A woman's supermarket money-saving "hack" has been called illegal by experts.
With food prices rising, everyone is trying to save cash on their weekly shop and there are many tips circulating that claim to keep costs down. But it is important to be able to recognise which tips are actually useful - and which actually may not be so smart - as two lawyers have slammed this woman's "deceitful" trick.
One woman who disagreed with her pal's tip for saving at a supermarket's self-service tills felt compelled to seek advice. She wrote into News.com.au's Sisters In Law column, which sees people share their legal problems with lawyer sisters Alison and Jillian Barrett.
She told the siblings her friend rings up expensive fruit and vegetables at the self-service till as cheaper options, the Mirror reports. This means she swaps more costly foods like avocados for cheaper brown onions, but she doesn't think this is wrong.
The shopper believes because she is still paying something it doesn't qualify as stealing. Claiming "everyone does it", the woman thinks supermarkets already include costs of check out fraud in their prices.
The Barrett lawyers however disagreed and said the 'hack' was "fraud" and was actually against the law. They said: "It doesn’t matter how your friend tries to justify her behaviour, her deceitful conduct in intentionally not paying full price is against the law.
"Your friend’s technique of using the self-service checkout to pass off more expensive items as cheaper ones cheat the system by underpaying. Her fraudulent behaviour is just one of many tricks employed by self-service thieves to avoid payment."
Alison and Jillian, who are based in Australia, said these types of "tricks" are costing supermarkets a fortune every year and are actually pushing up the prices of groceries as a result.
They warned if the friend was caught doing this the excuse of "getting avocados confused with brown onions" would likely not cut it and she could face a range of severe repercussions from it.
In Australia, the legal experts said the act could either carry a fine, having to pay for the items and apologise to the store, or even criminal charges if she fails to comply or is a repeat offender.
They added: "You have to ask, is saving a few dollars on avocados worth the risk?"
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