A woman on TikTok says that she was followed around a Walmart location by three mysterious men.
Over the years, many shoppers have reported their own stories about being followed in stores. For example, in February 2024, a woman claimed that she was followed around a Walmart location, only to discover that similar incidents had allegedly been reported at the same location several times over the previous two months.
Prior to that, another woman discussed her own experience being followed while shopping, stating that a man who called her “beautiful” ended up following her as she shopped. This shook her to the point where she asked security to escort her out of the building.
Now, another internet user has shared their story—but it doesn’t end how one might expect.
Why was this woman followed while shopping at Walmart?
In a video with over 513,000 views, TikTok user Baleigh Hamby (@baleighmarieh) recounts a distressing experience at a Walmart location.
According to Hamby, she was shopping at the store when she was approached by a woman whom she did not recognize.
“This woman approached me with her son and she said, ‘Hey, I just want you to know there has been three men that are watching you and they don’t have buggies,’” she recalls. “‘They have, like, the same hat on and they have just, like, their cell phone, and they’re watching you. They’re pointing at you. Like, they’re looking at you…It’s, like, evident.’”
Quickly, Hamby confirmed that this was the case. She then called several relatives to see if anyone could come and assist her and, after that proved ineffective, moved to the checkout aisle and became emotionally distraught. She also tried to take a picture of one of the men, who promptly avoided having his photo taken.
“We were telling the employee about, like, what’s happening, and I didn’t want to do, like, a police report or anything—I just wanted to go home,” she explains. “I was nervous. I was scared. I wanted to get out of there.”
When she got home, she consulted with a family friend who is a police officer. The friend advised her to file a report, and so, she did. She also made a post on Facebook detailing her experience, with some commenters on the post claiming that they had experienced something similar.
It was this Facebook post that led her to discover why she was truly being followed.
Was it just a misunderstanding?
According to Hamby, after making the post to Facebook, someone reached out to her and stated that one of the men following her was his nephew—and that he worked at Walmart.
“I was like, ‘What?’” Hamby says.
Soon, the police reached back out to Hamby and said something similar. It turns out that, according to the police officer and the person with whom Hamby talked on Facebook, these people were actually employees in plain clothes hired to monitor shoppers.
“‘The men that were following you tonight are undercover employees, and they follow people around the store specifically in that women’s section and clothing section because there’s a lot of theft there,’” Hamby recalls the police officer saying. “So, they follow people around at Christmas time, and I was just mind blown.”
The police officer then assured Hamby that she did the right thing, as she was correct in her assessment that she was being followed.
While Hamby says she feels “stupid” about the ordeal, she says that Walmart should make an effort to inform shoppers about this process to prevent future problems like the ones she encountered.
Although she acknowledges that this could reduce the effectiveness of the strategy, she notes that she was shaken by the ordeal while further stating that other stores like Target employ complex security systems to resolve similar issues.
“If you’re a Walmart shopper and you shop there occasionally and you ever get creeped out, maybe just go ask the employees or the manager like, ‘Hey, is this your Walmart undercover shopper, or is that someone that’s trying to, like, take me away?’” she advises.
Is this common?
Hamby is not alone in observing undercover loss prevention in action at Walmart.
For example, one user on TikTok alleged that they were constantly followed by “floor walkers” at Walmart, claiming that the behavior of the staff may have something to do with his appearance. Another TikTok user showed their experience dealing with these floor walkers, reacting to the situation by imitating their behavior back at them.
In 2016, Walmart’s strategy of “floor walkers” was revealed thanks in part to a lawsuit in which a woman alleged she was fraudulently accused by a floor walker of shoplifting. The woman was found to be not guilty of the alleged crime. One alleged former floor walker also shared their own experience working at the store in a TikTok video.
@baleighmarieh #walmart #crazyexperience #undercover ♬ original sound – baleighmarieH
Commenters share their thoughts
In the comments section, many users expressed their distaste for Walmart’s strategy of floor walkers, with some sharing their own experiences.
“My sister and I were at our local walmart a few years ago. Someone was peeping around corners and kept following us. When we get to checkout we mentioned it to the clerk, because it freaked us out,” recalled a commenter. “She just casually stated that that was the new [loss] prevention person. I just looked st her and said, well he needs to learn a different way of doing things. He didn’t work there long.”
“I’m just trying to figure out how I would know the difference between an actual creep vs an employee following me??” questioned another. “I refuse to be lax hoping it’s an employee, and then get kidnapped because I wrote it off as nothing.”
“They hire floor walkers, but have no cashiers, and no one to help us,” noted a third. “I had to find someone to open a locked case for 14$ sandpaper!”
The Daily Dot reached out to Walmart via media relations contact form and Hamby via email.
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.
