AN innocent man has been forced to try and clear his name after being accused of theft at a Walmart self-checkout.
Bill Astle from St Louis, Missouri was not accused of shoplifting by loss prevention officers, but by a fellow shopper and social media users.
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A video of Astle from Mother’s Day went viral after the clip appeared to show him brazenly stealing from Walmart.
In the clip, he can be seen taking groceries out of the cart and putting them directly into bags without scanning them.
Astle then places the bags back into the cart while the woman filming tells viewers, “This man is really just stealing everything.”
“So open about it, look at the screen, ain’t nothing ringing up,” she continued.
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“I’m not a thief,” Astle told First Alert 4 after the video did the rounds on social media.
“I’m being pictured and painted as a thief on the internet,” he added.
Astle explained to the outlet that he is working hard to clear his name as he is forced to explain to strangers that he was simply doing his job.
He works for Walmart’s Spark delivery service which sees drivers complete shops for app users and deliver it to their door.
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Shoppers place and pay for the order via the app meaning that drivers simply have to collect the items.
“Everything is done off the phone, so when we get to the register, we’re not actually scanning a single item,” Astle explained.
Unlike when shoppers get to the checkout and start scanning, Astle simply has to scan his phone into the self-checkout.
After doing this, he is free to bag up the items as they have already been paid for.
However, he was unaware that someone had decided to film him and has since said that the video got “millions and millions of views.”
On X, formerly Twitter, the clip has been viewed over 16 million times and that is without the views on other social media sites.
Astle is even being recognized in the street and called out by strangers for the alleged theft.
“I’ve had customers say, ‘Hey, didn’t I see you on the internet? Didn’t you steal items?’” he said.
What is Walmart Spark?
Walmart Spark is a delivery service that enables shoppers to place orders via the app and have them delivered straight to their door.
Payment for the shop is taken on the app before the groceries are picked up and delivered.
Walmart Plus members do not have to pay a fee for orders above $35 but orders less than this will cost $5.99.
Non-members will have to pay delivery fees between $7.95 and $9.95.
“Then I have to explain to people what I’m doing.”
The Walmart Spark worker is trying to get the video removed as he says he has the receipts to prove that he was working for the retailer that day.
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The U.S. Sun has gone to Walmart for comment.
Meanwhile, Walmart Spark drivers have previously sent out a warning after finding that the retailer randomly injected cash into their accounts.
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https://www.the-sun.com/news/11606067/walmart-user-filmed-self-checkout-says-not-thief/