Brazen Walmart ‘thief swipes $500 worth of items with bizarre ticket switching trick at self-checkout'

The Sun

28-05-2025

A WOMAN pulled off a wild ticket-switching stunt at Walmart and walked out with hundreds in goods until surveillance video caught up with her.
She racked up 19 visits using the same sneaky trick, cops said.
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The alleged scheme went down in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, roughly 80 miles from Milwaukee.
Hailey Wildfong, 38, is now charged with one count of felony retail theft, Seehafer News reported.
She's accused of swapping barcodes on merchandise at self-checkout, paying next to nothing for pricier products.
A loss prevention employee flagged the strange transactions and showed the footage to police.
Walmart's loss prevention team claims Wildfong stole over $500 worth of items in total.
The videos reportedly show her scanning swapped tags during nearly 19 separate trips.
Wildfong has appeared in court where she was released on her own recognizance and slapped with a $1,000 bond.
Court Commissioner Patricia Koppa signed off on the conditions, which include a ban on returning to Walmart.
Wildfong's next court appearance is scheduled for June 16.
Cops say she is not the only shopper using high-tech checkouts to pull off low-tech scams.
How Two Shoppers Stole $141k from Target and Walmart Across 21 States
In another case earlier this year, a man named Speedy Gonzalez was arrested in Georgia for ripping off Walmart stores with a trash can trick.
The 40-year-old allegedly stuffed pricey products into empty bins, scanned the bins, and walked out with the loot.
Gonzalez reportedly stole items like nicotine, diabetic strips, and gum, all while avoiding staff detection.
Authorities say Gonzalez pulled the scam off at least 20 times across stores in Georgia.
The Gainesville Police Department says they finally caught Gonzalez after a surveillance camera showed him in action.
Lieutenant Kevin Holbrook told WAGA that Gonzalez returned to the same store just 10 days later, and police were waiting.
Cops searched his car and found stolen items that matched other theft cases across Georgia's Hall, Barrow, Gwinnett, Habersham, White, and Lumpkin counties.
Back in 2020, Gonzales was busted for trying to use stolen checks to buy $3,000 in goods at Home Depot, police said.
Investigators learned the checks came from a mailbox in Suwanee, just outside of Atlanta.
DON'T FORGET FLORIDA
Meanwhile, in Florida, another Walmart shopper tried to pull off a grocery version of the scam.
Cops say Katherine Gordon used the 'banana trick' to scan cheap fruit barcodes on expensive food.
She was able to bag $83 in groceries for a fraction of the price.
Walmart has since rolled out smart cameras at some kiosks that track hand movements and check barcode accuracy to prevent future scams.
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