A man is facing burglary charges after allegedly scamming a Walmart self-checkout by using a homemade barcode-inscribed ring to ring up expensive items for the price of canned soup.
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Dylan Rockwell, 32, was arrested after his latest stunt: walking out of the Walmart store with a $300 grill while only paying the price of a soup can. On February 2, when Walmart employees caught on and called the police, officers tracked Rockwell back to his home. There, they found the stolen grill and confronted him. According to the New York Post, Rockwell allegedly confessed that he was pulling barcodes and scanning highly priced items under the guise of low-cost items.
“Sorry, Mr. Rockwell, your tactics didn’t work this time, but we appreciate your creativity. We know that times are tough, but your ingenuity got you some county soup for dinner,” said Calwell Chief of Police Rex Ingram. Walmart has recently cracked down on self-checkout fraud by using AI tracking, surveillance, and undercover loss prevention officers to catch shoppers trying to cheat the system.
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In recent months, there has been a significant rise in shoplifting incidents at Walmart stores across the country. One particularly alarming trend involves organized retail crime rings, where groups of individuals work together to steal merchandise systematically. These organized efforts often involve sophisticated techniques like “booster bags” (specially designed bags that can conceal merchandise), “booster boxes” (boxes used to transport stolen goods), and even the use of technology to disable security tags.
