What Is the Banana Trick?
Many supermarkets sell fruits and vegetables by weight.
At a self-checkout machine, shoppers may need to identify the produce on the screen and enter the appropriate produce code, sometimes called a PLU (price look-up) code.
The problem is that the machine may depend on the customer to correctly identify what is being purchased.
A dishonest shopper can exploit this by selecting a cheaper produce item instead of the actual, more expensive product.
For example, the classic description involves registering an expensive item as inexpensive bananas.
The result is a lower price at the register—but the retailer loses the difference.
