leoandthelo-blog

[leoandthelo-blog]

So I’ve been lurking in this community (hence, the name) since June-ish of 2014. I figured I’d share my experiences with you, because I think you guys could benefit. I’ve stolen some really, really cool things. My biggest “accomplishment” is probably my bike which was over a grand, from REI. I detagged on the floor, hid the tag in a helmet box, had my boyfriend carry my purse and walked out as the happiest girl who just bought a new bike. My boyfriend also got a super expensive bike a month later, but he acted like the bike was already his and he was picking it up from them after being fixed. I’ve also gotten ~$300 jackets from there but that’s the same as stealing any clothes when the store is not a boutique.

I have a few things from Ralph Lauren Polo, but I have one crazy nice blazer that was $1,100 from a normal Ralph Lauren, the stores with the dull lighting and super attentive associates. There was a lady who claimed me as hers and followed me around taking everything I showed interest in and put it in a fitting room. At the time I didn’t know what I was going to do, but just went with it. After I had about 6-7 things in the dressing room I said I was ready to try those items on. I tried on everything as normal, and really wanted two of the items but knew I should only get one if I was to get anything at all. So I put the blazer in a shopping bag along with the hanger. I left about 3 items in there and took the rest out of the dressing room folded over my arm and told the lady I was still thinking about them. I moseyed around the store for a bit and when I lost her I hung the clothes in my arm back up and left. I use this method a lot.

My boyfriend stole the display Nespresso from Sur la table, and we use that thing everyday, I highly suggest getting one. We stock up on the coffee from William Sonoma because that stores easy as pie, and we haven’t found the right pods for the machine at Sur la table. I’ve stolen a bunch from both those stores and I love everything I have, but I live in an apartment and need things like a potato masher, where you guys mostly live with parents (?) so you don’t really need those things. But I know there are people out there who do, so don’t waste your time at target or anything. I also stole an ice cream machine from William Sonoma, I walked in and it was right there, so I took it and walked right back out before anyone knew I was there. I also stole an ottoman from Michaels that way, when we walked in I said, “hey look, we could steal that” and my boyfriend just picks it up and walks out to our car with it.

We also stole a nice sheep skin fur throw pillow from Z Gallery that way, it was right there on display it was so dead in there that no one even knew we were in there yet. So we seized the opportunity.

I can’t remember if you guys talk about, or like express, but that store’s really easy and some of their stuff is really chic. It’s the easiest place to get shoes because they have no cameras so you hid it under clothes and no one ever monitors the fitting rooms. Brooks brothers is easy if you look like you belong, that’s really important. J-Crew’s the same way, those are probably the easiest preppy stores if you play the part.

I went to Macy’s and saw a super cute Michael Kors backpack on display. It had a wire running through the strap that was connected with a tag that need a hook and then it was connected to the table. I think that Macy’s profiled people a lot, Im white, so I feel like they were preoccupied. I acted like I was checking out the bag while I was de-tagging it, then took it to the dressing room and removed the stuffing, but it in my bag and left.

I’ve gotten 2 fans, 2 sleeping bags, a cooler, and a tent from target just by walking out. If they not watching you on camera, which they probably aren’t because I think they expect people to conceal, then walking out is as close to fool proof as you’re gonna get, because I don’t think they can stop you just because they didn’t witness you personally pay for it, but who knows, maybe I got lucky, but I was super confident. Those things weren’t all at once, I also had my boyfriend there. I walked out of the Pink store with a roller luggage bag worth $200, it would’ve been even cooler if I had filled it with stuff, lol.

I’ve gotten a digital camera from best buy, it was an old best buy, so they didn’t have as many security cameras as some of the other ones I’ve been in, like the guy in the front was just standing there, he didn’t even have a screen to look at, but whos to say there wasn’t someone in the back monitoring, because there were some cameras, just not a lot. I had my boyfriend be a look out while I knelt down and used my magnet on one of those grey alpha boxes. Concealed and was on my merry way. That one got my heart going like crazzzy.

We tag teamed two desks and a couch from Ikea, but not at the same time. The couch, and then the 2 desks a separate trip. The couch we didn’t really have a plan so we just walked through the registers like we already bought it, but couldn’t get it in one trip. Like, we already bought stuff and it was in the car, and we were coming back for it. The desks we actually had the money for, and decided to steal them last minute. The way we did that one was we acted like my boyfriend paid for them and then got me and had me wheel them out, if that makes sense. With Ikea and big items you really have to have a lot of confidence like you already bought the item.

I want to tell you guys that you can most definitely steal from Nordstrom, I’ve gotten a Burberry shirt and Burberry pants, at the same time. With both I wasn’t even planning on stealing, I just wanted to wear some Burberry for a sec. But when I tried on the shirt it had one of those weird tags that are like the pulse checker at the hospital that they just slip on your finger. It just slipped on the shirt so it wouldn’t ruin the fabric. But when I pulled the shirt over my head like any person would, the sensor flew off and started beeping. An associate came by and I was like, “sorry, I was just trying it on.” And she acted like it happens a million times and took it and the shirt, stopped the beeping, and came back with it back on the shirt. I go to put the shirt on again and it flies off again, but doesn’t beep. Im a frozen statue at this point, thinking, I should do this. So I sling the pants and shirt over my arm because neither of them are tagged now but I think that lady is still out there. When I walk out shes not there and im like fuck I could have just concealed there because I was planning on taking them to a different department, hiding them under some clothes and concealing then, which is what I did anyways. So yeah. 

Two Marc Jacob cross bodies, one was super small and I don’t know how I did it. The second one was on a whim and it’s a bigger bag that I now use for college. But I didn’t have my magnet, so I just slung it over my shoulder acting like it was mine, and walked out. I didn’t walk out the entrance to the mall, I walked out a door that led to a street mall kind of, so since there was no parking out there, there were no towers, so I didn’t beep.

I also got some make up, an awesome Sam Edelman leather jacket that I wear all the time. With that one I found it, put it on, it looked great with the outfit I was already wearing, so I kept it on an acted like it was already mine. Shortly after I put it on and was continuing shopping in there, a sales associates says, “oh my god, I love that jacket it, whered you get it? It looks so good on you, fits perfectly. Did you just get it?” and my boyfriend goes, “yep, she just got it.” It was hilarious because I could tell that she wasn’t servicing me to death like some stores do if they suspect you’re shoplifting, so funny.

If they suspect you they will make it very obvious by following you, they’re very obvious about it. It’s how I “got caught” and I put it in quotes because I feel like I was in some fugue state because I knew they were onto me be I didn’t drop my stuff, ugh, I’ve come to terms with it, but still I was like drunk with power or something, don’t let it go to your head. Anyways, I got a Burberry coat from the section and there was a lady talking to me about it trying to make a sale, I was already wearing my Burberry shirt so I figured I didn’t have to worry about being profiled. She said that she “would love to help me out” or something like that trying to get me to buy it right then and there, but I had other shopping to do, so I told her that. I later was able to read the report that LP made when I was sitting in the DA’s office. Apparently that lady called LP saying she had a customer “refusing help and leaving the section with product” or something, so from then on they followed me on foot. I got some stuff from top shop and then my boyfriend wanted to look at the dudes stuff so we went downstairs to look and I decided to use that dressing room. After they let me in a stall they let another girl into the stall next to me. There was a little bench in the stall and I was able to look under and see that she was just sitting there. I should have just ditched everything and left then, hind sights 20/20. I de-tagged the coat and attached the sensor to the stuff I didn’t want. When I left I was suspicious of that girl so I left and started looking at the men’s stuff but watched her. She met up with another girl outside the fitting room and they whispered to each other. They were in normal clothes with purses and such, and they both had one earbud in. Seriously, it was so fucking obvious, I can’t even believe I went through with it. I honestly thought I was fine because I wasn’t concealing, it was just drapped over my arm like it was already mine. 

I left and they stopped me, brought me back to a room in the entry way leading outside, it wasn’t upstairs or anything, while I was walking back they kept telling me I couldn’t put my hands in my bag and this girl was pretty big and im only 110 so I complied. When we got to the room they went through my stuff and I was in the middle of a haul so I had a lot of stuff, not as much as usual, thank god, because they did end up “having” to call the police even though I turned on the water works and said it was my first time, the cops added everything up and I was like $300 dollars away from a felony, which I think is like 2 grand where I am, but you guys know $300 is only like a couple items, the Burberry coat alone was $900. But it was still like the most serious misdemeanor you could get, plus the magnet.

I was arrested and brought to the police department within the mall, that’s actually where they added everything up. I was really conversational with them and asked them if I hadn’t cooperated would they have put me in jail, and he said yes. Which is nice, because obviously Im stealing I definitely don’t have money for bail or fines or anything. My court date was set for like 4 months after the incident and they gave me an option of a year of supervised probation with a class, community service, and all the jazz. Or 30 days in home detention (house arrest), but still able to go to school and have 4 hours a week to run errands. So I chose the 30 days because supervised probation means UA’s which pretty much means no partying and having to meet with an officer like every other week, and the mall I was arrested at was like 20 minutes from where I live so they sent me to the closes courthouse to the mall, so it was like 40 minutes away from my house, not even including that they wanted to charge me $800 for probation and only $250 for in home detention. Plus I didn’t want to suffer for a whole year instead of a month, so im glad I picked that one.

I also haven’t started paying for stuff. I definitely slowed way down, mostly because having multiple offenses, is wwway worse than having one. But I still go hard when I feel the timing is right. Today my boyfriend and I went to an outlet mall and got a kitchen aid stand mixer which i’ve wanted for like a decade! I still need a better bed frame, but after that my list of stuff I need is pretty small, which is nice.

But yeah, thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions, I’ll make it all public because I don’t give a fuck, freedom of press covers blogs.

[leoandthelo-blog]

Boosters be like😂😂 Total: 1,134 Sephoras gonna be mad when they realize what happened 💀

[leoandthelo-blog]

Have any of you seen this lately?

Naked palettes and perfumes had the basic RFID tag and this large white one. While I was there (for like half an hour) I heard at least three beeps. These don’t stop beeping and the SAs had to go to the front to stop the noise/ deactivate it. The last time I was in Ulta (June) they didn’t have these so idk if this is new or ? I almost never go to Ulta because Sephora is easier for me, and I couldn’t get any palettes… I was next to this girl that literally just picked a Naked palette up and it started beeping for no reason.

When I was paying for a cheap eyeliner one started beeping and the SA said “Just get used to this noise haha…”. I guess this could be used as an advantage? There weren’t many SAs, and if they’re at the register trying to deactivate this maybe they’ll be too distracted?

[leoandthelo-blog]

The "worst day of our life" haul Hot Topic: $35.30 Fuego: $53.19 F21: $20.60 Overall haul: $109.09 Team effort!! Leo and Thelo 💖

[leoandthelo-blog]

Teeny weeny haul 2 pop rocks packages 1 laser pop alien thing 2 bottle caps

overall sum: about 6.00$ this is pitiful lmao

thelo

[leoandthelo-blog]

St.ole some bracelets and googly eyes for slime today at freddy’s.. its small but my first lïft… excited to do more…

thelo

[leoandthelo-blog]

Here’s a video demonstrating how to to take off tags using rubber bands! Sorry for the horrid background noise, my computer decided to act bratty today! If there are any questions, or if I didn’t do a good enough job, my ask box is always open!

[leoandthelo-blog]

I used to have trouble removing gator tags with pliers or rubber bands (still want to try that credit card way) so this is how I’ve done it, I hope this helps someone!

(sorry for reposting, I realized I made a mistake in it)

[leoandthelo-blog]

Loss prevention techniques to prevent instances of shoplifting

Shrinkage, shoplifting and retail theft can have a serious impact on your store profits. However, to combat this issue, teaching your staff to spot and handle the shoplifters is very important. Also, you have to inculcate a few changes in your outlet design to deter such instances.

Let’s have a look at a few loss prevention strategies you can adopt to prevent such instances:

Greet your customers

Shoplifters usually make very little eye contact with employees. One of the most common ways to deter them is to greet every customer that walks in the outlet. It is a good customer service and a simple greeting can make the thieves change their mind about stealing from your store.  

Organize your merchandise

Shoplifters target those areas that seem very messy. So make sure your store is well-organized so that you can easily figure out when some merchandise is missing in case of theft.  

Maximize visibility

Place shorter displays close to the register and taller near the perimeter of the shop so that all goods are completely visible from your perch. Also, use mirrors to eliminate the blind spots.

Make sure the shop is properly lit

Ensure the shop is properly lit, especially during night time. Poorly lit areas are an easy target for the shoplifters. The lighting should be even in all the areas. Have visible security systems

No matter you are using security mirrors, cameras, motion sensors or guards; make sure the security systems are visible to all customers. It will deter such instances.

Add clear plastic shelf dividers at the edges of shelves

Use clear plastic shelf dividers at the edges of shelves. It can prevent the thieves from sweeping a shelf. Also, make sure the sales reps remain near to those areas. The assistance of employees will also make shopping hassle-free for honest customers.

Bag-check policy

Do not allow the customers to bring bags inside. These can be used to hide merchandise. Designate an employee to check the bags of customers at the entrance and exit points.

Inspect all purchases

Take a minute to double check merchandise like purses and baskets as these can be used to steal additional items.

Use codes to alert the staff members

Use code language to signal an employee of suspicious activity going on in the shop. Codes are easy to remember and help staff identify a particular aisle so that customers don’t think they are being targeted.

Look for signs of manipulated tags

Many thieves take a price tag of a cheaper item and put it on a more expensive good. Look for the signs of manipulated tags. Train the employees at the cash counter to open each box and make sure the contents match the description. Teach your staff how to respond to such instances

You cannot walk to someone and caught him/her. You may get into a lawsuit for false arrest. Train your staff on how to handle such situation so that your reputation does not get damaged.

These are steps you must take to combat theft in your outlet. For more information on loss prevention for retail, get in touch with The Loss Prevention Academy. We offer online training programs for retail prevention.

[leoandthelo-blog]

Partner Lifting: Dos and Don'ts

here is my general guide on lifting with a partner or group. honestly, as an experienced lifter i prefer to lift alone, but a a good number of times you go to the mall you’re with other people. lifting with partners is tricky. my best lifting partner is my best friend - she knows all the ins and outs of lifting, like what is and isn’t sus, the method/game plan for each store, when to bail, and the general lifting rules. when i go with her, it’s enjoyable and stress free knowing that neither of us are making each other look more sus, so i prefer going with her over my other newer-to-lifting friends. in this guide, you’ll fnd a lot more Dos than Don’ts, and for this reason i suggest going alone, but if you and your partner can properly lift together than go for it. there are many benefits to having a good lifting buddy - they’re an extra set of watchful eyes, someone to bring stuff to the fitting rooms, and it’s fun being able to swap your loot and get stuff for each other. so here’s how to make sure you have a good experience with your lifting partner(s) -

first, acknowledge that the odds are stacked against you when you are with other people. LP and SAs will monitor more closely teenagers, and groups or pairs of teenagers especially. for these reasons, in order to look as normal as possible you need to minimize any suspicious behavior.

Dos: you can walk in together and really act like you’re friends - it’s more sus if you walk in and start acting distant, they’ll know something is up. put aside any lifting anxiety and act like two friends just shopping normally. it’s fine to split up for a majority of the time, as this can be more efficient and it’s normal too. but if you’re staying close together, you must be perfectly normal. talk at a normal level and make your conversations regular teenage girl stuff (if you’re a girl of course) just gossip or talk about hot guys or that party this weekend. be stereotypical, you’ll fit in better. reference merchandise occasionally - “do you think this is cute?” etc. my lifting partners and i use this as code for “i’m gonna lift this.” it’s fine to leave alone, my best fried and i do this all the time so we can hit stors the other person might not want to go to or just to save time. if you see your friend in the next store you go to don’t be scared to greet them and follow regular procedure.

another method is to pretend not to know them. this is best for hard stores. it’s harder to execute as you or your lifting partner might want to break character to say something, but i’ve tried this before with success. the better actor your partner is the better off you will be. you will just have to enter and exit alone and keep your distance from your partner. once i was lifting with a partner using this method and i left a shopping bag on the ground - my partner thankfully did not break character but instead tapped me on the shoulder and said “hi, i’m sorry, did you leave this over there?” my response was a gracious “yes, thank you so much!!” and then she quickly said “oh no problem” and we parted ways. thankfully she was convincing and kept the act up.

communication is a key benefit of having a partner. to discuss lifting related things, only text each other, preferably when you are farther away from each other. this is nice for when you want to relay SA behavior or anything else happening in the store. if your partner does not know that there are rfids in the tag at a certain store, text them instead of verbalizing it. you can also text your partner to bring stuff to the fitting room.

Don’ts: do not be shifty or awkward. NO WHISPERING. if you need to say something that should be whispered, text them. whispering looks extremely sus. do not go to blindspots with your partner. no discussing lifting out loud. this is the most important thing not to do that most partners end up doing. i don’t care if the SA is out of earshot, you never know, and cameras can still see you whispering. no pointing out security tags, just text them. don’t hand them tools under fitting room doors (yes, i’ve had problems with partners doing this). do not show them an item and be sus about it. do not enter in a store and quickly split up immediately. make eye contact when you are talking to the person, do not look away from them as you talk unless it is normal to (you’re picking up an object and saying “this is cute” or some shit) it looks weird if you aren’t looking at them when you are talking and it probably means you’re talking about something sus which is a big no no. don’t go into fitting rooms with them. don’t swap bags at any time. [insert parks and rec “don’t be suspicious” video]

so there you have it! happy lifting, the mall won’t know what hit it lol.

[leoandthelo-blog]

Heres a tip from my kik group! credit to small-lifter

[leoandthelo-blog]

How to get these off without a tool?

Easy!

If there’s a hook in the dressing room use it to get these things off.

Place the wire loop onto the hook and TWIST! Twist until the wire coils and silently pops out/off and or breaks. (Literally that easy.) you may have to untwist it a bit to remove it from whatever it was attached to; dispose of sensor as you see fit.

The end.

[leoandthelo-blog]

Never feel bad for lifting from Ulta.

I was employed by Ulta for a short time. The company treats their employees like utter garbage. The only full-time positions are in management, and hours for part time employees are determined through an algorithm that uses profits and sales goals to det …

[leoandthelo-blog]

How did you steal converse? and any tips on lifting nikes?

At Khol’s.

You’ll need a cart, pick up a shirt or two, go to shoes, try things on, pick out things you like, ***LEAVE THE TISSUE AND ALL PAPERS INSIDE THE BOX*** where you were trying on shoes, make a mess.. Nonchalantly though - put just the shoes back in the box and that in the cart. Shop for a few more clothing items. Take cart with you into fitting room.

Now that you won’t make any paper noise, quietly remove sensor with magnet, and slip into your bag. Put empty shoe box back into cart. Leave fitting room with your cart, “shop” around a little more.. Decide maybe you don’t want the shoes after all.. nonchalantly replace now EMPTY shoe box back on shelf. Preferably not at the top.

Take your cart and clothes back towards the front, answer fake call. Pretend you can’t hear them due to bad service inside store, so you’re heard say “hold on, I have to step outside real quick so I can hear you better..”

Leave. Pray LP isn’t tailing you.

You’re good. You now have new shoes.

This applies to all shoes at Khol’s.

Super important you don’t bring shoe box tissue paper into dressing room. It’s loud and obvious.

Don’t get caught, not my fault if you do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Good luck, and let the cute shoe goddess forever be in your favor.

[leoandthelo-blog]

MAC Cosmetics

So MAC might seem like a difficult place to lift from because you have to ask the SA for a product, they aren’t just sitting out on the table. But I find MAC stores very easy to conceal in-there’s something about the crowds and the black marble…everything. So if you want to find out how to steal from MAC, by all means, read on!

-MAC’s SA are usually very busy and they don’t remember your face easily. This makes it pretty ideal if you ask me. -The key to lifting from MAC is confidence. It requires human interaction so if you get flustered when you’re nervous, I wouldn’t suggest it. -So now for the action plan, what I usually do is ask for many different items so that they won’t really notice what you took. -Move to a different part of the store to conceal. -If you want to take quite a bit of stuff, ask multiple people for help. -So what I do is I just conceal one product at a time underneath the counter when no ones looking. Pretend to be looking at a product. Check your phone and drop something in while your bag is open. -When you’re done, fake a phone call. Apologize. And say that you have to leave and that you’ll buy the products another day.

And voila! You have all the MAC you could ever need, with no cost at all. Everyone, I hope you have a good day, and remember to be careful!

[leoandthelo-blog]

Lifting Tips #1

If you are planning on getting clothes from a store like TJ Maxx that counts the items and hands you a card with a number, stuff some small clothes in your bag before you go into the changing room. That way you can pick and choose which clothes you want and don’t want in the changing room and come out with the same number of clothes.

(If this could be improved please let me know, I’m a new lifting blog and could use the tips. Thanks!)

[leoandthelo-blog]

*copied from a thread, not mine*

SHOPLIFTING TECHNIQUES

Blind Spot  A blind-spot is a section of the store where you are barely visible by any cameras or employees and can thus feel free to both collect and dump stuff, without fear of being seen. Make sure your blind-spot is not under surveillance. Never do anything where someone else may see you, even a customer. You can make your own spot inside a shopping cart with large packages to conceal your movements or use display units to your advantage. Also a friends body can be used to block viewing. You will always want to act quickly once you have entered your blind spot and never grab an item and walk straight to your area. Shop your way into it like you need something from there and then shop your way out like you did nothing wrong. Never hang around your blind-spot for too long and don’t keep using the same spot, especially if you are leaving opened packages. Most of all, be careful to never lead Loss Prevention to your blind-spot and remember that Loss Prevention will know their store better then you and will already know where all the blind spots are. Dressing Room After selecting cloths you head to the Dressing Room to try them on. While your in there you decide that instead of purchasing them, you’re going to shoplift them. This can be easily done in the privacy of this little room as long as you know what your doing. The inside of dressing rooms will normally not be monitored by Loss Prevention. If they do they have to have a sign saying that “Dressing Rooms are monitored” for it to be legal. Also most dressing rooms are not 100% private. A lot of times the door or curtain stops about 2 feet from the floor giving Loss Prevention an opportunity to observe some of your actions, especially with a small shoe mirror. Regardless of all of this, you’re going for it and there are several ways you could go about concealing your items. First thing you do is to remove any security tags on the cloths. Removing tags is discussed in the ‘Tools of the Trade’. The most common way to obtain your new cloths would be to place them into another stores bag that you walked in with. Second would be to wear the new cloths under what your already wearing or fold them up and tape them to your body. You could also just exchange the old cloths you are wearing for new ones. Remember to never leave any tags or hangers behind. Otherwise you will be alerting the staff that you took something. Some store will now count the clothing going in and out of the dressing room. To get around this just bring in some older or cheaper cloths in another stores bag, exchange them and place all the tags / stickers on them. Body Stuffing This is a common technique used by women. With a dress on they will take an expensive item such as a bluray and hold it between their thighs and walk out. Also you could have a inflatable ball so that you appear pregnant. Gather cloths and go into a dressing room, deflate the ball and place the cloths in its place, so that you still appear pregnant. Men could taking some small expensive items and place them in the small of your back. Wearing a tight shirt tucked in with a baggier outer shirt would help conceal any item. Cloths can be wrapped and taped around your torso and your legs while wearing bagger cloths. Remember you have to be able to walk out the door without arousing suspicion. The Drink Cup Concealment A large drink is purchased and then brought into the store. You then proceed to drop small heavy items like jewelry into the drink cup. On leaving the store the drink cup is unlikely to be searched. You must be wary of drinking too much or the items will be revealed in the bottom of the cup. Sleight of hand This is a technique used to manipulate items by secretly palming them and hiding the items out of sight while diverting the sales associates attention somewhere else. This is easily done with jewelry and an inattentive sales person. While looking at multiple jewelry you have the sales person distracted while an expensive item is slipped into a pocket. Though it is easy to distract the human eye, the camera is a little harder to fool, so you must keep this in mind when using this tactic. The Drop Bag This Simple technique is use when a person brings a bag from another store in with them. As they shop around the store they will pick up two of the same items and inconspicuously drop one of the items into the open bag while looking the other item over. They then put the one item back as if they didn’t want it and make another selection. Magic Bags A person will bring a foil lined bag that they made out of approximately 10 layers of heavy aluminum-foil, into a store. This is to help shield the security tags that are on merchandise from the alarm towers at the exit of a store. Choose small expensive items and place them into your Magic bag. The tags must be completely shielded for this to work. Seal the bag so that it cannot be penetrated by radio frequency. If there is a “leak” (i.e. If the signal from the tower reach the tag through a opening in the bag) the towers will be activated. You can test it by inserting a cell-phone in to the bag and calling the number. If the phone rings that means the layers are too thin, or there is a hole that is allowing the radio waves in. This bag will only work with the RF (radio frequency) tags. In order for it to work with AM (acousto-magnetic) tags you will need to increase the amount of foil to 30 layers of heavy aluminum-foil. A side note - you may use copper or tin plates instead of the foil to make a magic bag. The only issue with this would be weight. Read ‘Anti-Shoplifting Devices’ to better understand the difference between the RF and AM security tags. Magic Box Like the Magic Bag a shoebox is lined with the appropriate layers of aluminum-foil and inserted into a bag of a local store. The box is placed so the opening is facing up, thus when you are in a concealed area you can discreetly drop items into your box. When you are ready to leave, just close the box with the lid (which was never removed from the bag) and walk out. Magic Pocket You can line a hidden pocket inside of a jacket with aluminum-foil to create a Magic Bag. You would typically cut the bottom out of an inside pocket and then insert a envelope that has been wrapped in foil. You would then place small items into it and seal the flap so that the radio waves won’t penetrate the envelope. Bag Switching Bag switching is attempted by two people who come into the store separately The first person will gather a large amount of merchandise that they want to remove from the store and place it into a large bag. They will then inconspicuously switch their bag with the second person, who has a matching bag that is already filled with items that came from another store. If Loss Prevention is watching the first person and miss the bag switch they will more then likely stop them while the second person walks out with the goods. Box Stuffing This Technique requires the use of a low priced box. You open the box and remove the contents of the box. You then proceed to refill the box with more expensive items. You then reseal the box and take it to a checkout aisle, where you pay the purchase price for the item. You then leave the store with the more expensive items concealed. If the items in the box have security tags on them they will still be active and will set off the alarm towers as you exit. Most of the time the staff will flag you through thinking a mistake was made at the register and the box was not deactivated. You can also leave the low priced item in the box if you have room for your concealed merchandise, make your purchase, then just bring the box with the item back in for a full refund. Shoe Switching This is a typical switch a roué technique where you leave a store with new shoes while leaving your old pair in the store. Some shoe stores will still have both shoes in the box with no security tags on them. These shoes will be the are the easiest to remove. Just swap out when no one is looking. If one of the shoes has a security tag in it then you will need to either use a tag detacher to remove it or if the tag is in a shoe lace hole you can cut the leather a little and pull the tag through the ripped hole. In a store where the employee has to retrieve shoes for you, find the shoes you wish to liberate. Once the salesperson retrieves the right pair, have them go back to the stock room to get another style so you can compare the two. Once the employee is sent back to the stockroom, you simply walk out with the new pair of shoes leaving the old pair in the box. It is always good to have at least two boxes of shoes left on the floor with the old pair in a bottom covered box and an other new pair exposed on top of it. This should allow you time to move away from the store as the employee seeing that you left the new shoes and boxes, will assume that you changed your mind and left. High / Low Shopping Cart With this technique two people will fill up a couple of shopping carts. One will have a few expensive items in it while the other cart will be full of miscellaneous items. You then proceed to the cashier and unload the expensive items first. The cashier scans the items and removes the security tags. As one person loads up the first cart with the high value goods the second person continues to unload the second cart. The second shopper distracts the cashier while the first leaves with the expensive items in the cart. When it comes time to pay the second shopper pays with an invalid credit card or gift card. After a few embarrassing moments the second shopper tells the cashier that they will have to go and get the first shopper who has the cash and leaves the rest of the items behind. They both then leave with the expensive items. Shopping Cart Passing Shopping cart passing is attempted by a two-person group. The first person will gather the desired merchandise into a shopping cart and take it to the register. The cashier will then ring up all the merchandise and place it in bags. Once the total is rung up, the shopper pays with an invalid credit card or gift card. Acting embarrassed for not being able to pay to first shopper leaves the store. Most cashiers will put the shopping cart off to the side and resume ringing up other customers. At this point, the second person moves in and grabs the cart and walks out of the store with the stolen merchandise already in bags. Shopping Cart Hiding You find the item that you are looking for and place it under the cart. You then continue to gather a small dollar amount of merchandise and places it in the upper part of the shopping cart. You then bring the cart to the register and remove all of the merchandise with the exception of the item you wish to take on the bottom of the cart. A lot of times this will be overlooked by the cahier and not rung up. Also small expensive items can be placed under large boxes or bags that are to big to be picked up at the register. If the cashier is not paying attention you will usually be able to get the merchandise past them without much effort. After paying for the smaller dollar items you leave the store. Push Out You fill the cart with a lot of high dollar items and you then proceed to the exit. This technique works well when there are register stands throughout the store and there are multiple exits. It would also help to have a receipt in your hand from a prior visit so that it looks like you have paid for the items in the shopping cart. The Self Bagger With this technique you enter the store with the stores bags already on you. The bags should be as new as they can be and you should have already acquired them in advance. Never walk into a store and pick up a bag out of the recycle bin or an empty cashiers stand. Begin by making your selections and then proceed to a predetermined blind spot in the store. You will then bag up the merchandise and place it the cart. With the merchandise bagged proceed to leave the store. This works really well if there are multiple cashers stands through out the store. The Texas Twofer This in also called the Two for One technique and works well in stores that have multiple check out stands and exits. You enter the store and proceed to gather items you wish to take into a shopping cart. Then placing the cart in a predetermined out of the way area, you grab a second cart and gather the exact same items into the cart. You then take and pay for all those items and leave the store with your receipt. You can either have a second partner or do it yourself. Come back into the store with the receipt and go to your first cart. Bag up the items and proceed to another exit with your receipt as if you just purchased it. This technique could be done for a third time if the store has three exits, but I would caution that this should only be done with a partner. Bag Alarm This works best in Mall stores. You walk into a store with a bag of items from an other store. Inside the bag is a concealed active security tag that will trigger the security alarm towers at the entrance of the store. Make a big deal out of it and make sure an employee notices that it was you that trigger the gates as you entered. Comment that there must be something from another store in their bag that triggered the gates. Ask them if they want to hold onto your bag while you shop and just pick it up on the way out. Find the items you want and conceal them on your body. If you still have your bag you may want to put items underneath the items you brought in. Remember though an alert staff may want to look into your bag as you leave. Before you leave find the employee that saw you come in tell them that as you go out you might set of the alarms again. When you trigger the gates again, just keep on walking. False Alarm Have a friend enter the store a few minutes before you do and act as if you do not know each. You collect the items that you wish to take while your friend gets a few low dollar items and purchases them. As they leave the store you will walk out right behind them. As they reach the alarm towers have them hesitate a little as you walk through setting off the alarm. You discreetly keep on walking while your friend stops and draws all the attention by looking confused with the bags. They should be very co-operative and happily opens all of their bags for the employee to see yet nothing they have will triggers the gates again. Give an explanation of the False Alarm by saying that it must be cell phone interference. Decoy Alarm You place an active tag into another shoppers bag while they are not paying attention. This works especially well with someone with children. You follow closely behind them as they walk through the alarm towers. The active tag will set off the alarm and the unsuspecting shopper will stop, as you continue to walk through. Parents will think that maybe their kid had something on them. All the attention will be on them as you leave the store. Suspicious Friend Have a friend enter the store a few minutes before you do and act as if you do not know each other. The friend will walk around the store acting very suspicious. Picking up items and putting them into a pocket making sure that they are seen, but not being obvious. When an employee sees someone acting suspicious they will begin watch that person. You then proceed to the opposite side of the store and retrieve the merchandise that you wish to take. Make any necessary adjustments to the items in order to remove them and then leave. Your friend should place any objects that where concealed back and then depart. If they are stopped while exiting they can easy prove that they didn’t take anything. The Bathroom Heist You need two people for this. Have a friend go into the store a few minutes after you. You go in and select whatever you want. The second person will have already entered the store and gone into the restroom. Have them wait in a stall. You go in with the merchandise. Go into the other stall next to your friend. Peek down at your friend’s shoes to make sure they are really next to you. Hand the merchandise under the stall, have them conceal the item and walk out first, leaving the store. You wait a couple of minutes, and then leave. If you are approached while leaving the store say you don’t know what they are talking about because you didn’t take anything. You decided not to buy anything and set the item down. You don’t what happened to it, it is not your reasonability to keep track of stores stuff. Do not admit to anything.!. You did nothing wrong and Loss Prevention will have to let you go. Grazing  This commonly happens at a grocery store. While you are walking around shopping, you pick up some food such as candy, and eat it. If questioned you say that you entered the store with the item. When you are done with the item you discard the empty package on a shelf. Out The Wrong Door Some stores will have a separate one way entrance and exit doors. The entrance door will normally not have an alarm and can not be opened from the inside of the store. The alarm towers will be on the exit doors. This method will require two people or the help of an unsuspecting customer. You go in and retrieve merchandise from the store and conceal it. When you are ready to leave the store with your items, you wait at the entrance door. Have your friend open the entrance door for you as you walk out. You could do this without a friends help. Just wait by the entrance as a customer comes in and grab the door before it closes and walk out. Walk Out You go into a store and shop like you normally would collecting as many expensive items as you can carry. As long as your appearance and attitude are not of a suspicious nature you should go unnoticed. Once you have collected your items just walk out and go to your car and leave. This is easily done in small clothing shops that do not have Loss Prevention. The sales associates will be slow to react. It could also be done in large department stores that have multiple entrances as long as you have a friend waiting in a car ready to leave. If the store has only Ink Tags you may not even be noticed as you leave. If an alarm sounds, then continue to walk calmly out the door. Grab and Run You enter a store with prior knowledge of what you are looking for. You move toward the merchandise you wish to take. Once you have the merchandise then proceed to the nearest store exit, very quickly. I recommend two people, one as a driver and the other as the runner. Before entering the parking lot for the store, remove the license plate. Coordinate watches and have a set time that the car will pull up the door. Before dashing out, make sure the driver knows to open the rear passenger door. This way you can just run out and dive into the back as the driver peels off because employees are sure to follow you out. Find a safe place to reattach your license plate. Due to the short time that you are inside the store, the people who attempt this are rarely caught, or in some cases even detected. Also a group of people can rush a store and grab as much merchandise as possible and then rush out. The speed with which this happens and the large numbers of people involved make it very difficult to stop. Emergency Exits This a very old technique and still may work from time to time especially during the holidays. A person gathers a lot of expensive merchandise into a cart and goes to the nearest Emergency Exits . You grab all of your items, push the bar that sets off an alarm and open the door. Have a friend in a car waiting right outside the door for a fast get away. You need to remember that exits will usually have cameras watching them and all of your actions and your face could be recorded. Emergency exits will all have alarms and the newer ones are on a time release. This means when you hit it, it will not open for 10 seconds after the alarm goes off. Loss Prevention are very aware of this tactic and will be watching for suspicious behavior around these doors. Casher Scanning An easy scam done by a cashier is to have a barcode stuck on the inside of their wrist so when a friend wishes to purchase something, instead of swiping the item the cashier actually swipes their wrist. This is effective when purchasing fifty dollar video games, which will actually ring up a couple packs of gum. This method eludes security cameras since it looks like an actual sale transaction is taking place. Receipt Matching This technique requires that you already have a receipt for the merchandise that you are going to return. You could search either retailer’s parking lot or trashcans looking for receipts that have a high dollar item on it paid for in cash. The problems with this is that stores try to prevent this type of return by installing outdoor cameras to watch the parking lots. Some will also have a greater who will give you a sticker when you enter with a return. This prevents people from acquiring items from within the store to return. Newer stores now have their return desk entrance separate from the store entrance to prevent you from doing this. If these are not issues then enter the store and compare the items on the receipt to the merchandise in the store. Once the you find a match take the merchandise to the return area and receive money for it. Receipt Passing With this technique you need a partner who waits out side as you enter the store. You select an expensive item and proceed to the checkout and purchase the item. Outside of the store you Pass the receipt and the stores bag off to your partner while you take the item to your car. With the receipt and bag concealed the second person goes into the store and finds the same item. they will then inconspicuously place the item into the bag and pick up a cheaper item on the way to the registers. With the receipt in hand they pay for the cheap item telling the casher they thought that they had better get this item before they leave. Fake Returns You go to the returns desk with a receipt and a box that contains a used or broken item, or something that has the same weight as the original item. This is best done when the return cashiers are busy and will not open the package. It also helps to have completely resealed the box and saying that it has never been opened. You would just like to have something different. However most high dollar items and almost all electronics will have a serial number on the outside of the box and it will be scanned at time of purchase. If it is returned, it will have to match the serial number on the item inside the box. They will open the box to double check it. You should have purchased the original item with cash so as to leave no evidence pointing to you. Receipt printing This method is a little more involved then most techniques because it requires you to have a thermal printer and receipt paper from the store you wish to make returns to. This can only be done with stores that do not use Bar-coding identification on the receipts. You purchase a few high value items with cash and gain a receipt that you can then copy. You proceed to make multiple copies of the same receipt so that you can use them to return items that you have taken from the store for a cash refund. Receipt-less returns This is a way of receiving cash or a store merchandise card without a receipt. You could attempt to remove items from off of the sales floor, walk up to the return desk, say that you lost your receipt and you would like to receive a refund. Unfortunately this is a risky move because Loss Prevention might be watching you as you go the return desk. After concealing the items, you leave the store. You would then proceed to another store and return the item there with out a receipt. Most stores will now require you to have a photo ID to return an item without a receipt and will limit how many returns you can make in a year. Large dollar amounts will always have to be approved by a supervisor. You can have fake Ids made up so that you can return more often to a store. Fence Sliding In stores that have garden centers one may be capable of sliding small expensive items under the fence. You then leave out the exit and come around to where slide your item under the fence. Or you could slide it to a waiting friend on the other side. Just remember to watch for those outdoor cameras. Key & Serial Numbers Many people download versions of games or software from the internet but cannot use the full version without a valid license. There are a couple ways of obtaining a license without removing the merchandise from the store. Take the item into a blind spot so that the packaging can be removed. Conceal the item and then take it into the privacy of a bathroom or dressing room to remove the packaging. Copy the serial number and then place the package in an inconspicuous place away from prying eyes. Defective Software A person buys a piece of software from a computer store, exits, opens the software, and records the serial number / CD key for single license of the software purchased. After at least a few hours the same person re-enters the store where he bought the software and complains to customer service that the installation disc is defective. Most computer store policies allow same-item exchange for opened computer software, so the person is given a different copy of the same software. The person now has two licenses after only paying for one. Self-Checkout It is possible to pass small items expensive items or large items through the self checkout without scanning them. You can do this if you have a lot of items you are purchasing. You can take a large item and pretend to scan it and place it right into the bag at the same time you pick up on the bag and place into your cart. The bagging area has a weigh scale that checks the weight of the scanned items. If there is a discrepancy, the supervising attendant is signaled to come to the station for assistance. The object is to never let the unscanned item sit in the bagging area. The scales will some times miss small light items so you could place multiple items into a bag without the computer noticing it. Beware - these checkout lanes are watched very closely by LP. Most have a camera overhead watching what you scan and a computer screen off site mirroring what your scanning. Barcode Counterfeiting While you are shopping you find an expensive item that you wish to have. You also noticed a cheaper version of the same item. You copy the numbers down from the UPC / Barcode off of the cheaper item. You can find bar coding applications and information on the internet that will generate a bar code for you. Print one out on a sticky label and then take it back into the store and place it over the barcode of the expensive item. Go through the checkout process, make a payment, have any security tags deactivated by the cashier and then walk out without arousing suspicion with your new item. Ticket Switching  You find an item on clearance and remove the clearance tag. You then find a similar high dollar item and apply the clearance tag to it. You then bring the high dollar item to an unsuspecting cashier and pay for it at a clearance price. Unfortunately most retailers today now utilize electronic barcodes that when scanned will ring up the correct price. Gift Card Cloning With this tactic you go into a store and remove a bunch of Gift Cards that have no value. With a card reader you obtain the numbers off of the magnetic strip on the back of the cards and make copies of them. You then return the cards and wait for a customer to activate one. Once activated and money is added to the card the value is also then passed to the cloned card. Opps - Did I Do That When a person takes their place in the check out line with the items they intend to take, and pay for only one of those items while holding what they want to take in full view to cause confusion but avoid suspicion due to their apparent intention of payment. If the unlikely event of being caught, they could simply pass off the attempt as accidental.