A former Victoria’s Secret manager issued a public service announcement about how the company catches shoplifters in a viral TikTok.
The video was uploaded by TikTok user Kenzie Rae (@kenzieraesch) who shares how Victoria’s Secret handles shoplifters. She provided some background about how it was a “daily occurrence” for the Victoria’s Secret location she worked at to experience theft “multiple times a day.”
A main belief that fuels shoplifters was the notion that “people cannot stop them” when they are shoplifting, Kenzie says. However, the TikToker explains this conception has some truth to it because “the company wants to protect the employees and keep them safe.”
Kenzie dives in on how the company eventually catches the thieves. According to the former employee, there’s an asset protection team where employees report theft. However, they’re not always around because “they have to work with all of the stores in the area.”
Regardless, employees report the theft through the system especially if it’s a “high dollar amount.” The asset protection team will, “go back and look at the camera footage, take screenshots, and calculate everything that you stole,” Kenzie explains.
Most of the thieves may believe they’ve gotten away with stealing due to nobody stopping them but they are terribly mistaken. Over time, Kenzie says, the more the thief returned to the stores —regardless of the location—the more evidence the team had to build a case against them.
Once the thief stole a certain amount of items, Kenzie claims action will be taken against them. She revealed an example of this, sharing a time a lady they’d “been watching for months” would come in and steal. One day, the lady was trying to be discreet and had already allegedly stolen thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. A member of the asset protection team was present. As soon as the sensor went off, alerting of theft, Kenzie says the asset protection employee “chased after her” and “waited for the police” where the lady blamed her actions on “overdosing.”
@kenzieraesch Why you probably shouldn’t steal from Victoria’s Secret.. from an ex employee. #fyp #victoriassecret #vs #shoplifters #theft #victoriasecret ♬ original sound – Kenzie Rae
The Daily Dot reached out to Kenzie via email and TikTok comment and Victoria’s Secret via press email regarding the video. The video amassed 1.8 million views as of Feb. 5, with viewers sharing how some other stores tackle theft.
“Some stores even offer employees a reward if they report info that leads to an arrest so for people who think why would employees care if I steal,” one viewer wrote.
“Most stores will wait until that amount makes it a felony and then they will press charges,” another said.
“They like to watch you and wait until you’ve stolen enough for it to be federal offense. y’all stay safe,” a third echoed.
Other former retail employees shared stories that dealt with shoplifting.
“I worked at hollister,lush and ulta. lush does not care and hollister didn’t care that much but ulta would track you downnnn,” one person shared.
“When I worked at target years ago they had a whole bulletin board of pictures of ppl who steal,” a second commented.
“I worked at 5 below, and we cant approach them but we can walk around and stare at them really hard so they put it back lol,” a third stated.
