Aussie father wrongly accused of shoplifting by Kmart staff

Staff at a Queensland Kmart store have been slammed after falsely accusing a father of shoplifting. Photo / Getty Images

A Queensland family claimed they were left mentally distressed and mortified after Kmart staff sent police around to their home after wrongly accusing them of shoplifting.

Bharathi Singh posted on Kmart Australia's Facebook page this week about a recent story that left her and her husband "sad and totally disappointed".

The post has since gone viral, with thousands of people discussing the "disgusting" act across the country.

Bharathi Singh and her husband who live in Queensland. Photo / Facebook

Singh said she had decided to share her story to spread awareness among shoppers to always print their receipts so they "don't go through what we went through".

According to the mother-of-two, her husband visited Kmart in Mount Ommaney, in Brisbane's western suburbs, last month to pick up a few things for his family.

His shopping came to a total of US$21, which she claimed he paid before driving home shortly after.

Sometime later, two police officers knocked on the family's door and "accused my husband of shoplifting a purchase".

"Surprise and shocked, we quickly apologised and said we didn't know how that could be possible," Singh said.

The officers told the couple Kmart staff had lodged a complaint with Queensland Police, claiming Singh's husband "made the purchase, scanned his Flybuys and just walked away to the car" without paying.

Convinced Singh's husband hadn't paid for his items, Kmart staff allegedly followed his car and "took a snap photo of the car registration".

Kmart responded to Singh's complaint the following day, saying the Customer Care team was "sorry to hear about your experience with our Mt Ommaney store".

"We can understand how disappointing this situation would have been for yourself and your husband, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused," the message said.

Kmart responded to Ms Singh's complaint the following day. Photo / Facebook

The team said they would like the opportunity to "follow this up" with the Singh family.

Kmart has not responded to a request for comment by news.com.au.

Singh urged Kmart shoppers to keep their receipts, lest they have the police knocking at their door one day for no reason at all.

"If I didn't have smartphone with a banking app, the situation wouldn't have been favourable," she said.

Her post went viral, attracting more than 1500 likes and hundreds of comments from people who were disgusted at the brash reaction of Kmart staff.

"If you were going to steal something why would you scan your flybuys with your name on it?" one woman asked.

Another woman said the entire incident was "disgusting".

"I often don't print receipts to be more environmentally friendly but will change that now," she said.

Others claimed the behaviour was a disgrace, claiming the police must have nothing to do if they're knocking down doors over $21.

"If they had just simply looked at the register that he had just used, they would have seen that it was a finalised transaction," a commenter said.

"If he'd walked away without paying, it all would have still been on the screen."