Yes, these days you would think that the internet is no longer the “Wild Frontier” that it once was. The Silk Road is shut down, the Feds are taking over Bitcoin regulation, and the police and tax officials regularly monitor sites like eBay to catch those peddling stolen goods or making huge undeclared incomes.
Yet a household name, Tesco, who are the UK’s biggest supermarket, have somehow decided that what their customers really want to buy is an automatic lockpick. Yes, it is a device pretty much designed with only one purpose, that of opening a lock without much noise and next to no trace. Why noisily kick down the door or even risk a charge of “going equipped” when you can just pop to Tesco and buy a tool for breaking in? If you get stopped, you can say you got it at the 24 hour Tesco Extra down the road.
Of course, for years now, hobby lock pickers and professional locksmiths have bought and sold tools online. I myself have a shop selling tools to fellow locksmiths but good luck getting anything that will open a door unless I can check you out. I turn down about 75% of enquiries, currently. (If you are a professional locksmith, then having a range of tools to do the various entry tasks required is essential. Otherwise you are just a bodger with a drill and perhaps a crowbar.)
Of course, there are others that don’t run checks, and anyone can buy from them. They can also be bought in from China, for prices so low that it would make Tesco blush, but they mostly turn out to be “a bit rubbish” beyond any usual use of the term.
And then there is Tesco. It remains to be seen how hard they will check the background of those buying an auto-lockpick, no matter how poorly it performs, from their 24 hour stores, at 3am along with some cans of white cider.
Do yourself a favour. Keep what is yours safe. Call a locksmith, and ask for an expert opinion.
Final thought: Tesco sell insurance. Would they pay out if there was no sign anyone had broken in? Or would they insist that someone “must have used a key” and blame you?
Update: It appears that as of now, Tesco have withdrawn the item in question, following the negative publicity on social media.