Shopkeeper tracks down the thief who stole Jellycat toys to sell at Vinted

A shopkeeper has revealed how he became a detective to track down a shoplifter after discovering goods stolen from his business were for sale online.

Charlie Groves, who runs a garden center in Bridport, Dorset, says he saw CCTV recordings of a woman hiding Jellycat toys in a cart carrying her baby, before leaving the store without paying and getting into her car.

Mr Groves says he was able to piece together the woman’s identity by scouring resale websites, deciphering her car’s personalized number plate and eventually finding her Facebook profile.

When they tracked down a vendor at Vinted who they suspected of selling stolen goods, Mr. Groves learned that the man who had the account was married to a woman who ran a huggable toy store. Was.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) advises online shoppers to think carefully about whether something that appears like a bargain is “too good to be true”.

Vinted says it is “continuously proactive in detecting and countering new malicious behavior”, and reviews and improves processes when needed.

After realizing in October that a large Jellycat the Hedgehog toy worth £59 was missing from his garden center shop, Charlie Groves decided to find answers by reviewing the store’s CCTV recordings.

At one point, he saw a woman taking one of the stuffed toys from the shelves and handing it to her baby to soothe, picking up one of the largest items on display and stuffing it in the bottom of her pram. Has been.

Security cameras also captured a woman driving a car with a personalized number plate, which appears to refer to a woman’s name, in the garden center car park.

In the days following the theft, Mr Groves went online and found a jellycat hedgehog, similar to the one stolen from him, being sold on the resale site Vinted.

“It’s heartbreaking to see the things you’re displaying being sold online,” he told the BBC.

Mr Groves tracked down the owner of the Vinted account on Facebook and discovered he was married to a woman who looked like the man he had seen stealing toys in CCTV footage from Groves Garden Centre. The woman’s name on Facebook was very similar to the personalized number plate on the shopkeeper’s car.

Mr Groves estimates the woman may have stolen eight Jellycats worth up to £400 from his shop that day. He says he has given the information he gathered about the theft and resale of stuffed animals to the police.

Dorset Police told the BBC that an investigation into the incident was ongoing and no arrests had been made.

“It’s quite frustrating,” says Mr Groves, “you do all this work – trace them – but you don’t get anything back.

“It would be nice to at least have a deterrent measure to stop people coming in and being so brazen. It happens because people who shoplift know that nothing is going to happen.”

The BBC tracked down the woman seen in CCTV footage shoplifting in Bristol. He confirmed he was the owner of the vehicle seen on the store’s CCTV, but denied any involvement in the toy store taking over from Groves Garden Center to sell online.

The woman’s husband denied that any stolen items were being advertised for sale on his Vinted account.

At another garden center in Horsham, Sussex, Jellycat toys were also being regularly stolen and staff now display them in glass shelves to prevent further thefts.

Chris Hoare, head of security at Old Barn Garden Centre, believes proof of purchase should be a requirement for people selling goods through online marketplaces.

“They need to be accountable for how this stuff is resold on their sites,” Mr Hoare says.

Without it, he says, online marketplaces are “part of the problem rather than the solution”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, shoplifting is at record levels with 469,788 crimes committed in England and Wales by June 2024.

The Center for Retail Research has estimated that shoplifting adds £133 to the cost of a UK household’s shopping bill each year.

Retail trade bodies have warned that stolen goods being sold through online marketplaces such as Vinted, eBay and Facebook Marketplace are a growing problem – which is helping to increase shoplifting.

The British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) estimates that at least three in five items stolen from its members are sold online.

“The industrial scale of this is worrying and this is certainly due to the lack of availability and speed and control of online markets,” says Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of BIRA.

The NPCC told the BBC that it wants owners of online marketplaces to take more steps to ensure that people are unable to sell goods through their sites anonymously, and that it would require platforms to verify the identity of sellers. Would support the introduction of new laws to force. The NPCC also advises online shoppers looking for bargains to be cautious.

“If you see something that’s deeply discounted or cheaper than buying it from your local store, you have to question yourself,” says Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman. “Think about what you’re doing and who you’re buying from. If you’re unsure report it to us and let us know.”

Facebook, eBay and Vinted told the BBC that selling stolen goods is prohibited on their platforms – and that they work closely with law enforcement to assist in investigations.

The Home Office told the BBC it would continue to work with police to understand the routes used to sell stolen goods. It also said it would work with online marketplaces to provide information on what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.

In the run-up to Christmas, Charlie Groves says shop theft remains a “big problem” for his Dorset garden center business at a time when gift-related items can be easily sold online.

“It’s not the back of the van anymore.”

Additional reporting by Leigh Boobrier and Dan Ayers.