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Breaking News in the Industry: September 16, 2016

Customers Still Line up Despite “Limited Quantities” of iPhone 7 Available at Retail Stores

Long lines were already forming outside several Apple stores this morning as customers vie to be one of the first to get their hands on an iPhone 7. Photos on Twitter show crowds queuing inside malls in Orlando, Fla., outside stores in New York and a line forming in front of a San Francisco store at 1 a.m.   Hopefully those fanboys and fangirls aren’t expecting to walk out with a jet black iPhone 7.  Or any color of the iPhone 7 Plus.

Apple says only “limited quantities” of the iPhone 7 in black, silver, gold and rose gold will be available at retail stores. The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant said initial supplies of the iPhone 7 Plus in all colors and the iPhone 7 in jet black sold out during the online pre-order period and won’t be available for walk-in customers.

“We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience as we work hard to get the new iPhone into the hands of everyone who wants one as quickly as possible,” Apple said in a statement. The iPhone 7 starts at $649 and the iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769. The phones feature improved cameras, brighter displays and faster processors than their predecessors. They don’t include a traditional headphone 3.5-mm audio jack, a shift Apple hopes will steer the industry toward a wireless future. [Source: Los Angeles Times]

Teen Uses 9-Year-Old Brother to Shoplift

A woman is accused of making using her 9-year-old brother to shoplift $80 worth of items from a Trenton supermarket, police said. The woman, Jasmine Williams, 18, was charged with employing a juvenile in a crime and shoplifting Tuesday after an incident that evening. Police said they were called to the Trenton Food Bazaar Supermarket Tuesday for a report of shoplifting.

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There, they found employees at the supermarket had Williams and her 9-year-old brother in custody. Employees told police Williams had used her young brother to help shoplift $80.21 worth of various items from the store. Police did not know which items had been taken Wednesday. The boy was released to his father and Williams was charged after the incident, police said. [NJ.com]A woman is accused of making using her 9-year-old brother to shoplift $80 worth of items from a Trenton supermarket, police said. The woman, Jasmine Williams, 18, was charged with employing a juvenile in a crime and shoplifting Tuesday after an incident that evening. Police said they were called to the Trenton Food Bazaar Supermarket Tuesday for a report of shoplifting.

There, they found employees at the supermarket had Williams and her 9-year-old brother in custody. Employees told police Williams had used her young brother to help shoplift $80.21 worth of various items from the store. Police did not know which items had been taken Wednesday. The boy was released to his father and Williams was charged after the incident, police said. [Source: NJ.com]

Nuts! Cargo Thieves Set Eyes on Food and Beverage

Decline in cargo theft value indicates thieves may be shifting targets. When cargo thieves target shipments, they typically go for goods which are high value yet easy to liquidate. The home-grown hijacker, looking for targets of opportunity, passed from the scene years ago. They were replaced with crews of professional operatives with sophisticated and highly analytical approaches to identifying high-resale-value goods and finding vulnerabilities in freight networks.
And this year, in response to the industry’s ongoing efforts to protect itself, they are likely to be going after nuts. That’s right: nuts.

In California – a noted cargo theft hot spot – thieves went after tree nuts with alacrity in 2014 and 2015. And, concern is so high that a bill protecting nuts and nut shipments has been introduced into the California State Assembly. Nuts are now highly sought after because – when packed – they have a high density per shipping container and therefore a high resale value per truckload. They are also typically accompanied by lower attendant security, and they’re quickly consumed after sale, meaning the window for recovery is smaller.

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Nut theft rings are emblematic of a new trend, which sees would-be thieves increasingly targeting food and beverage loads. As security tightens in response to theft, higher-value items such as consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals and household goods are getting harder to steal. Drivers are vetted more carefully and credentials checked throughout the delivery process. Shipments are less idle, more in motion, and safe-zones are set up along the route to minimize roadside theft.

All this means that cargo thieves – ever watchful for the least risky theft opportunities – are looking for shipments that are less-guarded and more likely to be worth the time and effort to steal. Hence nuts. [Source: Supply Chain Management Review]

Shoplifter Caught with $900 in Sunglasses

A Milwaukee woman has been arrested and charged with theft after authorities discovered she tried stealing almost $900 in sunglasses from Boston Store in Mayfair Mall. Shanda Smith, 49, faces up to 18 months behind bars or up to a $10,000 fine, or both if she is convicted.

According to her criminal complaint, a loss prevention officer observed a female, later identified as Smith, selecting numerous pairs of sunglasses at Boston Store on Sept. 8. Police say Smith walked into the fitting room with the sunglasses, and after she left the fitting room, she no longer had the merchandise visible. After a check of the fitting rooms revealed that the merchandise wasn’t there either, Smith was seen carrying a large purse.

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According to her complaint, the loss prevention officer approached Smith, and she was escorted to the store’s security office. It was at the office that authorities learned that Smith concealed 9 pairs of sunglasses in her purse. Together, the sunglasses were valued at $897.50. Smith is currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on a $250 cash bond. [Source: Wisconsin Patch]

How EMV Is Fueling an e-Commerce Fraud Frenzy

The rollout of EMV-enabled credit and debit cards is driving a sharp decline in brick-and-mortar transaction fraud. But now fraudsters have a different target: online retailers. The Great EMV Migration remains a work in progress. Oct. 1 heralds the first anniversary of the official shift from traditional “swipe-and-signature” credit and debit cards to chip-enabled EMV cards, a move designed in part to better protect consumers from the growing threat of transaction fraud. There’s good news: 88% of cards issued by MasterCard now incorporate EMV chips. But there’s also bad news — namely that only about a third of U.S. merchants have installed EMV-enabled card readers.

But despite limited implementation of EMV-ready point-of-sale terminals, chip-and-pin technology is indeed cutting off fraudsters at the pass. With EMV effectively blocking card cloning and other commonplace criminal tactics, MasterCard notes that counterfeit card fraud.   That doesn’t mean that fraudsters are abandoning their lives of crime, however — instead, they’re simply turning their focus from brick-and-mortar to digital. Online fraud attacks surged 137% between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 according to data issued earlier this month by fraud detection and protection solutions provider Forter: In fact, fraud attacks spiked 27% from the fourth quarter of 2015 and Q1 2016, the period immediately following the EMV transition.

“Fraudsters are moving to the path of least resistance,” Forter Chief Marketing Officer Bill Zielke told Retail Dive. “There’s so much effort placed on the EMV rollout in stores. [Fraudsters] see the online space, where those same security requirements are not present, as a riper segment to go after. It’s about what’s easiest for the fraudster. If they can prey on that [online retail] segment, that’s going to be a better use of their time.” Fraud costs are down 54% among EMV-enabled merchants.  [Source: Retail Dive]

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