{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0782","record_version":1,"title":"Facial recognition wrongly flags innocent shopper as shoplifter at UK store","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":46.3,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":2.88,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Tech Times (UK) · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Tech Times (UK) · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"fc71268e42287f8cf4c6a839ab3b99a78c22b9c9645b294e080d915d8c493afb"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":"2026-04-01","date_occurred_precision":"month","date_disclosed":"2026-06-10","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"In April 2026 a Facewatch facial recognition system at a Sports Direct store in Woolwich, south-east London, linked a 48-year-old shopper, Anamaria Mihai, to an alleged theft from the previous year. Staff confronted her in front of her daughter and other shoppers. She denied the accusation and left the store in tears after paying. Retailers use the technology to identify suspected offenders by matching faces to a watchlist, and authorised staff receive alerts. Available reporting does not establish what caused the disputed association, and the company says human oversight is part of its safeguards. The case was reported by Metro on 10 June 2026, and the source notes it is not an isolated case.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"minor","severity_because":"Test minor: the effect is contained to one deployer's store (one Sports Direct branch) and one shopper, and no third party is stated as touched.","harm_class":[],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.techtimes.co.uk/sports-direct-facewatch-wrongful-shoplifting-accusation-1809169","publisher":"www.techtimes.co.uk","date":"2026-10-15","type":"press","title":"Facial Recognition Flags Innocent Mum as Shoplifter: Should UK Shops Be Scanning Your Face? - www.techtimes.co.uk","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"}],"per_field_confidence":{"event.date_occurred":"C","event.date_disclosed":"C","context.industry":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anamaria Mihai was shopping with her daughter in April 2026 when staff confronted her following a Facewatch facial recognition alert linking her to an alleged theft from the previous year."}],"event.date_disclosed":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident, reported by Metro on 10 June 2026, has raised concerns about facial recognition in UK shops."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Retailers use the technology to identify suspected offenders, but Mihai's experience raises questions about the consequences of wrongly linking innocent shoppers to alleged crimes."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident, reported by Metro on 10 June 2026, has raised concerns about facial recognition in UK shops."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A 48-year-old mother was left in tears after being wrongly accused of shoplifting at a Sports Direct store in Woolwich, south-east London."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A 48-year-old mother was left in tears after being wrongly accused of shoplifting at a Sports Direct store in Woolwich, south-east London."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A 48-year-old mother was left in tears after being wrongly accused of shoplifting at a Sports Direct store in Woolwich, south-east London."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Anamaria Mihai was shopping with her daughter in April 2026 when staff confronted her following a Facewatch facial recognition alert linking her to an alleged theft from the previous year."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Mihai denied the accusation and became visibly distressed."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Available reporting does not conclusively establish what caused the disputed association in Mihai's case."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Facewatch says human oversight is part of its safeguards."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The incident, reported by Metro on 10 June 2026, has raised concerns about facial recognition in UK shops."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Mihai's experience is not an isolated case."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (Techtimes citing Metro); no implicated-organisation report or regulator finding was provided. The source states the cause of the disputed watchlist association is not established, so no root cause, trigger, responsible party or detection method is recorded. No controls are recorded as held, failed or missing for this incident because the source does not say so; Facewatch's claim of human oversight is a company statement. No remediation for this incident is stated. The 99.98% accuracy figure is a company claim and was excluded as evidence. Other shoppers' cases (Clayton, Rajah, Arnold) were excluded from the incident record. Judgements made: incident_class set to other because no listed class fits a wrongful watchlist accusation; agent_involved set to false because no autonomous agent is described; RK15 chosen as the only risk on the judgement that biometric and watchlist data about a person was misused; severity set to minor on the judgement that one shopper at one store is contained. The model name, version, developer and autonomy level are not stated. Duration, third-party count, records exposed and loss are not stated and were left out. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: Tech Times (UK) · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"retail","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"Mihai was shopping with her daughter at the Woolwich Sports Direct branch.","quote":"Mihai had visited the Woolwich branch with her daughter to buy clothes when she noticed employees following her around the store.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"A manager confronted her after the store's Facewatch system linked her to an alleged theft from the previous year.","quote":"According to Metro, a manager confronted her after the store's Facewatch system linked her to an alleged theft involving a pair of shoes the previous year.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"She broke down in tears before paying for her purchases and leaving the store.","quote":"She broke down in tears before paying for her purchases and leaving the store.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.techtimes.co.uk/sports-direct-facewatch-wrongful-shoplifting-accusation-1809169"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Mihai was shopping with her daughter when staff confronted her after a Facewatch alert linked her to an alleged theft from the previous year.","quote":"Anamaria Mihai was shopping with her daughter in April 2026 when staff confronted her following a Facewatch facial recognition alert linking her to an alleged theft from the previous year.","source_index":0,"when":"2026-04"},{"text":"The incident was reported by Metro.","quote":"The incident, reported by Metro on 10 June 2026, has raised concerns about facial recognition in UK shops.","source_index":0,"when":"2026-06-10"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.techtimes.co.uk/sports-direct-facewatch-wrongful-shoplifting-accusation-1809169"]}}