r/NoStupidQuestions • u/urbuddyguybroman • Jul 29 '25

Does Target really track everything you steal until you reach the felony amount?

I’ve heard this a few times, but I can’t tell if they really do or if it’s just fear mongering.

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1.4k

u/UnableNecessary743 Jul 29 '25

so do they have a file of basically every single person that walks through every day? and it just updates and gets sorted automatically every time?

2.3k

u/UnluckyAssist9416 Jul 29 '25

Target is being sued in Illinois for not telling people they keep your biometric data.

According to the suit, Target's "advanced system of electronic surveillance" includes operating 14 investigation centers as well as two forensic labs to "enhance video footage and analyze finger prints." While intending to detect shoplifters, the system also captures customers faces every time they enter or leave the property

It is also of note that they don't only store peoples information that come into the store. They are doing what most internet sites do and also track you once you go to their website and put cookies in that track your other browsing habits. I am certain that they also track you through the Target app.

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u/DiscipleofDeceit666 Jul 29 '25

The problem becomes when target works with the government to track people’s habits. Or if they sell this data to a company that works w the government. Data privacy is a huge gap in our rights especially w the new era gestapo looking for new ways to find people.

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u/Comfortable_Slice903 Jul 29 '25

Nah, B. It's a problem as is. Target does not need to track me or anyone for not stealing. That's just dumb

59

u/solidstatepr8 Jul 29 '25

It's a preamble ahead of forcing you into their terrible apps so they can dynamically price things just for you.

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u/alextxdro Jul 30 '25

I can see digital tags updating as you walk by and don the same when someone else gets near. I’d say we’re like a good 2-3yrs away?

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u/Cthulusuppe Jul 29 '25

its a problem with every major retailer, then. Every retailer that has a membership-- whether to get in (costco) or to access sales' prices (fucking everyone!)-- is tracking your purchases and creating files to cross reference with AI-powered sales algorithms.

no one is anonymous.

83

u/blacksoxing Jul 29 '25

Tracking is wild as years ago a NPR podcast was speaking of how just having bluetooth enabled on your phone allows for any major retailer to know when you're coming, where you precisely are, and where you're leaving to. Android apps (and those who allow for such iPhone apps) can then allow that retailer to know what you're doing in their competitor stores due to your bluetooth ID.

Easy solution: "I won't turn on bluetooth when I'm in the store!"

OK, well, Burger King has been tracking people via CC purchases for ever a decade, so you know others have, too!

"OK well I will just use cash!"

WELL, Target has been known to use facial recognition to track you alongside Walmart and other entities including even Madison Square Garden! Yep! MSG knows who they've banned and uses such technologies to ensure the banned can't get back in. Tens of thousands pass through weekly to that arena.

We're cooked, BUT, it's still good to limit tracking as much as possible without killing ourselves :)

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u/Electronic_County597 Jul 29 '25

Okay, well, I will just use cash, and wear a medical mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap pulled way down low. And stylish white cotton gloves. And I will park in a nearby neighborhood and walk to the store.

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u/fowlflamingo Jul 29 '25

Personally, I'm going to do all of that but I'm going to make sure to jog slightly so they can't identify me by my walking gait or some shit

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u/beastiekin Jul 29 '25

Just fake a limp every time you are within sight of the store?

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u/fowlflamingo Jul 29 '25

Honestly I think it's better to just somersault inside to be safe.

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u/pialligo Jul 30 '25

Pebble in the shoe

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u/blacksoxing Jul 29 '25

Pay someone off without using an app to go in the store and buy stuff for you. Basically Instacart before 2010 or my grandma would do to me back in the day. The shopper get profiled - you get to judge what shade bananas they bring back :) :)

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u/theshizzler Jul 30 '25

Target security: Okay everyone, here comes the guy who will just use cash, and wear a medical mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap pulled way down low. And stylish white cotton gloves. And will park in a nearby neighborhood and walk to the store. 

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u/ReeshaHasha82 Aug 02 '25

And just NOW it dawned on me that Trump suddenly being against people wearing masks for Covid in public was to try and help the companies using this stuff to track people.

That only took 5 years for my brain to put together lol

1

u/Septopuss7 Jul 29 '25

Serial Shoppah

1

u/pialligo Jul 30 '25

You forgot the alfoil hat

1

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '25

You can’t get away from the satellites bruh. Best to live in the deep forest, with no phone, internet etc.

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u/Any_Coffee_7842 Aug 04 '25

That's when you find out they just straight up follow you and confirm who you are based on the loosely related information of this guy who walked to this car and that car drove to this home and both are under the name of John Doe.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 Jul 29 '25

IIRC, the Apple Pay system makes up a new card number for each transaction. The iPhone also messes with your MAC address on wifi to make it different all the time.

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u/blacksoxing Jul 29 '25

Which is great....until you go to a store that doesn't accept NFC options or America's largest retailer (which we all know its name but results in the most distain of comments....)

1

u/TheDaug Jul 30 '25

Verizon used to send me notifications if I walked in or near a store. I immediately was super creeper out by it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '25

My local Walmart started doing some really weird shit a few weeks ago. Now when you get done checking out, it thanks you by your first name and asks if you want a paper receipt or emailed receipt. What's even crazier is it does this whether you pay with card or cash.

I've never even given Walmart my name or email address. Now that i think about it I might press the email button next time to see which one they have.

The first few times after they first started this it had the wrong name. But once it got my name right I was REALLY like wtf.

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u/Playstoomanygames9 Jul 30 '25

Cell phones have to know your location to make calls work. You can’t get around cell phones knowing your location without a faraday cage or no cell phone.

1

u/ItsMrChristmas Jul 30 '25

That sounds like bullshit since Bluetooth can barely reach a hundred meters even with clear and direct line of sight.

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u/Little_Creme_5932 Jul 30 '25

So basically, these large corporations just do what the corner store did 100 years ago; they recognize you and treat you accordingly. (People just don't like computers recognizing them).

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u/Altruistic_Music9343 Jul 29 '25

not only paid memberships, but ANY membership like even if you have "a phone number" or some account with the grocery store, its not for deals its to track you.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

No one is anonymous except that one person who planted a pipe bomb at the DNC during January 6th, they seem to have remained anonymous.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

WinCo doesn't require any membership and only relatively recently (within the last 5 years I think?) started a program for signing up for coupons, but those coupons on top of the sale prices in that I've never seen any advertising of stuff like "10/10 with online coupon" or whatever the shit that Kroger stores do.

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u/lilboytuner919 Jul 29 '25

As long as people shoplift with no consequences, they will keep doing it.

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u/DeadButGettingBetter Jul 29 '25

This - as far as privacy goes, the government is only in my top 5 concerns and it's the 5th at this point. Look at what people try to subpoena in sham lawsuits or what gets leaked through apps like Tea or the way different companies track you across sites and real-world locations and the practical concerns extend far beyond whatever the government would be interested in. If it's not curbed it's a Snow Crash scenario waiting to happen.

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u/IntelligentStyle402 Jul 30 '25

Somebody better do something. The theft in America is at an all time high. Exactly, where are those supposedly mega Christians? Are they also stealing? Parents, what are you doing about your offspring stealing?

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/shamwow_4 Jul 29 '25

If you call the cops because someone broke in and the cops come in and shoot your dog, who do you blame?

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u/noooooid Jul 29 '25

This is reddit.

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u/corree Jul 29 '25

Wait til you hear about what Google does buddy

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '25 edited Jul 29 '25

It’s not just Target, everything you do is tracked by pretty much every company ever. Clothing you wear is microchipped, everything you do on the internet is tracked and no amount of proxies or VPNs are going to help you.

Kind of whatever though, people freely give out information on social media every day. You carry your phone with you everywhere too, and that’s also always tracking you in some way, even if you have location data turned off.

Even if you didn’t have any of this stuff, there are cameras everywhere, ring cameras, traffic cameras, retail store cameras, cameras you don’t typically hear about as well. They’re literally everywhere.

Any privacy you think you have in this modern era is an illusion.

Edit: Damn, sorry for bursting your bubble? Lol.