“Shoplifting in Maryland, both the instances of theft and the dollar amount that’s stolen every year, has steadily been on the rise, and part of it does have to do with organized retail crime.” “Being on the I-95 corridor, we are particularly susceptible to organized retail crime,” association President Cailey Locklair Tolle says. The Maryland Retailers Association wants legislation that would distinguish between organized retail theft and other types of theft. Thirty-four states have enacted laws against organized retail crime. The Mid-Atlantic Organized Retail Crime Alliance, which includes Maryland, brings together retailers, law enforcement, security and loss prevention officials to share data and intelligence on organized theft, robberies, counterfeiting, check and credit card fraud and other scams. They said they were spending an average of $545,000 on employees dedicated to fighting organized crime, an all-time high.Ĭoordinated efforts between retailers, store security, law enforcement and prosecutors have helped, analysts say, as has the emergence of associations focused on fighting organized retail crime. The group recently surveyed retailers on organized crime all of the respondents said they had been victimized in the previous year. But the National Retail Federation reported that organized crime cost retailers $30 billion last year. Retailers: Individual retailers contacted by The Sun were reluctant to discuss details. “These are hardened criminals, and they get into organized retail crime because it’s extremely profitable.” These are groups that already exist for criminal purposes,” such as drug trafficking and human trafficking. “It’s not just a group that gets together and wants to steal. “And that’s happening in multiples,” he says. In a well choreographed assault, Moraca says, thieves can clear shelves of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods in minutes. Analysts say the increase has been fueled by the opioid epidemic and by the growing understanding among criminals that theft can be quick, easy and profitable. Organized theft has surpassed internal theft to become the leading cause of retail loss, said Robert Moraca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. But it’s anything “that can easily be sold for quick cash. “What they’re targeting is always shifting,” he says, from detergent to razor blades to seafood. “We probably see organized retail crime incidents across our stores every day,” said Jim Cosseboom, manager of investigations and corporate asset protection for the supermarket operator Ahold USA, parent company of Giant, Food Lion and other chains. They fence stolen goods at pawn shops, kiosks, vans on the street and, increasingly, online auction sites.Īttacks: And they’re becoming more brazen and more dangerous, analysts say, in some cases attacking store employees and even shoppers. They might employ teams of “boosters” - often the homeless or the drug addicted - who go into stores to steal everything from laundry detergent and baby formula to designer clothes and diamonds. The high-stakes enterprises often operate across state lines. But now, industry analysts and law enforcement officials say, a greater threat is emerging: theft and fraud by highly organized criminal rings. They were convicted last year of theft.įor retailers, simple shoplifting is an unavoidable cost of doing business. The men were accused of stealing more than $1,500 worth of iPods and software. Inside, they say, officers found dozens of Apple devices. The men, all from the Eastern European nation of Georgia, had driven down from New York in a minivan, police and prosecutors say. They were stopped by security guards, and police arrested three. The other two were scooping up display items and slipping them into their vests. Two of them - one wearing a blue jogging outfit, the other dressed in black pants and shirt - were acting as lookouts, blocking the views of sales associates. BALTIMORE - They looked like any other shoppers browsing iPads and Apple Watches at the Apple Store in Towson, Maryland.īut a security guard saw something amiss in the behavior of the four men in the store at Towson Town Center.
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