Shop security guards have complained of a ‘massive’ rise in antisocial behaviour by teenage tearaways harassing staff and customers for social media views.
Supermarkets have started turning off their WiFi to stop mobs gathering at in-store cafes to use the Internet while passing time filming themselves ‘trying to get a rise’ out of employees.
They also face the scourge of influencers carrying out ‘pranks’ with the aim of going viral on TikTok, as well as other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.
Videos show attention-seekers taking items from shoppers’ baskets, telling off customers while posing as staff and pretending to shoplift.
Others are seen startling a lone woman by moaning in her ear, releasing insects, and shoving soiled clothes in a man’s face.
It comes at a time the retail sector is already having to deal with a steep rise in theft, abuse, and assaults.
Kevin Burton, retail account director at Kingdom Security, says his colleagues are fed up of being targeted by thugs looking ‘for kicks and social media attention’.
He described wannabee influencers stealing milk to pour over themselves, locking themselves in toilets so they could sneak out at night and even riding bikes through the aisles – knocking over an elderly woman in the process.
One particularly disturbing video shows a young man creeping up behind a woman browsing at a homeware store in London and moaning in her ear
One TikToker regularly goes up to members of the public in supermarkets before taking items out of their baskets
Another tiresome prank involved teenagers pretending to be staff at a McDonald’s drive-thru before telling security ‘you can’t touch us’ as they try to remove them
‘Recently we’ve had one guy who goes around with a speaker, grabs a couple of milk bottles and throws the milk over himself before rolling around on the floor,’ Mr Burton told MailOnline.
‘In one incident in West Yorkshire kids were riding bicycles up and down the aisles and an old woman was knocked over. It was all being filmed on social media.
‘We’ve also had an incident of a guy who locks himself in toilets before walking around the shop at night.’
While Mr Burton links some of these incidents as involving ‘TikTokers and vloggers’ he believes a far bigger problem are large groups of children hanging around in shops and harassing staff for entertainment.
‘Youths are gathering in customer cafes and using the free WiFi so sometimes we turn it off to deter them,’ he said.
‘They see a store as somewhere they can just go in and cause havoc and then get a rise from being removed from security, which can lead to assaults when the kids fight back.
‘Local councils don’t have a lot of money to spend on youth clubs so they don’t have anywhere to go for activities and the police are stretched.
‘It’s a massive problem when it comes to retail sites. Over the last six to 12 months there’s been a massive rise.’
This TikTok sprinted out of a shop to ‘try’ a pair of trainers – forcing security to intervene
A YouTuber posing as a Sainsbury’s employee telling a customer he had to leave because he has ‘bad breath’
In one video filmed in a Primark, a TikToker takes a set of boxers from a shelf and adds in a pair that has been stained to appear soiled before shoving it in a shop worker’s face
The security firm boss described how some teenagers cause a scene as a deliberate distraction tactic.
‘In Scotland, the kids are committing antisocial behaviour as a distraction so their friends can steal.
‘We’re trying to deter criminals who are taking thousands from the shelves and then we’ve having to deal with these kids at the same time.’
Research by MailOnline suggests clips of influencers going into shops to harass workers and members of the public appear to be most widespread on TikTok – although they are present on other platforms too.
One particularly disturbing video shows a young man creeping up behind a woman browsing at a homeware store in London and moaning in her ear.
After she moves away, the TikToker moves even closer to her and makes another suggestive moan, prompting her to turn around and scream in horror.
He then feigns disbelief after a member of staff and several shoppers come to see what is happening.
The ‘prankster’ continues approaching the woman – who goes to sit down and puts her head in her hands.
In one video filmed in a Primark, a TikToker takes a set of boxers from a shelf and adds in a pair that has been stained to appear soiled.
He then walks over to a shop assistant and shoves the pack under his face, prompting him to push it away and say, ‘Please don’t put that in my face.’
One video shared on Instagram shows a social media user releasing wild insects into a Halfords
As the shop worker backs away, the bully keeps pushing the underwear towards him as another shopper offers to call security.
One TikToker regularly goes up to members of the public in supermarkets before taking items out of their baskets.
But when he carried out this stunt in an Asda in Wales it caused a physical confrontation after a man grabbed his shopping back before calling him a ‘c***’.
A video on Instagram shows a man releasing wild insects into a branch of Halfords, while a YouTuber filmed himself posing as a Sainsbury’s worker and telling a customer he had to leave because of his ‘bad breath’.
Another tiresome prank involved teenagers pretending to be staff at a McDonald’s drive-thru before telling security ‘you can’t touch us’ as they try to remove them.
In a bid to combat the crime crippling the retail sector, the Government is planning to invest £200million into neighbourhood policing and has vowed to make assaulting a shop worker a standalone offence.
Ministers have also axed previous legislation that made stealing goods worth less than £200 a ‘summary-only’ offence – meaning one that is considered less serious and generally tried in a magistrates’ court.
Incidents of retail crime hit their highest level on record in the year leading up to August 2024, growing by more than 50 per cent to more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
In March, the BRC said the cost of retail crime has soared to a staggering £4.2billion last year – including £2.2billion from shoplifting and another £1.8billion spent on crime prevention measures such as CCTV, anti-theft devices and body worn cameras.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: ‘Seeing incidents of theft or abuse has become an all-too-common part of the shopping experience for many people.
‘While an incident can be over in a matter of seconds, it can have life-long consequences on those who experience it, making them think twice about visiting their local high streets.
‘Criminals are becoming bolder and more aggressive, and decisive action is needed to put an end to it.’
TikTok’s community guidelines state that it does not allow harassing, degrading, or bullying behaviour on its platform. Some of the videos flagged by MailOnline have now been removed.
It claims that from January to March 2025, of the videos removed for violating our policies on harassment and bullying, 91.2% were removed before they were reported to moderators.
MailOnline has contacted YouTube and Instagram for comment.
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