Supermarket self checkout scam to be aware of

Thank you for an excellent warning. I used self checkout in my local M&S yesterday but for only three items so easy to check. I have had numerous problems with the Waitrose scanner, they often malfunction so we don't use it any more. I'm always amazed at how many people, when asked if they want their receipt, just say no and casually walk away.

On a slightly different tack, I have had to go back to Waitrose when items on special offer on the shelf ticket have gone through the till at the full price. A big display of Xmas puddings and Ďuchy organic marmalade.
I didnt realise until I got home and checked my receipt. Luckily within walking distance.

Customer services didnt seem that bothered and didnt go and remove the incorrect shelf tag. So I expect many more people would have paid the full price expecting a reduction. The pudding was 2.50 more the marmalade about 70p.

I always get my receipt and will from now on check in the store,

OldFrill

If a customer doesn't pay and leaves with the goods doesn't the following warn/prevent you using the til?
1. The 'Welcome' page won't display on the screen
2. If you do scan an item and put it in the packing area the screen will say "unaccounted item in the baggage area" and you can't scan anything else.

This.

I've only used a self-checking machine in the Co-op. The normal way to begin is to press a Start butoon on the screen. Surely this is similar in all shops?

I use smart shop in Sainsburys and always count my items and check I haven't missed anything - easy to forget to scan something - then the scanner tells me how much it will cost. I no longer use the ordinary self service tills. It's a nuisance having to scan the receipt to get out but if it stops the shoplifters I'm all for it!

Once I set off the alarm at the shop exit and asked the security guard if it was me. He waved me through and I thought nothing of it 'til I got to my car and saw the scanner still in the holster on the trolley! I had to go all the way back inside to put it back. Clearly a security guard not doing his job properly!

Deedaa

I suppose this is why places like Sainsbury are making you scan your receipt on the way out.

But this simply proves you have paid something. If the scammers conceal their stash, there's nothing to scan for.

Those self-service checkouts wind me up! (Not many things do). I did a Big Shop in Aldi yesterday and, when I had finished, there were no manned ( womanned?🤔) tills open. I spoke to a very friendly assistant who immediately opened one for me. Always ask!👍😎⛄️🎄👏🏻👏🏻

RosiesMaw

I can’t see how this can happen.
I have to scan my “gun” to download my list and total shopping and it would not start if there was already shopping on it.

The scam refers to the automatic tills where you scan all your shopping, put stuff into the bagging area and then pay - not the scanning guns that you carry around the shop.

I once did a self checkout at M&S and walked away without paying! It was only when I went to check my receipt that I realised what I had done. I told the lady who was overseeing the self checkouts who told me that she’d set my receipt aside as there was someone waiting to use the till. Naturally I paid for my shopping but I was mortified.

Our Asda have deactivated the sound at the self service tills so there’s no beeping sound when items are scanned or when you pay by card. It’s only because I get a receipt each time I shop that I know my payment has gone through, for those that don’t request a receipt it’s very easy to not realise your payment hasn’t been made.

I don’t understand, as an alarm sounds, at least in Sainsbury’s, if you remove an item once it’s been scanned but not yet paid for. I suppose unscrupulous people will always find a way if they are that way inclined. I too was stopped because of a joint of beef setting off an alarm. What an sad state of affairs.

Thanks for warning us I would never thought of checking my receipt I will now !!

Hate self scanning, let's see manned checkouts returning.
I often say no to my receipt, note to self, I will be taking them in the future.

I never use the self checkout as I don't like it. I usually check my receipt from the manned (womaned) checkout in the car, and discovered the other day that I had been charged £2.50 for "best" ham that I didn't have. But by that time everything was packed in the car, so how could I prove it? I had to let it go, but will check the receipt before I leave the store (Morrisons) in future. How could an item be scanned if I didn't have it? Before you ask, I checked when I got home as well.

This is what we call a " walk off' in our store, I wouldn't say it was a scam as such, it just means a person who was on that self scan has scanned items and "accidently "!!!! Forgot to pay, therefore the items will still be left on the screen, you then get a msg saying " would you like to continue" but yes if you don't notice there is still items on the screen you can end up paying for those items.I think one of the problems is, people just swipe their contactless card over quickly not bother about a receipt and dash off( some on purpose, some not) It has happened twice to me this morning at work, first episode the person had gone, second episode I managed to call them back.

RosiesMaw

I can’t see how this can happen.
I have to scan my “gun” to download my list and total shopping and it would not start if there was already shopping on it.

I've never seen this happen before and we use the scanners all the time in the big Sainsbury near us but definitely saw it last week - I suspect they did a software upgrade on the tills and gave themselves a bug. May well be fixed by now.

Not what I would call a scam though - I don't think anyone is out to defraud. Very obvious for anyone to see if they are paying attention.

I regularly hear customers say they don't want their receipt when asked by cashier. Can't understand that either on the grounds of proof of purchase or checking prices charged.

Something really has to change with self-scan tills.

Shoppers are often inconvenienced by them and the amount of theft puts the prices up for us all and will be the end of supermarkets as we know it unless something is done!

If I used the self checkout I would expect them to put me on the payroll and give me staff discount. Also I want my neighbours on the checkout to keep their jobs.

I wonder that it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anybody that no doubt the same arguments were voiced when the first self service “supermarkets” appeared and you no longer had an assistant fetch what you asked for from the shelves behind the counter or weigh out or measure your cheese, butter and flour!

No receipt scanning at any Sainsburys I’ve used …..I’m in the East Midlands.

My local Boots store has replaced all cashier tills with self service ones, bar just one manned till.
I was quite taken aback as I hate the self service ones.

Same reason I always now ask for a receipt ....I know the receipt comes up on your phone now ...but I prefer a paper one, and have to forget the environment ....dont want to be accused of shop lifting, which is so rife now ....and puts the prices up for all of us !

We have only one shop in town with self checkout, but they always do have at least one manned till open. I have not yet used the self check out.'

I have used them for only a few items when I visit my daughter. She lives in a larger city, and their grocery store is huge and always very busy. Since I'm a newbie at self check out, I'm usually pretty carful.

But yes, the potential for theft is so much higher.

Never heard of these things but I will watch out now. We always get receipts, if only as proof of payment. In Costco they check every single customer out and count the number of items in the trolley to make sure it tallies with the receipt. Fine by me. They also have started checking off receipts in K Mart. The usual cheat here is to put fruit and vegetables through as something cheaper than they are- small scale stuff though.

Auntieflo

I always ask for a receipt, as there have, in the past been errors that can be corrected.
At our Tesco store, quite often the receipts are illegible.
An assistant can print off another receipt, from another machine? using your club card, but it is a nuisance that could be avoided I'm sure.

I pressed for a receipt at sainsburys and just got half a one as the roll had run out, with a message on screen. I pressed the help button and the assistant was verging on rude about having to put a new roll in! And yes I do want a receipt as I buy for someone else too!

I used the scan and go. When you scan to pay there's an opportunity to scroll through the purchases on screen which I often do as deductions for offers don't always show on the wand thing. Doing this always attracts the attention if the assistant who wants to help - that's fine, but when I say I'm just checking my purchases they start hassling me to hurry up even of no one is waiting! (if it is busy I'll just pay, move away and then check the paper receipt)