Footage shows robbery at jewellery store in the US, not South Africa

Shopping centres in South Africa are frequent targets for robbers. A post circulating online claims to show footage of six suspects plundering a jewellery store in Oakdene, a suburb in Johannesburg. But the claim is false: while a jewellery shop in a city mall was recently robbed, the footage shows an unrelated incident in the United States.

“Gauteng -Jewellery store robbed at The Glen Mall, Oakdene. 6 Suspects fled in a Black Mercedes C200,” reads an X post published on April 26, 2024.

The video shows two robbers stealing goods from a Kay Jewelers store as a security guard looks on.

“You know, I’ve never really seen this myself,” says a voice in the background with what sounds like an American accent.

The X account behind the claim, which has garnered hundreds of likes and reposts, is called “Vehicle Trackers”. It replied with a comment inviting users to get a "free vehicle tracker quote".

An entertainment news account that mainly posts content about South African celebrities published a similar widely shared claim on X, but without specifying where the incident happened.

Crime in South Africa is notoriously high: third-quarter crime statistics between October and December 2023 recorded 4,825 robberies at non-residential premises. Although this represented a small decrease from the previous year's corresponding period, most other crime categories increased.

Several users commenting on the post believed the claim and mocked the guard’s lack of action.

“Undecided. Intervene & get unalived OR stay alive & unemployed (sic),” wrote one person.

However, AFP Fact Check found the claim to be false.

Connecticut crime

A reverse image search of the video led to articles reporting on a smash-and-grab in Trumbull the US state of Connecticut on April 17, 2024 (archived here and here).

“Three (3) masked thieves stole several thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry from the Kay’s store in the Trumbull Mall by smashing the glass display case with a hammer (sic),” local police said in a statement on Facebook (archived here).

Using a keyword search for Kay Jewelers, AFP Fact Check found the chain has locations exclusively in the United States, including one in Trumbull (archived here).

The police added that the thieves fled the mall on foot before taking off in a dark four-door sedan.

A bystander appears to have recorded the video in the US mall.

Several visual clues confirm the video published in the misleading post and screenshots of the suspects released by police show the same event.

The suspects are wearing the same red gloves, two of them have black-and-white sneakers while the third is in dark grey sneakers.

Robbery in SA

Using a keyword search on X, AFP Fact Check found a post by South African journalist Yusuf Abramjee about an alleged robbery of a jewellery store at the Glen Mall in Johannesburg published on April 26, 2024.

Abramjee presents a weekly show in South Africa called Crime Watch.

His post included what appeared to be CCTV screenshots (archived here and here).

Another X user also published footage of the aftermath of the same robbery, showing it was at another jewellery store — not Kay’s (archived here).

The Glen Mall confirmed that an armed robbery took place at one of its jewellery stores on April 26, 2024.

Six armed suspects entered the store, threatened staff and fled the mall with an undisclosed number of items. No physical injuries were sustained," it said in a statement sent to AFP Fact Check.

Several mall-related robberies (here, here and here) have been reported in just the last few months in South Africa (archived here, here and here).