Loss Prevention

When bad actors take advantage of retailers, abusing a returns policy or conspiring with an associate to steal from the register, they might be tempted to look the other way. Culturally, the organization doesn’t want to think a consumer could be sneaky — someone capable of wearing a dress to prom with the intention of…

Retail’s retreat from self-checkout (SCO) is swift and highly visible as major chains are aggressively scaling back lanes. Even local governments are beginning to get involved, with proposed legislation in places like New York City aimed at restricting usage and increasing staffing requirements. SCO feels like it’s assumed the most significant amount of blame for…

Many retailers already use some form of artificial intelligence in their security technologies. Analytics engines process massive amounts of data, such as images, text or numbers, using AI algorithms to produce actionable insights. For example, analytics can automatically flag vehicles linked to previous incidents upon arrival and streamline the secure sharing of relevant footage with…

Consumers are shopping online more than ever before, turning residential doorsteps into busy delivery zones. Every day, millions of packages arrive at homes around the world, carrying everything from everyday essentials to high-priced gifts. Not all of them make it into the right hands. In the United States alone, porch pirates stole 58 million packages…

For retailers, the painful reality isn’t just the sight of a thief walking out the door with stolen merchandise; it’s also seeing how those individual losses add up to a significant yearly shrink. But what's more frustrating is the feeling of fighting a losing battle. As a law enforcement professional who has partnered with retailers,…

Not all fraud looks like fraud — and that’s what makes it so hard to catch. It doesn’t come with red flags or fake credit cards. It comes from real addresses. Repeat customers. Polite emails that say, “My package never arrived.” And increasingly, it’s coming from your best shoppers. Welcome to the new era of…

A recent survey from the National Retail Federation revealed that 50 percent of retailers are more concerned with retail crime than they were just one year ago. That same survey found that the average number of shoplifting incidents per year has risen by 93 percent since 2019, and associated financial losses have seen a 90…

According to a 2024 study by the National Retail Federation (NRF), retailers reported a 93 percent increase in average shoplifting incidents in 2023 vs. 2019. During the same time, 91 percent of retailers stated shoplifters were exhibiting more violence and aggression. Retailers also noted a 90 percent increase in dollar loss due to shoplifting in…

How much of a retail security team’s day is spent chasing ghosts? The patterns are there, hidden within hours of video, thousands of point-of-sale (POS) transactions, and countless access logs. The problem isn't a lack of data; it’s that legacy systems make detective work slow and inefficient. Thieves and organized retail crime rings thrive on…

As organized retail crime (ORC) continues to grow unchecked across the country, multifaceted solutions and strategies are beginning to take hold. Many states have implemented new laws and initiatives to combat the rise of ORC and new organizations have emerged to simplify information sharing and provide better insights on repeat offenders. Additionally, innovative solutions that…