Texas man says an H-E-B manager accused him of stealing, then a general manager allegedly blamed an AI that ‘misidentifies people’s photos and cars’
‘I’ve been a very loyal customer.’
A Texas shopper says he was ordered out of an H-E-B he visits almost every day after a security system allegedly flagged his car as linked to a theft. According to The Nerd Stash, he described the encounter in a post on Reddit, where he says a general manager later called it a mistake.
He says an assistant manager and a guard stopped him inside the Tech Ridge store and claimed he had stolen there before. After he confirmed he drove a particular car, he says he was told, “Our security system has flagged that car as being associated with a theft yesterday. You need to leave the store right now.” He says he had asked for evidence, including photos of him stealing.
The manager allegedly did not know the car’s plate number and would not check it, then held up a still of him walking out of the building. He says the still showed him holding groceries he had paid for. He told the manager, “That’s proof of me paying for my groceries!” He says the reply was, “I’m not going to argue with you. Get out now before APD gets here. And do not ever come back to this store.” Receipt disputes at the door have drawn attention before, such as a Walmart shopper accused of not scanning.
The general manager called it a mistake
He says he requested the general manager’s details before walking out. The next morning, he says he reached the general manager, who told him, “Yeah, we know it was our mistake. There’s an AI security system we use. It sometimes just misidentifies people’s photos and cars. We’re sorry. And thanks for being so cool about it, because most people aren’t.”
He wrote, “I’ve been a very loyal customer.” A manager’s theft accusation also sparked a viral post from a Tampa CVS shopper. In an update, he says H-E-B’s corporate complaints team offered only a scripted apology. He also reported the incident to the Texas Attorney General and got back only a confirmation email. All details are based on his Reddit post and its update.
The Texas Attorney General states that its consumer protection office will “receive consumer complaints and review them to identify illegal activity.” The page adds that a confirmation email does not mean “a case or investigation is open.” The FTC states that Rite Aid used AI facial recognition from 2012 to 2020 and that the system “generated thousands of false-positive matches.”
Its complaint says employees acting on false alerts “followed consumers around its stores, searched them, ordered them to leave.” Rite Aid, a different retailer from H-E-B, was barred from using facial recognition for surveillance for five years. In the same update, he says H-E-B denies using AI cameras. He claims employees told him the stores rely on automated cameras that photograph vehicles and faces and sometimes tag innocent shoppers as thieves.
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