Taiwanese media China Times reported on the 21st that a Japanese man residing in Taiwan called on Taiwanese people to be careful when paying at Uniqlo.

The article stated that "many Taiwanese travelers shop at Uniqlo when they travel to Japan," and then highlighted a Facebook post by a Japanese influencer residing in Taiwan, "日本人的欧吉桑 (Japanese uncle)."

According to it, "日本人的欧吉桑" wrote, "A few days ago, I saw online a story of a Japanese consumer who was victimized at Uniqlo. This theft method is already quite well-known, but many people still don't know about it."

This theft method exploits the payment system using RFID (electronic tags) introduced by Uniqlo. With this system, the machine automatically reads the tags and calculates the total amount simply by placing the items on a dedicated stand.

The culprit removes the tag attached to an item, places it in the pocket of another item, and then takes away the target item. Since there is no tag, the anti-theft alarm at the gate will not sound when leaving the store. When another customer purchases the item of clothing into which the tag was placed, the machine calculates it as two items, but if they are buying a large quantity, they might not notice and end up paying for the stolen item. Since the quantity in the data matches the inventory, the store also does not realize that a theft has occurred.

"日本人的欧吉桑" warned, "Taiwanese people might not be very familiar with this self-checkout system. Make sure you don't fall victim to this trick!"

According to the article, comments from Taiwanese netizens on this post included: "When I placed items on the self-checkout machine, 3 extra items were calculated, and 3 tags came out from inside. I told the staff, had the tags removed, and checked out again." "This type of self-checkout is also being introduced in Taiwan. When the staff taught me how to use it, they also told me to confirm the quantity." "Self-checkout is something where you originally need to confirm the number of items yourself." (Translation/Editing by Kitada)