They have become a fixture of supermarket shopping at most major chains, but should we be avoiding the self-checkouts? The risks of self-scanning your own shopping have been highlighted by a US lawyer in a TikTok video.
Criminal defence attorney Lindsey Granados has warned people not to use them, and told her followers that she avoids them too, the Mirror reports. It's all because she has worked with clients who have been charged with larceny, even though there was no intention to steal anything
She said self-service checkouts can fail to pick up some items which are being scanned, resulting in some shoppers at a large US retail store being charged, the Sun reported. She said: "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."
"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.!
Another lawyer said they were talking to at least two or three people every week to have experienced the issue.
Supermarkets are set to introduce advanced self-service technology in a bid to cut down on shoplifting, it was reported last month. A third of shoppers are estimated to fail to pay for all their items when using the unmanned tills - though not always intentionally - with thieves specifically using them to steal more expensive
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. The new systems can detect when an item in the bagging area is different to the one scanned, as well as spot other suspicious patterns.
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'."
