A Lawyer Just Revealed Why You Should NEVER Use Self Checkout…

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A lawyer has taken to TikTok to explain why you should always avoid self-checkouts at the grocery store.

Carrie Jernigan is a criminal defense lawyer who is going viral on TikTok for telling her followers to avoid using self-checkout lanes. Her page is filled with tips about the legal system most people won’t know about. But her advice on avoiding self-checkout begged for an explanation. Her reason is simple: shoplifters.

“As a criminal defense attorney, I advise most people to steer clear of self-checkout,” Jernigan said.

She then goes to on explain the “three groups” which are the different types of people who end up facing shoplifting charges as a result of using the self-checkouts.

The first group is the shoppers “with the intent to steal,” as Jernigan noted that when self-checkouts first started “it was a very basic theft approach,” where they would scan a few items they planned to pay for and then drop a few items they didn’t plan to pay for.

But due to the advancement of technology, this is not as simple so shoplifters need to have a “very specific plan” in terms of what they are stealing and the methods they use to shoplift.

The second group is “theft by mistake,” which Jernigan says are “the people that I genuinely think just forgot to scan an item,” and gave examples like leaving an item at the bottom of the shopping cart or a DVD that has slid under the purse.

Although there was no intention to steal, she says these shoppers end up being charged as “big-box stores aren’t going to spend their time and resources trying to figure out if you did it on purpose.”

Jernigan then shared how the third group is the “truly innocent,” where “most of these are not getting charged day of.”

Instead, they face charges at a later date as a result of someone in the store’s asset protection department doing an inventory count or quality control check and “later comes up short.”

“So they will begin watching hours of video to see the last person who checked out with the Mario Lego set because they’re two short or an Xbox game. And, for some reason, they pinpoint that they think you did it,” she added.

In other words, it is risky for you to use a self-checkout machine.

“And because of who these big box stores are, they usually have to present very little evidence to get an affidavit for warrant signed, the charges that could land you up to a year in jail get filed, and then you are fighting for your life trying to determine what day you were at Walmart, what all you bought,” Jernigan added. 

Watch the video below for more details:

Sources: AWM, DailyMail