A 67-year-old customer was stopped by security and asked to leave a UK Home Bargains store after Facewatch’s AI facial-recognition system incorrectly matched him to a shoplifting watchlist. He said he struggled for weeks to get a response from Facewatch by phone and email, and only received confirmation of the misidentification after filing a data-protection subject access request. The incident is one of several wrongful shoplifting flags reported at UK retailers using Facewatch, including Sainsbury’s, Spar and B&M.