Innocent shoppers across the UK are being falsely accused of theft and banned from stores as retailers rapidly deploy AI-powered facial recognition cameras to combat a shoplifting epidemic, privacy campaigners have warned.
The Scale of the Surveillance Surge
New figures reveal the technology is flagging record numbers of suspected shoplifters, with systems sending over 2,000 alerts per day in the week before Christmas 2023. In total, the system sent a staggering 43,602 alerts to subscriber stores in July 2023 alone, more than double the figure for the same month the previous year. By December, this monthly tally had soared past 54,000.
The primary system in use, Facewatch, sends an instant alert to staff when a person on a biometric watchlist enters a store. The British Retail Consortium reports that retailers spent a colossal £1.8 billion on crime prevention in 2024. While creators insist the technology has near-100% accuracy, a series of high-profile errors has sparked a major backlash.
Innocent Lives Disrupted by False Alerts
Campaign group Big Brother Watch has highlighted multiple cases of wrongful accusations. One customer, Jenny, was barred from her local B&M store in Birmingham after being falsely accused of stealing a bottle of wine. She described being confronted by security: "You're on Facewatch as you've obviously stolen something." The company later apologised, blaming human error.
Jenny told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's like we've made retail managers and technology companies judge, jury and executioner, with no legal due process." She spoke of her humiliation, challenging the notion that "if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to worry about."
Other cases include:
- A 64-year-old woman wrongly accused of stealing less than £1 of paracetamol and blacklisted from local shops.
- A man in Cardiff alleged to have shoplifted before being cleared by a CCTV review.
- Danielle Horan from Manchester, ordered out of two shops over a false accusation of stealing toilet roll, which she had actually paid for on a previous visit.
- A 19-year-old, 'Sara', misidentified by the technology in a Manchester Home Bargains store in February 2024, leading to a nationwide ban.
Retailers Push Back Against 'Epidemic' Theft
Despite the controversies, many retailers argue the technology is essential. Sainsbury's, the UK's second-largest supermarket chain, began an eight-week trial of Facewatch in two stores in autumn 2023, with plans for a potential nationwide rollout. The retailer stated the move was a response to rising abuse, anti-social behaviour, and violence against staff.
Independent traders like Vince and Fiona Malone, who run Tenby Stores in Pembrokeshire, Wales, have welcomed the technology. They installed AI cameras in September 2023 after claiming thieves cost them £26,000 a year and police were often unresponsive. "It's giving us control back," said Mr Malone.
Facewatch CEO Nick Fisher defended the system, stating it only stores data on "known repeat offenders" and is used in a "proportionate and responsible" way. The company cites YouGov polling from October 2023 suggesting 65% of UK adults support its use to prevent theft.
A Call for Regulation and Ban
Privacy advocates are demanding urgent government action. Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, told the Daily Mail: "Shoplifters should be held to account but the proper way to do that in a democracy is through the criminal justice system rather than private AI systems that are dangerously faulty."
She highlighted that live facial recognition is banned for private companies' use in much of Europe, making the UK an "outlier." The group warns that members of the public are being placed on secret watchlists without their knowledge or any right to see evidence.
The debate unfolds against a backdrop of soaring retail crime. British Retail Consortium figures indicate just 2.5% of shoplifting offences are recorded by police annually, with an estimated 50,000 incidents going unreported every day. As AI surveillance becomes ubiquitous on the high street, the clash between security, privacy, and civil liberties is set to intensify.
