The retail industry faces countless issues ranging from petty theft to credit card fraud, but no issue has grown more rapidly in recent years than Organized Retail Crime (ORC). The National Retail Federation (NRF) recently reported on its ninth annual Organized Retail Crime survey, finding that 94 percent of Loss Prevention executives say they’ve been victims of ORC within the past year. But these criminals aren’t stopping at re-selling the stolen items. Their ingenuity has led to yet another troubling trend this year – return fraud, which I discussed in this post. Seventy-eight percent of executives surveyed say they have experienced this threat in their stores.
“We are extremely concerned by the organized patterns that are taking place in the retail industry right now as these crime gangs continue to find ways to maneuver the system,” said NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention, Rich Mellor. “Though retailers continue to make great strides in their fight against organized retail crime, savvy, unconscionable criminals are selling stolen merchandise for a profit that doesn’t belong to them. With the types of organized retail crimes changing in severity each year, retailers remain vigilant in their fight against Organized Retail Crime.”
The survey wasn’t all bad news – it appears that law enforcement and top retail management have a better understanding of the complexity of this issue. This infographic created by the NRF highlights a selection of results from the survey.
ORC gangs are increasingly popping up around the country – from Small Town, USA to some of our biggest cities. Here are the top 10 locations that retailers say have the most criminal activity (in alphabetical order).
Cities with the Highest Rates of Organized Retail Crime
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Houston
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- New York
- Northern New Jersey
- San Francisco/Oakland
Partnerships among vested parties have formed throughout the last few years to share tips and work with law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, the partnerships’ successes haven’t helped bring the matter of ORC to the local or state levels. While it remains a Federal issue due to criminals crossing state lines, there seems to be a gap in the Federal Criminal Code to properly penalize these serious crimes. Review the complete survey results.
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