the security guard in no uncertain terms what I thought she was up to.

Am I right in assuming this is a tactic shoplifters use to confuse security so the don’t know who set off the barrier?

The woman and her friend caught up with me in the car park and told me I’d been rude. She said the security guard checker her receipt (not her bag/buggy) but that would have just shown that she’s paid for the items on the receipt 🤷🏻‍♀️ She could easily have had other things squirrelled away in her bag. To me, this shows that she probably had been stealing and was trying to divert it all onto me and my rudeness.

So was I being unreasonable? I wouldn’t normally get involved in anything like that, but it was all just so damn obvious.

how do you know that soft tags weren't deactivated by the scanner? maybe some items had them on, they are just a sticker to look at

i'm a retail manager battling theft on a daily basis

you were silly

by the way...those alarms can be activated by many things other than tags stores attach to high value items. did you not know that?

I sometimes set the alarm of going into the supermarket - the security guard said it's my phone that does it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think you were being extremely unreasonable accusing someone of being a thief having not observed them take anything. Alarms can be set off by all sorts. I've had alarms go off on me when I'm the only person walking out and 100% havent taken anything from the shop. It's usually been something I've bought where though the tag has been removed there's something in the price tag itself that hasn't deactivated, or the same thing but an item from another shop, or clearly something like a card or whatever on me (not discovered the reason) where I've left empty handed. All sorts of reasons

I've set off the alarms in sainsburys when buying clothes that have no tags. They then do some weird thing where they wave them over their counter! So it's possible to set the alarm off with no tags.

I think you were rude to say you think the woman was shoplifting. I'm not surprised she spoke to you afterwards. I would have been really angry to have been accused like that by someone who is just making assumptions for whatever reason.

I don’t think they were shoplifting or you’d probably have been stabbed.

The alarm goes of about 50% of the time I use the self service, I have even tried getting staff to check everything and it still goes of quite often.

I don’t steal things.

Real shoplifters also wouldn’t be wasting time arguing with a busybody either.

the more i think about it the more outrageous i think it is.
If someone had been stealing then what difference would it make if she had gone immediately after you. It would set the alarm off and then youd both have to be checked. An alrm going off for 2 people isnt going to mean they dont check. Its just really odd behaviour from you and also really quite nasty. I always feel worried that tags are going to be left on my stuff. If youd done this to me I would have felt awful.
If youd done it to one of my kids, id struggle to get them back in a shop again

I used to set off the alarm in Sainsburys but no one ever stopped me. I eventually realised it was when wearing a certain coat. Turned out the coat which I had bought in TK Max had a security tag in the lining. I never set off any one else's alarms.
Op you mentioned that security tags sometimes didn't get removed from clothing you had bought and set alarms off so you now make sure they are removed. Surely this could have happened with this woman.
I once bought an iron in Tesco's which set off the alarm. The security guy after seeing my receipt had to get an assistant to come and find it and then to remove it.

Really surprised by the voting - a lot more people than I expected seem quite happy with people making accusations of theft on the basis of zero evidence.
I assume OP isn't coming back.

I don't know, I wait by the exit when shopping with dp as I hate the self checkouts he likes to use. I just wait for him to finish then walk out with him when he passes me. Could she not have bee at waiting for her friend?

Clothes, steak, baby milk, manuka honey, all some examples of supermarket items that have security strips deactivated by a pad and not physically removed. So yes it very likely was your clothes.

Shoplifters just leave and then run, use a bag for life lined with tinfoil or a specific type of magnet. They're not tailgating you, because most security guards can spot which of you is the shoplifter in a glance. Shopthefts are often committed by the same group of people in the same shops over and over until a criminal behaviour order is issued barring them from the shop/town centre etc. Then they get arrested for breach of that. Yes there will be the odd chancer but people who do this regularly wouldn't be remonstrating with you in a carpark

Likely your clothing even though it didn't have a big tag on it can still beep.

Shoplifters would have taken the tags off anyway.

@KingdomScrolls

Shoplifters just leave and then run, use a bag for life lined with tinfoil or a specific type of magnet. They're not tailgating you, because most security guards can spot which of you is the shoplifter in a glance. Shopthefts are often committed by the same group of people in the same shops over and over until a criminal behaviour order is issued barring them from the shop/town centre etc. Then they get arrested for breach of that. Yes there will be the odd chancer but people who do this regularly wouldn't be remonstrating with you in a carpark

100% this. Exactly right. You were totally unreasonable and owed that woman an apology for being bloody rude.

Shoplifters don’t always remove tags and a lot of them aren’t very confident about doing it so they will loiter and tailgate. A lot of them just don’t give a shit and are so brazen that they don’t care who sees.

I wouldn’t say that a shoplifter wouldn’t have a go at someone in a car park either. Having worked in retail settings for 99% of my working life, I’ve had a few occasions where our regular shoplifters that I’ve caught stealing have waited outside work for me to finish my shift and follow me to the car park while calling me a grass. The ones who get most confrontational like that are usually the shoplifters who “supply” drug dealers or members of the public with the stolen goods, not the shoplifters who do it for a thrill or out of necessity.

Very stupid idea to confront them though. Can lead to very dangerous situations. Retail staff are constantly reminded not to confront shoplifters and to leave it to the guard and/or phone the police who are trained to deal with these issues.