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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Rosaleen Fenton & Antony Thrower

Lawyer explains why she 'never' uses self-checkout tills at grocery stores

A lawyer on TikTok has warned shoppers not to use self checkouts - and explained why she avoids them too.

Criminal defence attorney Lindsey Granados warned how shoppers at a large retail store in the US have ended up being charged with larceny, even when they did not mean to steal anything.

She explained how sometimes the machine do not pick up items meaning some of her clients are charged with the misdemeanour - even though it was a fault of the machine.

Lindsey added: "Those machines are faulty in a lot of ways and they are not particularity sensitive and they will unfortunately not scan items from time to time."

Millions of people use self checkouts every day - but need to be careful (Getty Images)

"I can't tell you how many clients I've talked with that have been charged with larceny, because one of those machines didn't scan appropriately.

“Why would you steal with someone else's money who's paying for it?"

Another lawyer claims they were talking to at least two or three people every week to have experienced the issue.

It comes as a Walmart customer is facing legal action after being accused of stealing items worth over $150 through a cunning self-checkout manoeuvre.

Taylor Johnson, 27, from Bedford, Indiana, US, was detained by police following reports of a 'sneaky' theft at her local Walmart store.

Another lawyer agreed they often hear from people (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

According to the allegations, Johnson engaged in two separate transactions at the self-checkout kiosk without properly paying for the items.

Walmart's' Asset Protection' Associates confronted Johnson in their office, leading to the involvement of the Bedford Police Department.

The Walmart associate who alerted store security claimed that Johnson employed a deceptive tactic to exit the store without paying for all the items in her cart.

Experts say the industry has been forced to consider advanced tech to crack down on 'swipers' who are pinching more than £500million worth of items a year.

Professor Adrian Beck, of the University of Leicester, liaises with stores to help them spot the tricks that some shoppers pull and has surveyed three thousand people on the changes.

He said the current tech works largely around weight and the scanners "can't recognise" what each item looks like.

It means people select cheap but heavy items like onions while actually buying more expensive foods like bananas or avocados.

He told the Daily Mail : "People make excuses for why they haven’t followed the rules such as 'there were problems with a barcode', or 'they made me use this machine and I tried my best but it didn’t work'."

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