Woman arrested after not scanning all items at Michigan Walmart self-checkout
ALPENA COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) – A Michigan woman accused of stealing from Walmart by not scanning all items at self-checkout is facing charges.
Police say TeddyJo Marie Fliam, 34, was caught skipping items as she rang up her purchases at the store on M-32 in Alpena County in July. When confronted by a loss prevention worker, she allegedly became agitated, denied it, and left.
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That employee reviewed surveillance video and found that Fliam had stolen more than $1,000 worth of merchandise since April by not scanning it.
Fliam was arrested at her Alpena home Sept. 29 and charged with first-degree retail fraud.
Read more stories from around Michigan here.
Loss prevention has been cracking down on self-checkout thefts from the same Walmart store. Michigan State Police have reported two recent cases where people were arrested after allegedly swapping barcodes at self-checkout.
Woman banned from every Walmart in America over self-checkout scam
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A woman has been banned from every Walmart store in America after being accused of a self-checkout scam.
WREG reports Ashley Cross, 37, was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, after allegedly stealing from the retail chain’s store in Whitehaven, Tenn. Police said she and another woman were captured on camera using an old watch battery barcode to scan all her items for $1 while using the self-checkout register.
Cross, who police said was a well-known shoplifter, allegedly stole 11 packs of Ramen Noodles, women’s boots, blue jeans, and a T-shirt, worth $137.34 in total. She was charged with criminal trespass and theft of merchandise less than $1,000.
Cross was being held in jail on a $7,500 bond and is due to appear in court on Feb. 19.
According to WREG, Walmart added Cross to the Authorization of Agency list, refusing to allow her to enter any Walmart or Sam’s Club locations in the U.S. due to repeated shoplifting.
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“We value our customers and associates and want them to have a pleasant shopping experience. Though rare, there are instances when someone is no longer welcome in our stores,” Walmart said in a statement.
The second woman, who was not identified, allegedly used the same watch barcode to scan items for $1. She was accused of stealing a backpack, two bras, a lash kit, and a car accessory, totaling $57.86, and received a misdemeanor citation for theft of property.
According to Newsweek, shoplifting has been a growing problem for retailers, increasing by 93 percent from 2019 to 2023. Theft cost businesses $93.9 billion in 2021, with 37% coming from external theft, or shoplifting.
Polk County principal accused of ‘skip scanning’ at Walmart self-checkout
by: Katlyn Fernandez, Staci DaSilva
Editor’s Note: A video was removed from this article because it contained an incorrect mugshot provided by police. We regret the error.
POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Polk County principal is accused of “skip scanning” at a Walmart self-checkout.
According to the interim superintendent Alricky Smith, Gregory Lewis, the principal at Bok Academy North, is on administrative leave while Lake Wales Charter Schools review the situation.
“At this time, I am unable to provide any comments on the next steps, as this matter is ongoing,” wrote Smith in a letter to trustees.
The Winter Haven Police Department said officers were called to the Walmart at 7450 Cypress Gardens Boulevard in Winter Haven around 1:30 p.m. Saturday for retail theft.
An asset protection officer told Winter Haven officers that Lewis was “skip scanning” at the self-checkout. The AP officer said Lewis was seen placing a bag of disposable foam plates between items of higher value.Woman accused of stealing Florida cop’s car, robbing his apartment
Officers spoke to Lewis, who admitted to skip scanning at the self-checkout, according to an arrest affidavit.
Lewis reportedly told officers that his friends told him they had stolen from stores using the same method and thought he would try it. The affidavit said Lewis had previously done this at the same store.
“We sit around talking, ‘Hey I did this.’ Let me try and see what I can get away with,” Lewis said on body-worn camera video, speaking to a Winter Haven police officer. “I did something dumb today and I understand it.”
The affidavit said that Lewis stole a large pack of light bulbs, bacon and frozen butterfly shrimp, which totaled $37.45.
“Unfortunately, it’s turning our profession into a sad situation,” said James Barker, a retired Polk County teacher. “More and more people are doing just stupid things without any regard to the consequences not only for themselves but the reputation of our profession.”
Barker said he hopes Lewis gets the full consequences of the law.
“He’s the principal of the school and now he’s been caught doing this, so what example does he set for the kids?” he asked.
Lewis was arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail on a petit theft charge.
He declined to comment when reached by phone by News Channel 8.
According to a social media post, Lewis became the principal at Bok Tower North in August 2024.
“Anybody’s capable of this,” said John Hassard, an associate at Robson Forensic with decades of experience in loss prevention.
He suggests people think twice before thinking they can get away with theft at self-checkout.
“These successful rollouts of self-checkouts have included a lot of business intelligence systems behind them, a lot of algorithms, even seeing some artificial intelligence applied,” he said.
Walmart uses a hidden trick to catch shoplifting and ‘skip scanning’ — here’s how
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Today’s Video Headlines
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Talk about a hidden value.
Walmart shoppers are losing their minds after learning that the store’s budget-friendly Great Value items come equipped with invisible barcodes — a secret hiding in plain sight since 2019.
In a viral TikTok clip posted by Walmart worker @beatsbycait, the employee used a handheld scanner to zap six products right in their middles — far from the obvious barcodes — revealing that the goods are plastered with covert codes.
“Real ones know almost all great value items have hidden bar codes,” she wrote in the caption, sending jaws to the self-checkout floor.
The clip has racked up over 287,000 views and left viewers stunned — and slightly paranoid.
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In the video, the content creator is seen scanning a Walmart product from all angles while checking out, showing that you don’t have to scan the designated barcode to ring up an item.
How it works is that bar codes are hidden so self-checkout scanners can recognize products even when customers aren’t aiming directly at the traditional barcode — making theft harder, since traditionally it’s easy for people to skip scanning at item at self-checkout registers.
The tech was developed by barcode company Digimarc and has been around for five years.
“Walmart is a forward-thinking technology leader with an unwavering focus on customer experience,” Digimarc CEO Riley McCormack said in a statement in 2022. “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with them and look forward to sharing more details about this expansion in the coming months.”
While the retailer cracks down on checkout cheaters, it’s also doing some internal cleanup.
Walmart recently announced more than 1,000 corporate job cuts in a bid to tighten belts and streamline its sprawling empire.
In a company-wide memo this month, Walmart US CEO John Furner and Walmart Global CTO Suresh Kumar said the move was to “remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly.”
“The world of technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and reshaping our structure allows us to accelerate how we deliver and adapt to the changing environment around us,” they wrote.
Meanwhile, tariff tensions are adding pressure. Earlier this year, Walmart execs met with President Trump, who slashed duties on Chinese imports — but not enough for Walmart to eat the cost.
The company couldn’t “absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon — prompting Trump to fume on Truth Social that the chain should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”93
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Eventually, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed a truce of sorts: Walmart would “absorb some of the tariffs while some costs will get passed on to consumers.”
Turns out the real hidden code is knowing when prices will go up — or disappear entirely.
