Shoplifters use deception to confuse employees. This could be a diversion such as a Shoplifters partner creating a disturbance in another part of the store, pulling employees away from the merchandise to be stolen.
I have seen situations as simple as a screaming child to faked slip and falls to fake “customer complaints” that get loud. To prevent shoplifting you must train to deal with these situations. If an incident occurs only a limited amount of employees should respond. Others should actually stay away from the incident and turn their attention towards the balance of the store and customers.
Another way to prevent shoplifting of this type is to use your public address system. Make a “ghost call” such as “security to sections 3 and 12”. This will throw the shoplifters off since the shoplifters do not know where these “sections” are and you have announced two that sound like they are far apart. At that point your legitimate customers could be Security personnel as far as the Shoplifter would know.
