Supermarkets are set to introduce advanced self-service technology in a bid to cut down on shoplifting.
A third of shoppers are estimated to fail to pay for all their items when using the unmanned tills - though not always intentionally - with thieves specifically using them to steal more expensive items, including steaks.
Experts say the industry has been forced to consider advanced tech to crack down on 'swipers' who are pinching more than £500million worth of items a year.
The new systems can detect when an item in the bagging area is different to the one scanned, as well as spot other suspicious patterns.
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Professor Adrian Beck, of the University of Leicester, liaises with stores to help them spot the tricks that some shoppers pull and has surveyed three thousand people on the changes.
He said the current tech works largely around weight and the scanners "can't recognise" what each items looks like.
It means people select cheap but heavy items like onions while actually buying more expensive foods like bananas or avocados.
Or pay for a bag of potatoes but take a bottle of champagne.
He told the Daily Mail : "People make excuses for why they haven’t followed the rules such as 'there were problems with a barcode', or 'they made me use this machine and I tried my best but it didn’t work'."
The new system, already in use in some supermarkets, can even recognise the colour of an item.
Prof Beck added: "Other supermarkets have installed gates as you leave the checkout. If you scan the items but do not pay then the machine knows and will not let you through. A number of companies are trialling this."
Israeli tech firm SuperSmart has, meanwhile, developed a system that can weigh an entire trolley.
Professor Emmeline Taylor, who specialises in retail crime at City, University of London, coined the ‘swipers’ acronym, which stands for "seemingly well-intentioned patrons engaging in routine shoplifting".
Speaking to the Sunday Times she said: "Self service has created a new breed of shoplifter. Rather than seeing it as problematic, they get a buzz from it or see it as funny or socially acceptable in a way that you wouldn’t if you stole a piece of cheese from Tesco."
A survey of 2,000 Brits, by Myfavouritevouchercodes.co.uk, found one in three admitted to pinching items using the self-service checkouts in 2022 alone.
The items most commonly stolen are toiletries and hygiene products, fresh produce and baby formula, it said.
