Half of wealthy Gen Zers and millennials admit to ‘digital shoplifting,’ rationalizing it with inflation and influencer hacks

young woman making a purchase on her phone (Credit: Getty Images—Xavier Lorenzo)

• Gen Zers and millennials are duping online merchants into refunds for products they've received and are keeping. The practice is called digital shoplifting, and the consequences for it are slim—except for merchants who lose 3.75 times the transaction cost every time it happens.

For many Americans, it feels almost too easy to dupe retailers into getting their money back for online purchases they’ve made. Say you’ve bought that new expensive sweater or a pair of headphones, but you don’t want to shoulder the cost. You just submit a claim to the retailer that you never received the package or you didn’t order it in the first place.