KROGER’S new anti-theft device is being unveiled ahead of the holidays, but it means shoppers will need to allow more time visiting the store.
With the holiday season often seeing an uptake in retail theft, Kroger is only the latest store to ramp up its anti-theft measures in advance.
Kroger is introducing a new security measure ahead of the holiday season[/caption]
The measure is designed to challenge gift card fraud[/caption]
The major update includes the installation of locking pegs for gift cards.
These devices require shoppers to pull cards out through a slot.
This makes is harder for criminals to tamper with cards before returning them to the shelves.
The move comes after a Kroger store in Louisville, Kentucky was targeted by an organized crime ring earlier this year.
Criminals removed gift cards from racks, wrote down the card numbers, and later stole the funds once the cards had been activated.
Four suspects now face felony charges for their involvement in the scheme, which affected multiple stores across the city.
Kroger has now rolled out locking pegs across all 116 of its stores in the Louisville division.
This area covers all of Kentucky as well as southern Illinois and southern Indiana.
Kroger has also increased staff monitoring in the gift card aisles to deter potential thieves.
Police have praised the move by the grocery store.
“What they’re trying to do is slow down the scammers where they can’t put the gift cards back in bulk,” St Matthews Police Chief Barry Wilkerson told local Fox affiliate WDRB.
“Instead of putting $8,000 worth of compromised cards on the shelves immediately, they’re gonna have to work to get that in and is it worth the effort to do that to get minimum money?”
Kroger did not respond immediately to The U.S. Sun’s requests for comment.
Target’s anti-theft measures
Target has implemented multiple anti-theft measures to combat crime in the store.
The retail giant has placed some items behind locked cases, which has resulted in customer backlash.
In April 2024, reports surfaced that it is planning to add TruScan cameras to its self-checkout registers.
Target also added weight sensors to its self-checkout registers in another move to combat theft.
The U.S. Sun repeatedly reported on the $1 million gift card scam uncovered by cops at Kroger.
The alleged thieves were caught after one was seen pilfering through a gift card aisle at the supermarket in St. Matthews, Kentucky, outside Louisville.
They are all Chinese citizens, and their names are Chaoming Lin, Zhiqiang Huang, Huixing Yu, and Tianlong Chen. They were arrested on Saturday.
So far, the men are facing hundreds of charges, and St. Matthews Police Chief Barry Wilkerson said they’re looking into what the money was used for.
“Is it tied to terrorism? I don’t know,” he told CBS affiliate WLKY.
“That’s why we turn these cases over to the federal agencies so they can get a better look and a better grasp of what or how deep these cases are.”
The United States Department of Homeland Security said the stunt is part of a crime scheme they’ve noticed in Chinese immigrants.
