Walmart Asset Protection in 2018: Transforming with Technology
By Karen Rondeau
LPM Media Group is on site at Walmart’s Asset Protection National Meeting this week in Rogers, AR, where the theme of the event centers around embracing change to enable the transformation of the business while reducing losses and accidents.
Walmart AP’s transformation journey started three years ago on their quest to achieve their aggressive shrink goal, and this week they are able to celebrate the progress that’s been made in reducing unknown shrinkage… Read the full article.
Women in Loss Prevention
Survey Results Reveal How Women View Their Current Roles in the Industry
By Jac Brittain, LPC
Loss prevention has evolved significantly over the past several decades. Today’s loss prevention professionals are expected to be multidimensional, open minded, global thinking, enterprising, and intelligent. Company leaders now understand and respect the importance of protecting the company’s assets against the challenges of total retail loss (rather than simply making shoplifter apprehensions), recognizing the value of training and awareness, and respecting the benefits of partnerships and diplomacy. This has encouraged a new and improved retail industry where effective loss prevention strategies are echoed from the C-suite and entwined in the retail business model.
Yet as far as we have come, there are still mountains to climb. Talented, driven, intelligent, and capable women have long been an integral part of the loss prevention industry, but the profession is still largely male-dominated. Why? Is it the general perception women have of the profession? Is it the potential physical aspects of the job, the culture of the times, or other choices available to women? Is it the way women are treated or perceived within the industry? Is it something else?… Read the full article.
Credit Card Fraud News: 2018 Update
The credit card fraud news and statistics keep evolving–and not necessarily in a good way.
By Bill Turner, LPC
We cover a lot of credit card fraud news in the LPM Insider. It’s a natural topic for a readership heavily concentrated in retail and retail loss prevention. But the statistics keep changing, as do some of the suggestions to help protect yourself. So, an update and review every so often is beneficial.
The continually evolving credit card fraud news:
- The latest Nilson report estimates that in 2016, worldwide credit card losses topped $24.71 billion.
- Barclays reports that 47 percent of all credit card fraud occurs in the United States.
- Fifty-six percent of Mexico residents reported being a victim in 2016.
- Only 8 percent of Hungarians reported being victims in the past 5 years. In general, European countries have the lowest fraud rates due to the early adoption of EMV (chip) cards.
Organized Retail Crime Associations: The Complete List
LP Magazine‘s comprehensive list of organized retail crime associations is designed to be a helpful resource for retailers and law enforcement.
By Jac Brittain, LPC
The number of organized retail crime associations (ORCAs) has grown steadily in recent years, with a primary emphasis on assisting law enforcement, retail investigators, and prosecutors with the identification, investigation, and prosecution of those involved in organized retail crime.
In response to the scope and severity of organized retail crime concerns across the country, there has been an increased effort on the part of retailers and law enforcement agencies to share information regarding organized retail crime at the local, state, and regional levels… Read the full article.
Offender Perspectives on Self-Checkout Theft
Through interviews with dozens of shoplifters with recent self-checkout theft experiences, researcher Stephanie Lin explored their shoplifting behaviors, methods, and the thought process behind why they chose to leverage this method to conduct theft.
By Stephanie Lin
The convenience of self-checkout has made the service increasingly popular among customers in recent years. Retailers also take advantage of the self-checkout technology to reduce labor costs and speed up the checkout process.
Unfortunately, this convenient option is popular among genuine customers and fraudsters alike… Read the full article.
RESEARCH: Retail Theft and Loss Prevention Analytics
By David Speights, Ph.D., Daniel Downs, Ph.D., and Adi Raz, DBA
According to the 2016 National Retail Security Survey, US businesses lost around $45.2 billion in 2015 to retail theft, more than 1.38 percent of overall sales, making retail theft one of the leading issues facing retailers today.
According to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention (2006), more than 9 percent of consumers are shoplifters. They are apprehended, on average, only once in every 48 times they shoplift. There are many types of retail theft, which can be measured by calculating the loss from employee theft, shoplifting or organized retail crime, administrative errors, vendor fraud, and return fraud.
Who shoplifts? There is no typical profile of a shoplifter. Based on our experience of interviewing offenders, shoplifters can be male or female, of any race, as young as five or well into their seventies… Read the full article.
Cargo Theft Statistics: Unreported Incidents May Greatly Understate the Numbers
Cargo theft statistics indicate that it’s a low-risk, high-reward crime.
By Bill Turner, LPC
Cargo theft has been around for centuries. History has seen robbers attacking merchants on trading roads, to pirates seizing ships at sea, to bandits on horseback robbing stage coaches.
Fast forward to today. Trucks have replaced horse-drawn wagons, and today’s cargo theft perpetrators are often part of international crime syndicates. The global economic crisis increased demand for black-market goods. But cargo theft statistics are difficult to track.
Adding to the cargo theft problem is the fact that it is seen as a low-risk, high-reward type of crime carrying minor criminal penalties. The FBI reports that less than 20 percent of stolen cargo is ever recovered… Read the full article.
Now Amazon Doesn’t Care If You Accidentally Shoplift
By Bill Turner, LPC
Got your attention, right? After five years of development and fourteen months of testing, Amazon opened a new, cashier-less Amazon Go grocery/convenience store in downtown Seattle on January 22. There is no waiting in checkout lines because there are no lines–and no cashiers.
In order to shop, customers must download the Amazon Go app on their cell phones, connect it to their Amazon account and choose a payment method. A QR code is generated, and the customer scans it at a station located at the front of the store. Once the customer is scanned in, multiple sensors and cameras throughout the store tracks items that the customer takes off the shelf. All prices are posted on the shelf. Items selected are automatically charged to the customer when they leave the store… Read the full article.
Power to the People
Rite Aid Uses a Crowdsourcing Crime-Solving Tool to Amplify Investigations
By Garett Seivold
One day in October of 2017, a man of medium build entered a Rite Aid in one of the nation’s largest cities, approached the register, and demanded cash. As the drawer was being opened, the subject flung himself over the counter, grabbing whatever cash he could. He fled on foot, leaving behind a shaken cashier, and by the time police arrived, the unknown subject had safely dissolved back into the surrounding community. Unfortunately, often, this type of story ends right here.
But this real-life crime drama has an unusual second act, which picks up a few days later when a woman some miles away checks her social media feed and sees a surveillance snapshot of the Rite Aid robber with a note about a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. The face in the picture is familiar. She clicks on the link to Solveacrime.com and starts filling out the website’s tip form. She types in information on the suspect, and it is submitted to Solveacrime.com for follow up. A few days later the subject is apprehended… Read the full article.
8 Free Tools to Help with Your Social Media Investigations
Don’t let your social media investigation be a time-suck.
By Garett Seivold
With 69 percent of adults on at least one social media site, including 88 percent of individuals under 30 years old, there is a wealth of information out there for investigators to comb through. Few social media users implement the strictest privacy settings, which provides even more investigative fodder.
With so much information available, social media investigations are a potential time-suck, warned Heather Honey, president of Haystack Investigations, at the 2018 GSX conference in September. “You want to have a plan in mind,” she said. “First, identify what information you have about a person of interest. Second, know what information you’re trying to find.”… Read the full article.