Merchants are beginning to count the losses they incur when shoppers bring the wrong product at self-service checkouts. Sometimes, of course, the mistake is unintentional, but store representatives suspect that more and more people are cheating at the self-service and thus trying to save at their expense.
With a full shopping bag, more and more people turn to pay at self-service checkouts, while others prefer to shop at the seller.
However, it turns out that precisely those who go to self-service checkouts to refuse purchases are being watched very closely, because self-service checkouts have become a great way for people to cheat.
"We had such an incident once, when even for several days in a row, one person tried to label different items as carrots at the self-service checkouts," Gintarė Kitovė, a representative of "Iki", shared the store's experience.
It might seem like a small thing, but merchants calculate that even one buyer can make a loss of several hundred or even several thousand euros by committing fraud during several purchases.
"The amount can vary from one euro to 2100 euros," said Raminta Gecevičiūtė, a representative of Maximos.
"We have over a hundred events per month, when the damage is estimated at around 150 euros. However, not only self-service cash registers are assessed here, but theft in general," said the representative of "Iki".
Especially recently, there are thieves who try to steal not a few tens, but several hundreds of euros.
"He cheated 11 times and caused damage of 400 euros, and in another case, it was a man who cheated 25 times and caused damage of 2100 euros. Both of them face criminal responsibility," R. Gecevičiūtė testified.
Those who stole for 150 euros and less face administrative responsibility: community service, a fine or imprisonment for up to three years, while those who stole more than 150 euros are already subject to criminal liability.
"Usually, thieves know those amounts and most thefts do not exceed 150 euros, if we are talking about thefts from shopping centers," said Revita Janavičiūtė, a representative of the police department.
Traders add that even if you weren't caught cheating right away, that doesn't mean you won't be contacted by the authorities later. Police notices that the number of thefts that do not reach the stage of pre-trial investigation is increasing.
"If we talk about pre-trial investigations and compare the period of January and February of last year and the same period of this year, there are fewer pre-trial investigations. But if we talk about the general statistics of thefts, that number is growing a little", said R. Janavičiūtė.
But consumer advocates are siding with buyers.
"It should be taken into account that the same consumers are forced to travel to neighboring countries to shop and also say that thefts are increasing. They should realize that they should also contribute to their economic well-being, and then those thefts might decrease," said Paulius Mereckas, head of the Consumer Rights Protection Center.
In addition, according to consumer advocates, not everyone steals on purpose, others simply make a mistake while looking for a product.
"We can't say that everyone is guilty or everyone is innocent either," emphasized P. Mereckas.
Merchants admit that human errors do occur - people misplace the goods, and sometimes they don't notice that from time to time a PIN code needs to be entered when paying with a contactless bank card, so merchants try to avoid accidental and intentional losses by installing surveillance cameras and installing goods recognition systems.
"The vigilance of our employees and security guards, the help of video cameras, and certain technical solutions help to suppress these cases," the representative of Maximos testified.
"In our self-service cash registers, a system has started to be implemented, which recognizes without human intervention that avocados and not cucumbers are being weighed, then the system identifies and gives a signal to our employees," explained G. Kitovė.
However, representatives of shopping centers assure that the majority of accidental and intentional thefts can be solved immediately, sometimes without the intervention of the police.
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