It’s very common to find videos of hauls all over the internet. People enjoy watching unboxing, ASMR, or seeing how products work. Hauls are also a great source of inspiration for those who want to make their homes or offices look nice, so following influencers for content like this is also common. However, not everything is always positive, as one influencer was arrested for sharing her shoplifting hauls videos on TikTok. Users and apps alike must become more critical of those who want to “influence” others, as not all of them have the best intentions.
It’s not like this influencer has videos showing explicitly how she stole from Target, but strangely, she was in the exact time and location whenever a weird payment happened. This may be a coincidence, but when it happened so frequently, it raised red flags for the company. Target’s strong security is amazing because, in their investigation, they noticed that the person responsible was paying for their products with a barcode for a much lower value. Then, on TikTok, this same influencer shared how she visited Target and showed her shoplifting haul with each product. So the research showed the items with anomalies, the influencer at the location buying or wearing the same items, and her video outfits coincided with what she was wearing at Target while shopping.
There are more and more cases in which influencers have nasty attitudes like this influencer, and that’s why they shouldn’t be where anyone can see their “great ideas.”
Needless to say, stealing is wrong, but more than one comment speaks to Target’s strong security, trying to discourage anyone with the intention of trying this same tactic.
People with so many followers and those on the rise should perhaps undergo more scrutiny to avoid situations as embarrassing as this one. Or, perhaps influencers should receive more serious consequences for actions like these? It’s worrying how common sense is lacking in many people and even more so if they have access to the internet.