8 Crafty Ways People Shoplift at Target

This will not be your usual “how to shoplift at Target” sort of publication. However, it reveals the various ways shoplifters actually shoplift and game Target’s security systems.

Shoplifting gives you that rush of adrenaline, and every shoplifter knows “it is wrong”. But to think of it again, it would seem shoplifting at Target “does the company no harm” since they are a huge corporation anyway. This is not exactly true.

And as a shoplifter, you want to think “other people are not smart” or too stupid to catch you in the process. Perhaps, this mindset will help to get away with the item, but could also get you in trouble. The bigger trouble is the criminal history awaiting your record.

 

Thumb rule: Go after cheaper items

If a shoplifter steals an item worth under $20, Target may be unlikely to pursue the cause. It may not be worth it, and the company would be spending more than they would rather lose than recover it from you.

Various reports tend to show that Target’s security team gets scored in ways, including the number of shoplifters they catch, and even employees they caught in the act, etc. Perhaps, the team will be marked down for under $20 stops since Target will not be willing to charge for this value.

It is probably a waste of time anyway. Moreover, while the team members go after the one man with smaller items, the store is exposed to other potential shoplifters around.

Don’t get this wrong. The point is not that you won’t caught. You may or may not get caught shoplifting low-value items. There is also the chance that Target may turn you to the police for that small item.

Like Walmart, we would believe that Target stores are diligent enough to keep video records of you stealing. When they deem that it adds up to a specific amount, they then come after you, and mercy is never an option on their part.

How to shoplift at Target: what really happens?

A shoplifter will shoplift at Target using any of the following techniques:

1. Confidently cart out items

How about walking in, carting the items, and walking out? This would need to be done so confidently that the security team thinks you stole nothing.

A shoplifter needs to simply push a cart with shoplifted items out the door. Besides, people are even caught in cameras rolling bikes out the door or carting a stolen TV and heading out.

If one or a couple of the asset protection already have eyes on your moves, you may get stopped. But if nobody is paying attention, you are probably getting away with it. Target’s policy involves typically checking receipts for unbagged merchandise.

2. Shoplift with Target bags

Hiding shoplifted merchandise in a Target bag is another crafty way to get away with Target shoplifting. It would look like you just bought something but you would probably have to have a fake bag on you.

You are right, “people do it”. This method works just like hiding items in pockets, large puffy coats, pants, backpacks, purses, coolers, or even baby strollers.

3. Hide small items in large items

The idea is to buy a large item and then conceal smaller items in it. In this way, you pay Target for one item and shoplift self-assigned bonuses with the smaller items.

You only need to be sure that nobody is already watching you. The smaller item needs to be able to fit into the large or more expensive one to keep it out of sight.

Usually, a shoplifter may take a stroll around the store with the large item, pretending to find other stuff to cart. The main reason for this is to outrun the eyes of the asset prevention and then conceal the item. If you are asked to present the receipt, you only get to present the receipt for the large item, and off you go.

Read also:  carding at Walmart

4. Avoid tagged items

Target is improving to bust shoplifters. And one of the many technologies in place is tagging items. The cost of tagging every bit of the items will be too high, so the tags are limited to the more expensive stuff.

If a shoplifter goes after tagged items, it sets off the security alarm when exiting. As you have guessed, the security is coming after you. Depending on the item, you may be charged for shoplifting.

Some Target stores use a paper sticker with a printed circuit on the back. A shoplifter would even be able to peel it off but tearing the tag, even a little, set off the alarm. The tag wires contain a coiled antenna, and introducing a single circuit break will deactivate them.

Going by the research made online, placing both two tags will not set off the alarm. However, lining properly is the big problem here. Perhaps, aluminum foil bags would beat the alarm.

5. Fire distraction

Would a shoplifter cross the line and go ahead to distract target employees with fire? You would hope not, but shoplifters in Fort Lauderdale created a diversion, forcing Target employees to evacuate the retail store.

That adrenaline rush of the moment to put off the fire may temporarily get the security to lose focus. At this point, a Target shoplifter strikes and makes away with the item. This may not even be worth the risk because getting caught attracts lots of charges.

6. Show up with an accomplice

Showing up with an accomplice(s) could be a way to coordinate an attack. Usually, this works in mom and pop stores, so may not be the case at a Target store.

How this works is that a shoplifter has someone else whose job is to distract. The real shoplifter takes the item while the other acts suspicious to draw attention to themselves but does not ick any item.

The primary shoplifter completes the theft and exits before the accomplice spends on a $5 item or nothing at all and exits the retail store.

7. Don’t shoplift electronics and books

Books or electronics are a no-go area. These two items would have a hidden sensor in them, irrespective of the price. It would even be tougher to detect tags in books than in some other items.

8. Switch the tags

Instead of shoplifting everything, switching the tags could be a way a shoplifter gets away with a Target item. The point is to pay less for an expensive item but with electronic tags, this may not be possible anyway.

Read also: watch stealing made easy

This works by transferring a $50 to a $150. A shoplifter may even create UPC stickers to switch prices, not many people do this though.

If caught, you could claim you met the tag that way. As long as you missed the cameras, Target cannot prove you did the switching and will hold nothing against you.

How does Target know you shoplifted?

It seems Target is training employees on behavior analysis, and they also have facial recognition software to detect offenders. But at this point, this technology is not available in all Target stores but is still in the process.

Target is having a massive upgrade to its equipment. They even have the ability to take pictures of customers entering and exiting the store on a database. The system would try to track your face as you walk around the store. Experts believe the design will get so better than the systems can tell your behavior to prevent stealing.

Perhaps, in the coming years, Target will be able to have sensors in all products to fight shoplifting. Some may even operate silently, keeping a shoplifter from knowing when they have been caught.

The question is “are these techs already on ground?” You are aware of triggering sensors but Target may have more, aside from the visible cameras you find on the roof.

Final thoughts

Shoplifting does two positive things – makes you feel smarter and adds free items to your inventory. The negatives are quite numerous, including getting you in trouble with the law. If you have to legally defend yourself, you would be paying probably more than the shoplifted item to get a good lawyer to fight the charges.

Moreover, Target loses a lot of money to shoplifters. They would be willing to go to the length to deal with anyone they think is worth it. Note that shoplifting may be one of the reasons commodities go up as retail stores try to recoup their losses.

Let’s not even talk about doing the time. By shoplifting at Target, you are signing up to do the time – in jail, of course.