I saw this tag over a week ago in RĂŽver IslĂ nd - Iâd never seen it before so it caught my attention.
It freaked me out because I thought the little holes meant the tag was alarmed. I looked at it in the changing rooms and it turned out all the clothes items had them.
It turns out this is called a Concept Tag. Itâs new, itâs being hailed as an amazing shĂ´plifting deterrent, and itâs becoming increasingly popular.
It has a unique locking mechanism that makes it pretty much impossible to remove with force - one would need to apply over 50kg of pressure to force it open. It has rfid technology that makes the towers beep. It contains ink as well. As far as I can tell, the raised part acts as a key hole - the other end is the part with the pin, so the raised part with the dots is part of the unlocking mechanism.
Itâs unlocked with this tool:
This is set into the shop desks by each till, and is hooked up to the tills themselves. It communicates with the tills to unlock the tag - it has to be scanned to deactivate the tag. This means that even strong golf magnets donât work on it.
Thankfully, my initial suspicion wasnât correct - the holes on the tag arenât to make it beep. So at least thatâs something.
It seems that ease with which lĂŻfting tools can be bought online hasnât gone unnoticed, and itâs resulted in stores trying to find new ways of deterring us. Hence this new tag. The store that use it have reported a 60% reduction in retail items with this tag. Itâs spreading as well: the UK store MatĂĄlan has also begun trying it out.
The tag can be removed, but not without a large amount of damage to the garment. I lĂŽfted two pairs of jeans during this trip to RĂŽver Ăsland. Both pairs had a concept tag pinned to the seat of the jeans. I opted for cutting the tag out, and was left with two large holes:
While they were easily patched, the damage ensures that one cannot boost clothes in this condition. Also, I doubt everyone has my amateur sewing skillsđ
đ
Luckily, no one Iâve worn my jeans around have noticed the damageâŚ
There appears to be a way around them, though itâs not really accessible to us due to the pricing. Hereâs a page selling a Concept Tag unlocker, complete with a video!
http://shopliftingpro.net/shop/concepttag/
Iâm adding some links to my sources. Also, hereâs an image from a video they had on their site:
They got a fellow lĂŻfter to try unlocking the tags and seemed pleased when he accidentally hurt himself. Assholes.
https://www.stanleysecurity.co.uk/solutions/asset-tracking-communications/electronic-article-surveillance/the-concept-tag
http://www.agon-systems.com/river-island-reduce-theft-60-per-cent-flagship-oxford-street-store-thanks-concept-tag/
http://www.concepttag.com
