RETAIL THEFT Holidays begin early for thieves

Now is the time for organized crime rings to do their holiday shopping.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Here come the holidays -- and the thieves.
Before the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, crooks may already be hard at work. They typically don't wait until after Thanksgiving, when malls will be packed with customers and stores have more employees around.
"We see a lot of organized retail crime activity right now," said Joseph LaRocca, vice president for loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. "They're stocking up for the holidays."
Goods stolen by organized or professional thieves are sometimes sold cheaply at flea markets, on street corners, or in impromptu home boutiques, say retail security experts.
They can end up as fraudulent returns to stores. And in a high-tech age, they can be "e-fenced" on online auction sites.
Using stolen credit cards or counterfeit checks, thieves are also buying gift cards, which they often sell on online auction sites, LaRocca said.
Retailers lost 37.4 billion in 2005 due to shoplifting, refund fraud and other crimes, up 20 percent from 2003, estimates the National Retail Federation. Although 12.3 billion, or about one-third, was due to theft by outsiders, about 47 percent of the losses came from theft and fraud by employees, the NRF data shows.
Professional rings
Rings of professional thieves are responsible for growing merchandise losses, industry experts say. "Retail losses are a staggering problem in our industry. These guys are getting smarter and they are stealing more," LaRocca said.
As opposed to small-scale crooks working solo, professional organized criminals roam in groups of five to seven and hit multiple locations, stealing goods worth thousands of dollars each time. While some members of the ring do the stealing, others survey the area, using cell phones to alert their colleagues if security or store personnel get suspicious. While in a store, one group might distract salesclerks while others take off with merchandise.
They often drive two vehicles, one to carry their people, the other to transport the loot.
"The tactic is used to confuse," LaRocca said. "Do you want to arrest the people, or recover the merchandise?"
According to a recent NRF survey, nearly 81 percent of executives polled said their company has been a victim of organized retail theft during the past year.
Nearly half said they have witnessed an increase in their stores during that period.
To recoup the cost of retail theft industrywide, legitimate customers are paying higher prices, retailers say.
About 1.6 cents of every 1 customers spend goes to cover the business's theft-related expenses, according to the retail federation.
Selling loot online
The prospect of higher profits are leading criminals to sell stolen goods online.
Thieves typically receive 30 percent of a stolen item's value at a flea market, pawn shop or street corner, law enforcement officials estimate.
But items can go for about 70 percent of their value on online auction sites, where sellers have relative anonymity, said LaRocca.
People returning stolen goods successfully to a store with a fake or doctored receipt -- or no receipt if the store is lenient -- collect 100 percent of the purchase price, plus tax.
Many thieves take advantage of the busy holiday period, when some merchants relax their return policies to permit returns or exchanges of items without receipts, LaRocca said.
Fighting back
Merchants are fighting back.
Some stores have installed "smart" video cameras that automatically flag an employee if someone is spotted where they are not supposed to be, or if the camera detects large amounts of store merchandise being moved.
Retailers and law enforcement officials also jointly run a national Web site cataloging specific incidents in hopes that sharing information will help unearth and solve similar cases.