The Threat of Mobile Scan and Pay

Ann-Marie Vazzano

New technologies that allow consumers to use their mobile devices to scan and pay for items could lead to increased theft, according to a recent University of Leicester report. The study found that a lack of human interaction in the shopping process could give consumers a reduced sense of risk in addition to what the university calls “ready-made excuses” for dishonest behavior. For example, customers could blame problems with the technology or barcodes for failing to scan something. It’s then difficult for retailers to determine if the customer legitimately had a problem with the technology or intended to steal. Overall, self-scanning technologies lead to rates of loss more than 122% higher than the average loss rate, the report found. GP