In the wild world of consumer purchasing, finding a random charge on the till at self-checkout might not be the most shocking experience. However, not doing so can be costly for those on tight budgets.
One Kroger shopper says he was keeping a running total in his head and knew what his groceries would cost. However, once he had scanned everything at self-checkout, he found it was about $8 more than he expected.
In a TikTok that has drawn over 483,000 views, user @the_journey76 does not name the grocery store—other than that it starts with a K—but did confirm to commenters who suggested it was Kroger that they had the right store.
“As I got ready to pay, I said this don’t seem right, there’s like $8 difference,” he says in the video. “There was a little UPC code that ran across the bottom of the screen, and it was eight bucks.”
He says he called the cashier over, who claimed she had no idea what it was. He says she removed the charge with no problems.
When he confronted a manager about the discrepancy, they suggested the additional cost might have been a gift card.
“She didn’t wonder about it, didn’t bother, nothing,” he says. “I’m sitting here thinking, I wonder how many people don’t catch that and are buying—because I went to the office, and I asked what that UPC code would have represented and she said if it’s only a barcode at the bottom that’s usually a gift card. Now I’m not saying that that cashier was up to any foolishness. Check your receipts, folks.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @the_journey76 via TikTok direct message. We also reached out to Kroger via email regarding the video.
@the_journey76 Check your receipts folks #creatorsearchinsights #global #fy #groceries ♬ original sound – The_Journey76
Is this a new gift card scam?
While the TikToker suggests that viewers should be wary of any additional charges they might incur at self-checkout, and rightly question them, it does not appear that this is a new trend in gift card scamming.
Each holiday season, shoppers learn the hard way that gift cards are not infallible methods of keeping funds secure. Scammers will obtain the needed card information from underneath the cardboard packaging of gift cards easily accessible in most retail stores, immediately using and draining the funds when they are loaded onto the cards by unsuspecting customers.
Viewers weigh in
Some viewers shared suspicions that they have been taken advantage of in grocery stores in similar ways.
“They have remotes that they can use to add gift cards to your transaction then they will pick up the gift card you bought for themselves,” one commenter wrote. “Been seeing alot of talk about this all over the internet.”
“I had placed a food delivery & there was $20 charge placed for ‘Cash back,’” another said. “Started with a K. Same thing with $10 at a store with a W.”
“I check before we even leave the building,” one said. “So many errors, as well as cashiers running things twice when I only have one.”
Others shared that they were frustrated with slightly different experiences when ringing up their purchases, as items ring up for significantly more than they are marked on the shelves.
“Got charged 8.50 for a butternut squash she punched in the wrong code,” one commenter wrote. “It was $1.80 when rung in correctly.”
“I bought onions on sale yesterday for $1.99,” another claimed. “It rang up $5.99 luckily, I caught it.”
“Twice now at the same ‘k’ I got charged for 36 lbs of grapes once,” a commenter wrote. “And 17 lbs the second time. I watch verrrrry closely now.”
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
