How shoplifters use social media to seek out trends & then flog stolen items online in crimewave crushing retailers
IT’S an internet Aladdin’s cave brimming with “pre-loved” goodies and counts Katie Price, Rebekah Vardy and Alexa Chung among its celebrity sellers.
But The Sun can reveal that Vinted, which boasts 16million UK users, is awash with suspected stolen items nabbed to order by criminal gangs.
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Shoplifters are using the internet to target trending products to stealCredit: Getty
Sites such as Vinted are awash with suspected stolen items nabbed to order by criminal gangsCredit: Alamy
We found hundreds of suspiciously cheap cosmetics, toiletries, electricals and clothing items, most still with their tags on, being flogged for as little as a THIRD of the price you would pay in the shops.
In fact, one man on the site could have opened his own store with an incredible 293 items listed — from kids’ toys to brand new trainers, TV remotes, moisturisers and toothpaste.
His haul included 60 bottles of Cetaphil cleansing lotion, costing £11.50 each in Superdrug, being sold at £70 for 12 — the equivalent of £5.83 per item, making them roughly half-price.
There were 38 tubes of Colgate and Sensodyne toothpastes — the latter said to be the most-nicked item listed for Vinted resale — offered for £60.
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That’s around £35 cheaper than in stores.
Martin Newman, aka The Consumer Champion, says the “steal-to-sell-on” racket has “sharply accelerated” in recent years.
He claims goods nicked by organised gangs, middle-class thieves and cost-of-living crooks regularly appear on second-hand selling sites such as Vinted, Depop and Facebook Marketplace.
“Fashion, cosmetics and branded accessories tend to be the biggest targets — items that are small, high-margin and easy to flip online,” Martin tells The Sun.
“Think premium skincare, fragrance, trainers and handbags.”
Make a quick buck
Vinted insists the sale of stolen items is “strictly prohibited” and that it is “committed to fighting this issue” — but the problem continues.
It is worsened by the shoplifting epidemic that cost stores £2.2billion in the year to April 2024, according to the British Retail Consortium.
And in July, Office for National Statistics figures revealed the highest-ever number of thefts in the year to March 2025, with 530,643 offences — up some 20 per cent on the previous period. Many more go unreported.
Martin says we no longer face the “casual shoplifting of old”, but actual coordinated hits, often linked to small crime networks whose members “know exactly what’s in demand online”.
Fashion, cosmetics and accessories tend to be the biggest targets – items that are small, high-margin and easy to flip online
Martin Newman
He adds: “Some groups are even using social media to identify which brands or items will resell quickly, and then targeting stores accordingly.
“There’s clear evidence of stolen goods being resold on peer-to-peer platforms such as Vinted, Depop and Facebook Marketplace.
“These platforms make it easy to list and ship items anonymously and at scale, especially High Street fashion or beauty products with a strong resale value.
“While the majority of sellers are legitimate, the lack of verification for provenance creates a loophole that organised shoplifters exploit.”
Charlie Groves knows this too well.
His 159-year-old garden centre has been raided by everyone from hooded youths with cut-out jacket linings to middle-class robbers and OAPs.
Last December, he tracked down Chelsea Gaydon, of Bristol, after she nabbed £400 of the 2024 Christmas kids’ must-have, Jellycats, including one worth nearly £60.
Martin Newman, aka The Consumer Champion, says the ‘steal-to-sell-on’ racket has ‘sharply accelerated’ in recent yearsCredit: Supplied
Alexa Chung is among Vinted’s celebrity sellers
Shamelessly, the wealthy mum strolled around with a pram handing the cuddly toys to her unwitting young child before stashing them in her bag or in the pushchair.
She walked out of Groves Nurseries and Garden Centre in Dorset without paying for some eight Jellycats, got into her flashy Audi with a personalised number plate and made off.
Those details, CCTV footage and intel from other stores helped Charlie track the goods to Vinted, where she listed at least two for £46 and £30.
Gaydon, who was convicted this year and is slowly paying the store back, is among many “middle-class” shoppers hoping to make a quick buck.
Charlie tells us: “When I saw the footage, I couldn’t believe it.
“She handed some toys to her kid then put them in her bag. Others she put under her pram seat and hid.
One group filled their coats with £1,500 of irrigation equipment and hose fittings
Charlie
“It was odd and weird watching someone do that for so long and then just walk out of the door without paying.
“But she’s one of many people to do it.
“We’ve had middle-class shoppers and older ladies who say, ‘Oh no, you must be mistaken, I’d never do that’ when confronted — despite us having CCTV of them stealing.
“I recently dealt with one shoplifter who was coming in once a fortnight and popping small bits of jewellery, £30 a time, into their pockets. They denied it, too.
“We’ve noticed an increase in organised gangs coming in, with puffer jackets with the lining cut out.
“One group filled their coats with £1,500 of irrigation equipment and hose fittings.
“These two young men literally stripped the shelves and stuffed it in their pockets. The coats were bulging. We only noticed half an hour later when we saw the shelf completely empty.”
Charlie said it is clear that crooks think carefully about what they are going to swipe.
He explained: “There’s definitely a pattern. Jellycats were being stolen before Christmas, when there was high demand and it was the year’s ‘must-have toy’.
“And then the irrigation items were taken in March, just in time for spring gardening projects.”
These shoplifting tales are very familiar to the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA), who say 88 per cent of firms are finding thieves “more brazen than ever”.
One business lost £10,000 of stock in just two months, while others spoke of struggling to deal with daily thefts, often carried out by the same individuals.
Andrew Goodacre, CEO of BIRA, told us: “The impact on the mental wellbeing of shop owners is underestimated, too. One retailer told me, ‘It’s like being burgled every week’. Nobody would accept that.
“What worries me most is that we’re seeing shop theft become normalised and even glamorised, particularly through social media.
“They’re stealing to order and reselling on platforms like Vinted, Facebook Marketplace, Depop and at car boot sales, turning theft into a business model.”
The Sun found numerous suspicious accounts on Vinted, and many updated their “shopfront” daily with multiple goods — including the man with 293 listings.
Even when retailers provide evidence, there’s a lack of ability to have such a listing removed
Lucy Whing
Alongside his haul of lotions and potions, he was selling £20 TV remotes, £30 Russell Hobbs mini blenders, £15 hotplates and £10 bundles containing rolls of insulation tape.
Meanwhile, 11 air compressors were being flogged for £5 a time and 17 harmonicas were available for £20, still with their £6.99 price tag on.
Spiralling costs
Scores of Reddit forum posts note that online sellers typically flog brand new clothes, electricals and “any easy, small-to-grab items”, for as little as a third of the retail cost. Most suspected they were stolen.
One Primark pyjama set which cost £29 in store was being flogged for £12.
There is a possibility it could have been returned if the buyer had a receipt, as it still had its tags on.
Gaydon swipes Jellycat toy off shelfCredit: Groves Nurseries and Garden Centre
The mum then hides it under her baby buggy in Groves NurseriesCredit: Groves Nurseries and Garden Centre
Another Reddit user spotted £140 Missoma gold necklaces from “a bunch of different sellers, with no reviews and very similar user names”, selling for £40.
Lucy Whing, crime advisor at the BRC, says the “concerning” issue is “climbing up our agenda very quickly” — and that she would like more to be done by marketplaces.
“We know online platforms have processes to detect and remove these items, but retailers report feeling limited in their ability to respond,” she says.
“These goods can be posted so quickly and anonymously, which makes it even harder.
“Even when retailers provide evidence, there’s a lack of ability to have such a listing removed.
“But at the same time, marketplaces face their own difficulties moderating such large numbers of listings, avoiding privacy concerns and ensuring due process. It’s a tricky problem to solve.”
Part of the trouble, according to garden centre boss Charlie, is that crooks see it as “a victimless crime”.
Perpetrators do not seem to care about the spiralling costs to retailers of covering lost stock, extra CCTV and security, and having to use more anti-theft alarms on products.
“It’s not a victimless crime,” Charlie insists. “It affects everything we do because we can’t afford to keep absorbing the losses.
“Where’s the deterrent? Police are too under-resourced and overstretched to fully investigate these crimes unless it’s higher-value items. Something has to change.”
A Vinted spokesman said: “The sale of stolen items is strictly prohibited on Vinted and we’re committed to fighting this issue.
“We have policies in place to protect our members and encourage them to report any account which may be violating our guidelines, so that we can take appropriate action.
“Our teams are constantly looking at ways to detect and counter new malicious behaviour and we work closely with the police when they ask us for information on potential cases of this type.”
A Depop spokeman said: “We have a zero-tolerance policy for the sale of stolen goods.
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“We also work closely with the police regarding any reported incidents in relation to stolen goods.”
Facebook Marketplace owner Meta declined to comment.
Jellycats with tags are flogged online, pictured a costly hedgehogCredit: Groves Nurseries and Garden Centre
The trending toys are easy pickings for shoplifters and turn a major profit on selling websitesCredit: Groves Nurseries and Garden Centre
One seller punting cut-price earphonesCredit: Supplied
Sensodyne toothpaste is a popular listingCredit: Supplied
