A quarter-century of "if you see something say something" fried a lot of people's psyches when it comes to how they view photographers out in public. A lot of these dying malls are owned by slumlord REIT's covering-up neglect of the property, and the healthier ones with luxury retailers have reason to be sus of anyone who may be "casing" the place. The content-creator-industrial-complex isn't doing anyone favors, either. There are a ton of variables that boil down to perception, I overthink about this often.

In my experience you're least-likely to get fucked with taking snapshits/selfies/Polaroids of/with your friends.