A WALMART shopper has revealed that she was wrongly accused of tricking a self-checkout kiosk with “skip scanning.”

But it was due to a glitch – with the bossy machine incorrectly flagging her own wallet as unscanned merchandise.

Karen Baker told Business Insider of her recent embarrassing experience while shopping with her four-year-old child.

The pregnant mom said she became frustrated with the self-checkout at an unnamed branch of Walmart.

It kept freezing on her – and told her she had missed scanning an item.

Despite being in a rush, a confused Baker tried to fix the glitch by slowly putting items through, but this didn’t help matters.

Eventually, she and a manager worked out that the machine was confused by a wallet – her own – which she had placed under her armpit while juggling her kid and the shopping.

‘FEEL LIKE A CRIMINAL’

The kiosk had incorrectly assumed the wallet had not been paid for, even though Walmart doesn’t sell the same version, Baker added.

Baker and other shoppers have complained to news outlets that they feel as if they’ve been branded as possible criminals because of technical problems at self-checkout tills.

This has led to several uncomfortable interactions with customers – with some turning hostile, according to sources, the Insider added.

Daniel Jones told the outlet he was “appalled” when the kiosk he was using played security footage of an alleged missed scanned item.

“Not only did I feel like I was being accused of a crime, I felt confused and upset because I was in my work uniform and other people may see the video playback and think that I’m stealing,” he said.

An employee approached and questioned him before reactivating the system but Jones said he felt like he was being “punished” for using the hand scanner to ring up his items.

“It does make the honest shopper feel unwelcome, and feel like they are being treated like thieves,” he said.

CONFRONTATIONS

Charles Bisbee is another Walmart shopper who shared his experience of scanning groceries at the self-checkout lane in his local store.

He claimed an employee approached him and pulled into his bag to grab a container of energy drink mix.

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“Are you going to pay for that?” the worker reportedly asked, with Bisbee, who lives in Alamogordo, New Mexico, claiming he had a “confrontational” tone.

Other shoppers waited in line as Bisbee, a former Marine, pointed to the screen to show that the item had actually been scanned.

Joe Pennington, a spokesman for Walmart, told Insider: “We’re continuously working on our security processes, and we encourage customers with concerns to let us know.

“Our associates are trained to handle these situations professionally and respectfully, ensuring our customers have the best shopping experience possible.”

The U.S. Sun has contacted Walmart for further comment.

PUNISHMENT

News of self-checkout woes come as lawyers have been warning clients about the ramifications of mistakes at this type of kiosk due to anti-theft features.

George LaMarche (@lawyergeorge) took to his TikTok page to detail in a video the charges customers can receive for accidentally leaving a store with an item that was not scanned.

He warned that it doesn’t matter whether shoppers accidentally leave without scanning an item or perform the act intentionally, it’s possible to get charged for stealing either way.

Consequences could include prison time.

“It’s punishable after a year in jail or three years probation,” LaMarche said.

“If you go through self-checkout, make sure you pay for everything and do not leave the store without having paid.”

‘AVOID SELF-CHECKOUTS’

Meanwhile, retail pro Phil Lempert has advised that those who have items in the double digits avoid using self-checkout and instead head to a cashier checkout lane.

Lempert runs the Supermarket Guru website, which offers advice on how to “shop for groceries smarter, eat healthier, and live better” and has several podcasts discussing retail trends.

For him, 14 items or more could spell disaster and even legal troubles for shoppers if they miss-scan or forget to scan items.

“It is so easy to make a mistake on these machines,” he said while speaking with Inside Edition in a recent interview.

“People have a full shopping cart, they’re putting it in, they forget to scan something, or the machine just doesn’t work.”

He continued: “If you make a mistake unintentionally, hey, you could be arrested.”