A woman was caught red-handed with her hand in the cookie jar, so as to speak.

In CCTV footage posted on Nasty Cookie's official TikTok, the woman was seen stealing a plastic bag from Nasty Cookie's Funan outlet.

@nastycookiee keep your plastic bags safe guys 🥲#bagthief #cctv #viral #plasticbag #sg #nastycookie ♬ I am sneaking into you Pink Panther Parody - moshimo sound design

Cookie "customer"

The TikTok clip began with the lady approaching a staff member standing behind the store counter.

She seemed to express some interest in making a purchase, appearing to say something to the staff before peering at the cookies on display.

When staff left her station for a moment, the pseudo customer slid over to the cash register area.

She stood like this, surveying the selection of plastic bags stored there with greater interest than when she was eyeing the actual cookies.

Plastic bag thief

While the coast was still clear, the woman then promptly reached over and snatched one of the turquoise bags.

She quickly hid it, probably in one of her existing bags, when the staff returned to talk to her.

The thief continued to play the part of a curious customer for a while as the staff explained something about the sale of the cookies to her.

After casting another cursory look at the cookies on display, the woman then left without making any purchase.

While some people in the comments criticised the woman for her "cheapskate" behaviour, a couple took the chance to commend Nasty Cookie on the quality of their plastic bags.

But people still agreed that good plastic bags didn't justify theft.

Since supermarkets in Singapore started imposing a five cents charge on each disposable plastic bag, taking plastic bags without paying could be considered theft, according to The Straits Times.

Under the country's Resource Sustainability Act, culprits who fail to comply could be fined S$10,000, jailed for three months, or both.

Nasty Cookie is amused

Nasty Cookie told Mothership that they've not identified the woman and do not plan to.

"We just find it amusing that she had to go through so much trouble just to steal our reusable drawstring bags when she could have just asked," they said.

"We are not sure if our bags are often stolen from our outlets. It just so happened that this particular lady often patronises our store suspiciously and leave abruptly without purchasing anything."

However, the cookie company noted, they do have customers asking for "more than required for keepsake and personal usage purposes" — even up to 10 at one go for a purchase of only three items.

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Top images via Nasty Cookie's TikTok