Walmart shopper films herself shoplifting at the self-checkout in a TikTok sketch

A Walmart shopper shamelessly filmed herself “shoplifting” at the self-checkout and was caught by the company's AI-powered cameras in an apparent skit posted to TikTok.

“POV: When you don't normally get caught and now you're banned from all Walmarts in my area for two years,” TikToker Nesha wrote about the video – which has over 2.2 million views but was actually just for show with no real advertising ban .

The clip shows the woman scanning and bagging a few items through the self-checkout system at a Walmart store, pretending to scan a backpack before putting it in her shopping bag without breaking the barcode .

Soon, a pop-up notification appears on the computer screen saying “Employee is on the way,” preventing her from scanning any more items or proceeding to the checkout.

When a supposed employee comes by and scans their card, a “Missed Scan Detected” message appears on the screen, which includes an overhead video recording of the customer dragging the backpack across the scanning area without scanning the barcode.

Nesha then pans her camera to the woman who is covering her mouth while laughing.

“Even though she was laughing… she called the manager and the police and had us escorted outside,” Nesha wrote in the caption alongside “#stealinggonewrong.”

But Walmart said that never happened and the incident — along with the alleged police response and the two-year suspension — was all made up.

However, shoplifting from self-checkout machines is a common problem for many retailers.

According to a 2023 LendingTree survey, around 15% of shoppers admitted to intentionally stealing one or more items at self-checkouts – and of those, only 33% were caught.