Retail Crime

Theft, fraud, and losses from other retail “shrink” totaled $50.6 billion in 2018, up from $46.8 billion the year before.

LPRC researchers discovered an organized retail crime (ORC) ring based out of Chicago and were able to investigate this group closely to learn more about their return methods and routines.

The crime of shoplifting is as old as shopping itself. The first documented cases of shoplifting took place in 16th-century London and involved groups of men called “lifters” (early organized retail crime?).

Almost 100 flea markets were randomly selected from a guide of 1,000 locations and visited by our teams to assess the availability, pricing, and condition of a high-loss men’s shaving product as example of flea markets and stolen products activity.

Contemporary loss prevention professionals still maintain responsibility for retail security. But they also must handle employee theft issues, data protection, safety and risk management, inventory audits, legal compliance, and matters related to organized retail crime and fraud.

While it's certainly the future, self-checkout is also a mature technology with persistent, unaddressed problems in need of a fresh fraud prevention approach. [Sponsored]

Criminal justice and police look at [shoplifting] like a nuisance crime, and society often views it as harmless. As a result, it is rarely addressed effectively. [Sponsored]

Strong customer service is one of our most effective tools and most proactive means to control theft and other losses on the retail selling floor.

There is little consensus on what constitutes “loss” within the retail world nor how it should be measured. The terms “shrinkage” and “shortage” have been loosely applied to encapsulate some of the areas that generate loss, but they are not terms enjoying a clear and agreed-upon definition across the sector.

Seventy-nine percent of criminal and juvenile justice professionals believe, based on their experience with offenders, that shoplifting is a "gateway" crime.