Ace Security Desk – Spotlight: The curious case of the fake supermarket receipts according to Reuters By Chris Harris, UK Fact-Checking Producer
On Reuters Fact Check, we are often found analyzing old conflict videos, scouring suspect footage during natural disasters or scrutinizing election fraud claims online.
And sometimes, we find ourselves poring over supermarket receipts.
In a moment when affordability is top of voters’ minds, misinformation around food prices has become surprisingly frequent.
One recent example of this came across the desk of our UK team, when two fabricated receipts from supermarket chain Tesco began circulating online, misrepresenting how prices for everyday food items have changed since 1990.
The receipts looked a little off, so we put the image through an AI detection tool, which revealed that the image was likely edited or generated using OpenAI’s models.
That was only the beginning of the story, though. What about the branch? Or the listed items? Was any of it real?
We got in touch with Tesco, which told us that the receipts contained multiple inaccuracies. The store address was incorrect, as was the use of colored ink for the Tesco name. The chain puts the date at the bottom, not the top, of its receipts, it said.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics told Reuters that average food prices rose about 157% between December 1990 and September 2026, not 286% as the post claimed.
Then we found a Walmart example viewed 12 million times on one social media platform. The Florida address on the receipt doesn’t exist, according to zip code lookup and Walmart’s store list.
We also spotted Italian and Japanese versions too.
At a time when global food inflation is set to accelerate, there is real anxiety over the cost of feeding ourselves. But ask if you have the real receipts for the pricing comparisons spreading on social media.
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