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Lawyer: Stay away from self-serve checkouts or you risk losing 'thousands' of dollars

One lawyer cautioned on social media that using a self-serve checkout counter could result in you being accused of stealing.

Carrie Jernigan, an influencer and lawyer who frequently provides legal guidance to her 1.2 million followers on TikTok, claims that businesses are accusing law-abiding consumers of stealing based on surveillance footage taken at the register.

“As a criminal defense attorney, I advise most people to steer clear of self-checkout,” Jernigan says in a video that’s racked up over 2 million views.

According to the attorney, there are "three groups" of individuals facing charges for shoplifting at self-checkout.

Those "with the intent to steal" make up the first category. Although skilled thieves are still able to get away with it, weight sensors and cameras have made theft more challenging.

Lawyer Carrie Jernigan says to steer clear of self-serve checkouts.
“Truly innocent” people using the self-serve checkout could be charged with stealing items you rightfully purchased or never picked up, Jernigan said.
Left: Getty Images; Right: @carr

She refers to the second group as "stealing by mistake." She continued, "These are the people that I truly believe simply forgot to scan an item," giving instances such inadvertently leaving something at the bottom of the shopping basket. These people frequently face charges in spite of the accidental incident, Jernigan said, "because... the big-box stores aren't going to spend their time and resources trying to figure out if you did it on purpose."

She referred to the third group as the "really innocent."

“Most of these are not getting charged day of,” she explained. Rather, their predicament begins when someone in the asset protection department of a store starts counting inventory, perhaps days, weeks or months, and “later comes up short.”

@carriejernigan1 Reply to @afamily20202 ♬ original sound - LAWYER CARRIE

“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 explained.

Megaretailers like Walmart, in Jernigan's opinion, typically need to provide very little proof in order to obtain an affidavit for warrants on the charges.

“The charges that could land you up to a year in jail,” she cautioned. “You have to spend thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer and we have to go through grainy video footage to try to determine what all you bought that day.”

Jernigan urged people to pay with a card for larger purchases and always keep proof of purchase.

The Post has contacted Walmart for comment on her assessment.

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