ShareThisWorldwide retail losses from crime rose nearly 6 percent from last year to $115 billion -- up 8 percent in the United States to $46 billion -- according to a new study.
The survey found that during the recession, more middle-class shoppers were willing to pilfer brand-name cosmetics, skin-care products and designer clothing, according to the Global Retail Theft Barometer released this week by the London-based Center for Retail Research.
Though the majority of retail-related crime is committed by amateurs working for themselves, a gang of seasoned professionals can swipe $10,000 in goods from different stores in one day, said Joseph LaRocca, senior asset protection adviser for the National Retail Federation.
Organized retail crime, which can cost U.S. retailers as much as $30 billion a year, is expected to rise this year, and California is one of the top four states for such losses, LaRocca said.
These days are particularly busy for organized rings, he said. "They're stocking up for the holidays just like a legitimate retailer."
In a survey of retailers, 92 percent reported organized crime activity this year, an 8 percent increase from 2008, according to the NRF.
Working together, thieves distract clerks while another uses special tools to remove security tags. Thieves also use "booster bags," a shopping bag or personal item like a stroller lined with foil, to block the security device.
Besides cost, consumers are jeopardized in other ways, he said. The top fenced retail products include baby formula and health and beauty products, which could be spoiled or dangerously compromised.
Federal legislation has been introduced in Congress recently that would make organized retail crime a federal offense and better regulate online auction sites to discourage fencing of stolen goods.
The NRF has formed the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network to join retailers and the FBI in combating organized crime by sharing information about incidents and methods of operation
There are shoplifters plumping their inventory, opportunists who smash and grab from cars, auto thieves and package snatchers. There are also organized criminals, methodically gathering inventory to fence at pawn shops and hawk at flea markets, on street corners or online.
"Naturally, you'll get increases in the holidays because centers are crowded and clerks are distracted, so you tend to get a spike," said Malachy Kavanagh, a spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
These professional thieves arrive with lists of what's hot. Dyson vacuum cleaners swiped from home-improvement stores are particularly big this year, LaRocca said.
Honest shoppers wind up paying. On average, 1.5 percent of the cost of a product covers theft, LaRocca said.
Advances in technology are making inroads against all kinds of retail crime, Kavanagh said. Some centers are experimenting with face-recognition systems that could spot dangerous individuals.
"As technology becomes perfected and more widespread in use, it will cut down on the amount of crime," Kavanagh said. "Technology is helping, but it's not a silver bullet. You need operators and people on the ground."
The No. 1 warning this holiday season from police and security officers is as simple as this: Keep stuff out of sight in your car.
"Make sure your cars have nothing of value in them," said Officer Chris Trim of the Elk Grove, Calif., Police Department.
"Don't have anything on the dashboard, nothing in view," said Lt. Todd Sockman of the West Sacramento Police Department.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said officers on the department's "Grinch Patrol" report that stealing packages from cars seems to be a consistent tradition.
Trim said this is also the season for the "rocks in a box" scam.
In the scam, a victim buys goods from someone who offers merchandise "still in the original box" at a deeply discounted price. But the box for the television or laptop actually contains only rocks or some other worthless weight. Such scammers often sell in the parking lot of an electronics store to give the appearance they just bought it from there, Trim warns.
The big-ticket item grabbed from cars these days is portable GPS devices, said Roseville, Calif., Police Department spokeswoman Dee Dee Gunther. Even if the device is placed out of sight, thieves sometimes break into a car because they notice the marks that GPS mounting bracket suction cups leave on the windshield.
"They are really stealing them left and right," she said.
(Contact M.S. Enkoji of the Sacramento Bee at menkoji(at)sacbee.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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