Birmingham supermarket boss names and shames shoplifters on TikTok

A Birmingham supermarket boss has come up with a novel way of tackling shoplifters - by shaming the suspected crooks on TikTok.

Danny Khan, 34, began posting CCTV of wanted thieves on social media following a surge in crime at his shop in Winson Green, Birmingham. And he claims his unique method has been so effective that some crooks have been returning to the scene of the crime to apologise and cough up what they owe.

Danny has publicly shamed around 20 people since he introduced the idea a year ago after accusing police of failing to act. The videos, which are also uploaded to Instagram, feature suspects being caught red-handed and have been viewed millions of times online.

Danny, who runs Mr Khan’s Authentic Jamaican Food Store with his dad, said outing the shoplifters on social media had certainly proved an 'effective deterrent’. He said: "We just became so fed-up with the amount of shoplifting going on and police failing to act that we thought we'd turn to social media.

"We thought 'enough’s enough'. If we catch you stealing we'll put you on TikTok and Instagram and we have a big following so it’s doing the job. The result has been a drop in incidents because people know if they rob from here they are going straight on social media.

"Less and less stock is going missing. A couple of videos have had over a million views. It's gone crazy to be honest. Now our customers have a laugh with us about it when they come in saying 'Look, watch I’m paying for this because I don’t want to end up on social media'.

"We've had four or five come back and say 'we're really sorry, please will you take the video down' and pay for what they owe. My deal is if you come back, pay us and apologise, then I'll take the video down, it's simple. Once people get named and shamed they don’t do it again."

Danny - who has installed more than 40 CCTV cameras in his shop - said he will carry on posting videos until police take action. There has been a 100 per cent increase in the theft of food in the West Midlands during the cost-of-living crisis - with 3,138 products recorded stolen by West Midlands Police last year.

Danny added: "It just sky-rocketed after Covid. We knew we had to do something because the police are just not interested. Every time we reported it no-one ever comes. They just say it’s petty crime, but when it's happening on a massive scale I wouldn't call that petty.

"We have been part of the community here for 35 years and most of our customers are brilliant- but there's a few bad eggs out there. We get everyone from druggies to really well-dressed people stealing. We even had an old lady the other day.

"We know times are difficult and we donate produce to charity and to food banks - we want to help people where we can. Our customers are like family so if people are going through hard times they can tell us and we often help them out.

"But we work hard to keep this business going and people can't get away with stealing from us. We are now talking to other businesses to have a page for the whole area where other shopkeepers can do the same. Because if they don't steal from here, they will just go to the next shop. With police doing nothing to help we're taking matters into our own hands."

A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: "We fully understand the impact and frustration of shoplifting on businesses of all sizes. It's a crime which can affect livelihoods. We're committed to reducing shop thefts and carry out regular high visibility patrols in retail areas, along with activity to identify and catch offenders."