CHARLOTTE -- It’s responsible for billions of dollars in retail losses and you could end up footing the bill for these stolen items.

"Sweehearting" is a type of shoplifting where a thief still buys items, but isn't scanning all of them whether at the self-checkout, or getting a "sweetheart" deal from a cashier.

According to StopLift Checkout Vision Systems, a company that sells surveillance technology , "sweethearting" accounts for more than $14 billion in theft, annually. It becomes more common during the holidays.

“People steal turkeys and you can’t slip that under your coat, but you can certainly slips that around the scanner and in your cart and out the door. That’s what happens quite a bit,” Founder and CEO of Stoplift Malay Kundu says.

The CEO says one of the reasons "sweethearting" is so common is because less than 1 percent of security footage at stores is actually reviewed.