What Is The Future And Solution For Organized Retail Crime Worldwide

Crimes and criminals can be found in every corner of the world. Whenever there is an established system or a set of rules, there will be individuals who want to bend or break them. This is true for the retail industry as well.

In the recent few years, there has been a tremendous rise in cases of organized retail crimes or ORCs. What are these ORCs, and how are they affecting the business landscape? We are trying to answer these questions to the best of our abilities.

Therefore, if the subject piques your interest, you are in the right place. Let’s go!

Organized Retail Crime Overview

Professional criminal organizations usually conduct organized retail crimes. These organizations could be local or international in nature. These gangs work in tandem with corrupt officials to wreak havoc in the retail industry.

Organized retail crime generally includes theft, truckjacking, shoplifting, smash/grabs, and cargo diversion. Organizations typically conduct these sorts of crimes as they require a certain amount of expertise and precision, which a single human being lacks.

FBI shared a report back in the year 2010. In the report, it was estimated that the retail industry lost around 30 billion US dollars to organized retail crime. Even though it is rare, in some cases, things can become violent. Therefore, this is a sensitive topic, and we would like to handle it accordingly.

But first, let us look at the statistics of organized retail crime in the upcoming years. Let’s go!

UK

The UK is sadly one of the leaders in Organized retail crime. ORCs in Britain generally consist of shoplifting, smash/grab and cargo diversion. However, shoplifting is the most common form of ORC in Britain.

Shoplifting makes up around 40%, according to British Retail Consortium’s annual crime survey. Therefore, these figures should be unnerving.

Australia

Australia is not far behind compared to the UK. In Australia, the most common form of organized retail crime is shoplifting. This is probably the most common form of ORC you will come across.

Australia has kept everything under control, but shoplifting cases are very rampant. In most cases, these crimes are committed by individuals, not by any specific organization or group.

United States

The United States is where ORC has found its footing. America is one of the most active countries regarding Organized retail crime. America has always been one of the hotbeds of organized crime.

From Haitian gangs to Italian mafiosos, the USA has glorified and perpetuated organized crime. As a result, back in 2020, the Retail Industry Leaders Association or RILA shared that ORC figures were over two billion USD.

The craziest aspect of this is that there is no sign of slowing down or stopping. Hence, making the whole deal more concerning.

How Does ORC Work?

Crime pays very well when it is done with criminal precision. This is what organized retail criminals strive towards. Taking the USA as a model, we have inferred that ORCs in the USA are generally divided into two parts. The first part is boosting, and the second part is fencing.

Boosters are the people who steal commodities from the industry. The second set of individuals are called fences. Fences allow the boosted or stolen commodities to be sold. Fences are given the responsibility to legitimize these products and turn profits.

Earlier, stolen products were generally bought and sold in flea markets. Nowadays, the dark web and anonymous online stores also facilitate that. Hence, this shows how the industry has evolved and has become something huge.

Types Of Organized Retail Crime

The Internet was not only a boon for the upstanding citizens of this planet. In fact, this invention facilitated the miscreants as well. The internet was this unregulated playground where criminals could hide their activities. As a result, the sector evolved and newer variants of ORCs existed.

In this section, we will look at the different variations of organized retail crime you can find today. In this section, we have deliberately kept activities like truck jacking, shoplifting, etc. Instead, we are focusing more on the new-age organized retail crimes you can encounter.

So, let’s go!

Gift Card Fraud

This is a sophisticated way of siphoning money out of someone’s wallet. First, boosters would steal credit cards and then use them to buy gift cards. Subsequently, these boosters would use the newly bought gift cards to buy and sell products.

In some cases, boosters would work in tandem with hackers and programmers. They would use stolen credit cards or other means to buy small-value gift cards. Subsequently, using digital expertise to mask these small-value gift cards as high value ones and scamming the platform.

This is very common and can really destabilize the economy. The worst part is that no checks can monitor these activities.

Receipt Fraud

The second format is called receipt fraud. Receipt fraud is a tad bit more complex compared to gift card fraud. The ingeniousness of this fraud is just amazing and you can color us impressed.

Receipt fraud is generally conducted by a host of hackers who can actually break into a company’s digital inventory records. Hackers would break a company’s inventory record and create a digital dearth of certain commodities. In other words, they would erase product details and subsequently boost products.

Following that, they would create fake buying receipts and return stolen products. As a result, bagging the cash and not stealing anything at all. Smart.

Ticket Switching

This is a more hands on approach where shoplifters would lift products and change the barcodes. This is the riskiest ORC. In a bold move, criminals would change the barcodes of products to lower the price and conduct a mass checkout or small batches.

As a result, criminals would buy products much cheaper and resell them for the exact same price on the black market. This is most common in electronics since these products yield a high value.

Ticket swapping is ingenious and can produce results. Still, this is not as common as the previous ones. This is because of the risk that comes with it.

Is ORC Similar To Shoplifting?

Shoplifting is one of the most common organized retail crimes you can come across. In the US, shoplifting attributes to 40% of all crimes. However, ORC and shoplifting are not the same things.

Shoplifting is part of organized retail crime activity, but ORC is an umbrella term where other variants exist as well. Therefore, you cannot see them as similar.

Rule of thumb: every shoplifting is an ORC, but not all ORCs consist of shoplifting. That sounds about right!

Consequences Of Organized Retail Crime

ORCs are stressful for enforcement agencies and the retail industry simultaneously. Unchecked organized criminal activities can have far-reaching consequences. Here are some of the most prominent consequences of organized retail crime:

• A general increase in ORCs can put an unnecessary strain on law-enforcement agencies and start crowding the already overcrowded prisons.
• Extreme organized retail crime cases can lead to store closure and significant loss of business.
• Employees might start feeling unsafe due to extreme working environments. As a result, there might be a manpower dearth.
• Finally, receiving ghost products can leave a bad taste in people’s mouths. Therefore, customers can become more suspicious of retailers. As a result, creating a vicious cycle.

How To Combat Organized Retail Crime?

Well, we have mostly covered all the important points that needed to be covered. Still, we are not done yet. In this final section of our blog on ORC, we will look at ways to fight them. Even though the section is named Fighting the ORC, there will not be actual violence. So, you do not need your medieval armor sets.

Jokes apart, here are some of the most prominent ways of fighting organized retail crime. Just remember that criminals are the fastest-evolving sentient beings. So, always stay on your toes and update your arsenal occasionally.

• Cart Locking System: lock your carts or implement a digital locking system that locks a cart when it is moved away from the premises.
• Deterrence tools: employees must wear body cams and be equipped with basic defensive tools to apprehend, identify, and stop criminals.
• Self-Checkout Monitoring: Monitor the self-checkout systems with more prejudice. DO NOT assume that people are inherently good. They are not
• Video Surveillance: the stores must have video surveillance to keep tabs on every little corner.
• Cyber Security: Invest a sizeable amount in cybersecurity to stop breaches. This will keep you safe from external attacks.

Penalties Of Organized Retail crimes

While there are ways that can help organizations combat ORCs, there also needs to be checks or penalties that dissuade people from committing these crimes.

However, there are no specific penalties that pertains to ORCs. Therefore, organized retail criminals are often persecuted under normal law. For example, shoplifting is treated as a type of larceny.

Subsequently, violence in a shop premise with the intent of stealing is treated as battery. Therefore, there are no specified penalties that are directly related to ORC.

The Endnote: Can Organized Retail Crime Be Put Under Check?

In all honesty, there is no permanent solution to organized retail crime and criminal activities. Human beings would always find ways to cheat the system in any way possible. However, retailers can implement certain measures to slow them.

Apart from that, there is not much that can be done. This is an evolving sector that works on a vicious cycle. So, it will be put under check but never wiped clean. That is the truth.