The amount of shoplifting cases in Russia has risen by 18% from February to April compared to the same period in 2021, RBC cites a report by NTechLab, a face recognition system developer.
Stealing items at self-checkout is this year’s trend, says the report, rising by 34%. The amount of items stolen along with shopping baskets has risen by 27%.
The average total price of items stolen has also risen by 25%, it is now 1,500 rubles (€22). Confectionery is the most common type of goods (19% of all stolen items), followed by lunch meat (16%), alcoholic beverages (14%), cheese (13%), coffee and cocoa powder (7%).
“Economic downturns always result in increased shoplifting,” expert Sergey Agibalov says. “People tend to steal expensive goods to make their venture worth a risk,” he believes.
Oleg Ponomaryov, co-owner of SPAR Kaliningrad and Semja brands, also confirms that shoplifting rates have increased. “It is unclear who to blame, the customers or the personnel, but it is obvious that the situation is going to get worse as the economic cutback progresses,” he said.
