Unrelated Video From Mexico Falsely Shared As Indian Woman Apprehended For Shoplifting From US Store

A 1-minute 17-second video, purportedly showing a woman being apprehended by a security guard outside a store in Illinois, US, has gone viral on social media. “Indian-origin Ananya Alwani brought shame to India in America. She stuffed clothes worth over one lakh rupees under her top. Ananya, alias Jimisha, had gone to America to meet her family members. CCTV footage showed employees spotting her, and she was chased and caught,” read the X post, which has clocked 101.7K views.

Fact Check

Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Indian woman shoplifting US,” which led us to multiple reports stating that an Indian woman, visiting the United States, is currently under investigation for an alleged theft at a Target store. 

“After lingering in the Illinois store for over seven hours, her suspicious behaviour alerted staff, who contacted authorities. Authorities claim she is suspected of stealing merchandise valued at approximately $1,300 from the retail chain. A recently surfaced video, capturing police bodycam footage, shows a Target employee accusing her of spending hours in the store and attempting to leave with a cart full of items,” read an NDTV report, dated July 16, 2025, sharing a screengrab of the bodycam footage showing the woman being detained. Similar reports can be seen here, here and here, identifying the Indian tourist as “Avlani.”

“On May 1, 2025, police were called to Target after a woman spent hours inside the store stealing items, ultimately attempting to walk out with thousands of dollars in unpaid merchandise. This is footage of the events that followed,” read the description of the video uploaded on YouTube channel @BodyCamEdition, dated July 14, 2025, where the security officer says the woman’s name is Anaya and is from India.

However, we can clearly see that the woman in the bodycam footage and news reports is not the same person in the viral video, indicating that it is of an unrelated incident.

Origin Of The Viral Video

Newschecker then ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to this Youtube video, dated May 1, 2025, headlined in Spanish, “Woman pretends to be pregnant and is arrested for shoplifting at Plaza Patio.” 

The footage from the incident can be seen from the 1:23 mark of the news report, uploaded by Zocalo, a Mexican media outlet, where you can clearly see it is the same woman in the viral video. A similar report can be seen here.

“The incident occurred at a department store in Mexico last Tuesday. A video shows the moment a girl was arrested. At first glance, it is not clear what is happening or if they were trying to help her because of her pregnancy, until a guard asks for help to stop her… but as she saw herself discovered and cornered she had no choice but to lift her dress and take out the large loot she had taken from Coppel’s store. And what everyone thought was a very advanced pregnancy turned out to be a mini-storage where she stashed up to nine pairs of pants and several shirts. While the cameras continued rolling, she took out everything she’d stolen from her underwear,” read a Mexican media report, dated May 1, 2025. We also came across this report on the incident by Mexico-based daily, Excelsior, dated May 2, 2025, stating that it happened on April 29, 2025, at a Coppel store located inside Plaza Patio, in Saltillo, Coahuila, which is in Mexico.

None of the reports state that the woman in the video is from India, which further confirmed that an unrelated video was being linked to the recent shoplifting incident involving an Indian woman in the US.

Also Read: Old Video Of Asaduddin Owaisi Criticising Film Makers Goes Viral Amid ‘Udaipur Files’ Row

Conclusion

A viral video claiming to show an Indian woman being apprehended for shoplifting from a store in the US is actually of an unrelated incident in Mexico.

Sources
Youtube video, BodyCamEdition, July 14, 2025
Youtube video, Zocalo, May 1, 2025
Excelsior report, May 2, 2025