TikTok video shows frustrated Walmart customer finding security tags and a lock box guarding $8 mascara as the retailer steps up anti-theft measures

• A TikTok with 2.4 million views shows a Walmart shopper detailing anti-theft measures at the store.
• The user said an associate had to unlock mascara for them and then proceeded to put it in a box.

Walmart is upping its anti-theft measures amid a wave of shoplifting, and customers are noticing.

TikTok user @partywithtal posted a video on Jan. 5 of her shopping for mascara at Walmart. And she had quite a time trying to get it. She had to ask an associate to unlock the mascara, and after doing so, the associate handed it to her in a locked plastic box.

The TikTok has been viewed roughly 2.4 million times. @partywithtal did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"Yeah so I'm at Walmart 'cause I get my mascara from here, right," the TikTok user said in their video. "And they got the locks on the mascara. These is like no more than $10, so whatever. I asked the lady to give me the mascara out, and she did."

But then, after the associate proceeded to put it in a box, the shopper was befuddled: "Nobody wanna steal this ... mascara."

The measure comes as Walmart and other retailers have sounded the alarm on theft. In December 2022, Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon warned that the company would have to close stores and/or raise prices if theft didn't drop.

Retail theft has ballooned into a $94.5 billion problem for the industry, according to a recent survey from the National Retail Federation.

In response, retailers from Walmart to CVS to Walgreens have been locking away more products — but much to the ire of customers like this TikTok user.