Unregulated Online Marketplaces Are Fueling America's ORC Crisis
Will the INFORM Act finally rein in unregulated online marketplace and curb ORC?

You could be buying shoplifted stuff on Amazon, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace

Experts say organized crime deserves much of the blame

Executives at retailers like Target and Walmart are raising alarms about shoplifting in their stores - and you may have unknowingly bought one of these items when you shopped online.

That's because criminal enterprises are selling over $500 billion in stolen or counterfeit products through online marketplaces like Amazon, Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace across the globe each year, the Prosecutors Alliance of California, an advocacy organization that promotes criminal justice reforms, estimated in 2022.

If true, this would mean illicit goods account for up to 10% of the total e-commerce market.

Couple a spike in shoplifted items with the rise of online shopping in recent years, and it's possible you could be one of these unwitting customers. Given the sellers often appear legitimate - and the goods are often sold at discounted prices - many consumers are happy to do business.

Rather than being driven by a surge of one-off thieves, experts say organized criminal organizations are largely to blame, and are hurting not only the businesses they steal from, but the legitimate online sellers they're competing with.

Retailers say shoplifting is on the rise

This e-fencing - the selling of stolen goods online - is not a new phenomenon. Organized retail theft increased nearly 60% between 2015 and 2020, the National Retail Federation found in a 2020 survey, costing retailers an average of over $700,000 per $1 billion in sales. In 2021, a law enforcement officer told The Wall Street Journal that Amazon "may be the largest unregulated pawnshop on the face of the planet." The apparent rise in shoplifting over the past year, however, suggests the online selling of stolen goods may be becoming more common.

Congress passed a piece of legislation retailers had been pushing for for years, one platforms like Amazon and eBay ultimately came out in support of. The Inform Act will require online marketplaces to collect and verify the government ID, tax ID, and bank account information of "high volume third party sellers" - those that make 200 or more sales or earn at least $5,000 in a given year, the hope being this will help kick some illicit sellers off online platforms. businessinsider.com


Robberies, Burglaries & Larceny Up in NYC - Murders & Shootings Drop
NYC Mayor Eric Adams still burdened by crime one year in office, despite drop in murders and shootings

Adams and the NYPD recently celebrated bringing shootings down by 17% in 2022

New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed crack down on surging crime in the Big Apple - but results have been mixed a year into his first term in office.

The Democrat and police leadership have celebrated that shooting and murder numbers have fallen, but other crimes are still trending upward as several high-profile crimes have critics calling for more to be done.

Adams and the NYPD recently touted that shootings had decreased 17% in 2022 and murders fell 11% when compared to 2021 data. However, as those violent crimes fell, robberies, burglaries, felony assault, grand larceny and other crimes continued in the city, spurring major crimes to increase by 22% compared to 2021.

"I wanted to go after violent crime in general, but specifically, homicides, shootings, gun crimes, those crimes were terrorizing our city," Adams told the news site The City last month. foxnews.com


'Too Much Bloodshed'
California reeling from back-to-back shootings that killed 24
"Tragedy upon tragedy," Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was visiting Monterey Park on Monday, said of the two attacks.

California has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation, and there has been talk of even more restrictions in the wake of the latest violence.

Data suggest the rules have made a difference. As The Times reported last year, in 2005, California had almost the same rate of deaths from guns as Florida or Texas, with California reporting 9.5 firearms deaths per 100,000 people that year, Florida reporting 10 and Texas 11, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Since then, California repeatedly has tightened its gun laws, while Florida and Texas have moved in the opposite direction.

Governor Newsom noted that people who want to avoid California strict gun laws can simply go to a state with lesser regulations, buy weapons and bring them back.

Still, the continuing mass killings have many searching for answers. Some are calling for tighter gun laws. latimes.com


New Prosecutor Lists ORC as Top Priority of Economic Crime Division
New Kings County, Wash., DA Lays Out New Policies
The Economic Crimes and Wage Theft Division will include organized retail theft, economic crimes, identity theft, fraud, elder abuse and wage theft.

"In 2022, the Prosecuting Attorney's Office filed more than double the number of organized retail theft charges than it did in 2021," Manion said. "Many of those cases were filed in collaboration with the Seattle City Attorney's Office. Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison is a strong leader and has been a valuable partner in making Seattle a safer city, and I look forward to our continued collaboration." king5.com


The Pros Are Hitting Stores Even in Rural America - Shoplifting Up 80%
Colorado hardware store owner disturbed by rise "blatant" shoplifting crimes
"It's a daily occurrence. Even depending on how long you guys are here, somebody is stealing right now," said Todd Erwin, owner of Green Mountain Ace Hardware in Lakewood and Golden Ace Hardware in Golden.

Erwin, family owns the store, says his family is baffled by the rise in crime at Ace. "The biggest change is we've seen the organized part of it, so they come in on cellphones, they have getaway vehicles, they're distracting our management team and then the large ticket items, just blatantly walking out with handfuls of power tools, power equipment, chainsaws, yetis."

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says it had 25 shoplifting crimes in 2021, compared to 45 in 2022. While the number only increased by 20 instances, it marks an 80% increase in shoplifting crimes.

"I think it starts with government changing the laws so that there's bigger penalties," he said.

Currently in Colorado, shoplifting merchandise worth less than $2,000 will be considered a petty or misdemeanor theft, and anything above that is a felony. cbsnews.com


Half Moon Bay shooting: Mass killing was 'workplace violence,' authorities say
A man accused of killing seven people and injuring one more in Half Moon Bay is set to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in what authorities called an incident of "workplace violence" that amounted to the deadliest mass shooting in San Mateo County history, the sheriff and county's top prosecutor said Tuesday. sfchronicle.com


Newsom expresses frustration after multiple mass shootings in California

St. Louis County launches crime mapping system

US: 103.9M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 100.9M Recovered
Worldwide: 673.7M Cases - 6.7M Dead - 645.7M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 829

COVID's Continued Impact on the Workforce
Long Covid Is Keeping Significant Numbers of People Out of Work, Study Finds

71% of claimants with long Covid needed continuing medical treatment or were unable to work for six months or more.

Long Covid is having a significant effect on America's work force, preventing substantial numbers of people from going back to work while others continue needing medical care long after returning to their jobs, according to a new analysis of workers' compensation claims in New York State.

The study, published Tuesday by New York's largest workers' compensation insurer, found that during the first two years of the pandemic, about 71 percent of people the fund classified as experiencing long Covid either required continuing medical treatment or were unable to work for six months or more. More than a year after contracting the coronavirus, 18 percent of long Covid patients had still not returned to work, more than three-fourths of them younger than 60, the analysis found.

"Long Covid has harmed the work force," said the report, by the New York State Insurance Fund, a state agency financed by employer-paid premiums. The findings, it added, "highlight long Covid as an underappreciated yet important reason for the many unfilled jobs and declining labor participation rate in the economy, and they presage a possible reduction in productivity as employers feel the strains of an increasingly sick work force."  nytimes.com

The Post-Pandemic Work Reality
Remote Work Gives Rise to Workcations, Bleisure Travel and Hush Trips
Offering a flexible policy that allows employees to combine work and vacation may prove to be an excellent recruiting tool and a way to show employees that the company values work-life balance. Such policies could also have a positive impact on retention efforts.

Employees may be more motivated to stay with a company that extends this trust and gives them accountability to manage their work and free time. Additionally, these policies can ease the burden on employees who want to visit family members who live far away.

On the flipside, if employees are trying to work from a vacation destination, employers may worry about workers' WiFi connection, the functionality of their workstation, and their ability to concentrate when they might just want to explore their surroundings or have a margarita by the pool. Even if they are attending a business meeting, you may be concerned about their level of commitment if friends and family are tagging along. shrm.org


The next worrisome coronavirus variant could come from China - will it get detected?
Genomic surveillance is crucial for tracking the next 'variant of concern', but many countries are winding back their monitoring.

CDC: XBB.1.5 Grows in U.S. as COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Decline

COVID outbreak in China infects 80% of population
 

What 2022's union trends say about organizing in retail
Among the retail industry's roughly 15 million workers, around 749,000 - or about 5% - were represented by a union in 2022.

That's up slightly from the 740,000 workers represents by a union the year prior, yet flat from a percentage standpoint, according to new Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In food service, about 1.7% of workers were represented by a union, around 148,000 compared to 129,000 the year before.

The figures indicate that despite these small gains, the recent movement among retail and service workers sparked by Starbucks in late 2021 still has a long ways to go.

John Ahlquist, a professor at UC San Diego, said while there has been significant attention paid to organizing movements at the likes of Starbucks and Amazon, these movements have yet to scale large enough to move the needle on overall unionization.

Overall, around 273,000 more U.S. residents belonged to a union in 2022 than the year before, for a total of about 14.3 million people. That's about 10.1% of all workers. But that's a record low, down from 10.3% the year before.

Nathan Wilmers, a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management whose work focuses on earnings inequality and labor organizing, said the union membership rate has steadily declined since the 1980s. As many as 20.1% of workers were represented by a union 1983, per the oldest comparable BLS data.

"The flip side of the small decline and union density is that the absolute numbers of union members did increase with the increase in overall employment, which means that it is the case that more people paying union dues, and therefore more union capacity for future action than there was, say last year," Wilmers said. modernretail.com


Trade Show Season is Coming - Have a Code of Conduct for Your Teams?
Is Your Event Code of Conduct Up to Date?
For many organizations, 2022 marked the return to in-person meetings. But did they update their code of conduct to match the atmosphere they want at their events? Here's advice to help you ensure your code is ready to guide attendee behavior.

"At any gathering, all participants-whether they work [for the organization], they're attendees, they're leaders, or they're interns-all participants should feel safe, welcome, respected, and engaged," Berg said. "That's the basis of a code of conduct. Our behavior affects other people, and we need to recognize it and take care that we're helping everyone involved have the opportunity to be engaged."

Code Basics - Effective codes of conduct can cover both in-person and online events, and they have a few elements in common, Berg and Judish say. These are three critical code basics:

Clarify reach. A code of conduct for an event should be clear that it covers both member and nonmember attendees and applies only to official event activities

Keep it brief. A code needs to be easily understood by attendees. You want a code of conduct that's brief, that doesn't place blame, that is solutions-oriented, and that is really positive in its goal of making conferences and events welcoming and comfortable and productive for everyone involved."

Make it visible. To ensure awareness of your code of conduct, have attendees agree to the code when registering, and then draw attention to it again at the event's opening ceremony.

"Simply reminding people that there are these expectations hopefully will help avoid ever having to take action under a code of conduct," "That's the goal, right? You want to have an event code of conduct that you never have to invoke because everybody complies with it." associationsnow.com


How Does the "Silver Tsunami" Impact Security & More Importantly Retail Itself?
Help wanted signs may end up saying we'll hire anyone!

Is our aging population a time bomb? An opportunity?
Getting older, by the way, is an epidemic. About 10,000 people turn 65 each day in the United States, and by 2035, people 65 and older will outnumber those under 18 for the first time.

After climate change, "population aging is the second most important phenomenon that humanity will have to figure out a way to address in the 21st century,"

As the population ages, tens of thousands of people will find that growing old is unaffordable. Many will live in poverty and become homeless. And just as low-income people and minorities were hit hardest by the coronavirus, the same inequities will hammer the aging population.

As countries prepare for the coming decades, workforce shortages are just one of the impacts of aging populations already being felt. latimes.com


FTC Marks Identity Theft Awareness Week for 2023 on January 30-February 3
The Federal Trade Commission will mark its annual Identity Theft Awareness Week with a series of free events January 30-February 3 focused on how identity theft affects people of every community and ways to reduce your risk.

This year's events include webinars, podcasts and other activities. Participants will hear from experts from the FTC and its Identity Theft Awareness Week partners, including AARP, Consumer Action, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the IRS, the Maryland Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Find the full list of events at ftc.gov/IDTheftweek. Consumers who have experienced identity theft can report it to the FTC and get a personalized recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts. ftc.gov


Kroger Expands Its Reach To 36 States Without Opening New Stores
Kroger is delivering groceries directly to doorsteps in Oklahoma - one of a number of new markets the grocery giant is serving despite not opening a single new store.

Old Navy, Banana Republic & The Children's Place Closing Stores

Saks Fifth Avenue flagship may be home to casino

Downtown Minneapolis is losing its retailers, but why?

Australia Initiates Global Ransomware Task Force Operations

Aim Is International Cooperation in Fight Against Digital Extortion

A global ransomware task force led by Australia and comprised of 37 like-minded governments commenced operations Monday with the aim of sharing intelligence to stymie future digital extortion attacks.

The task force is an outgrowth of the U.S.-led Counter Ransomware Initiative, which last met in November at the White House (see: White House Ransomware Confab Ends With Data-Sharing Pledge).

The task force aims to foster collaboration in global law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity authorities. In addition to swapping intelligence, it will share best practices policy and legal authority frameworks.

The global initiative is hosted by the Australian Department of Home Affairs and its recently formed Cyber and Critical Technology Coordination Center. Australia in the latter half of 2022 underwent an apparent rolling wave of cyberattacks that included a ransomware-fueled data breach at telecom provider Optus and the country's largest private health insurer (see: Australian Law Firms Cooperate in Medibank Litigation). govinfosecurity.com


Ransomware Numbers:
# of Paying Victims Down 48% - Average Payment Up 58% - Total Gangs Revenue Down 40.3%

Ransomware Profits Dip as Fewer Victims Pay Extortion

As Funding From Ransoms Goes Down, Gangs Embrace Re-Extortion, Researchers Warn

Bad news for ransomware groups: Experts find that earning an extortionate crypto-locking payday is getting harder as the world fortifies against the onslaught of criminal malware.

The bad guys can blame more would-be victims getting robust defenses in place, including well-rehearsed incident response plans, which make executing a successful attack harder. Also, law enforcement agencies mobilize earlier to assist victims, and by doing so they're learning better how attackers work and where they might strike next. Such intelligence is key to deterring future attacks.

Here's one sign of the impact of such changes: While 79% of victims paid a ransom in 2019, in 2022 only 41% of victims paid, reports ransomware incident response firm Coveware. That's despite the number of successful ransomware attacks appearing to remain constant.

Another sign: Fewer funds appear to be flowing to ransomware-wielding groups and affiliates, who are predominantly based in or around Russia. Based on currently available data, "2022's total ransomware revenue fell to at least $456.8 million in 2022 from $765.6 million in 2021 - a huge drop of 40.3%," reports blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis.

Unfortunately, ransomware groups have a proven history of innovating when market conditions get tough. Coveware says attackers facing "financial strain" last quarter collectively focused more on hitting slightly larger organizations in pursuit of bigger ransom payments. So while fewer victims paid, from the third quarter to the fourth, the average ransom payment increased by 58% to $408,644, and the median payment increased by 342% to $185,972, based on thousands of cases Coveware helped investigate.

As the supply of victims willing to pay a ransom decreases, demand for these victims by ransomware groups appears to have been increasing, leading to higher operating costs and lower revenues, and apparently driving criminals to use more desperate tactics. databreachtoday.com


Former CEO Of Email Security Company Sentenced To Five Years In Prison
ROBERT BERNARDI, 68, of McLean, VA., the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia-based email security company GigaMedia Access Corporation, d/b/a GigaTrust ("GigaTrust"), was sentenced to five years in prison. BERNARDI was sentenced for orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors and lenders of millions of dollars through false and misleading misrepresentations, including fabricated bank statements and audit reports, and by impersonating a purported customer, auditor, and GigaTrust lawyer.

Robert Bernardi repeatedly lied and impersonated others in order to convince investors and lenders to fund his failing company. Rather than admit that GigaTrust was underperforming, Bernardi concocted multiple schemes to keep the company afloat, defrauding investors and lenders out of millions. Today's sentence is a just consequence of Bernardi's fraudulent actions" justice.gov


Chat Cybersecurity: AI Promises a Lot, But Can It Deliver?

Understanding your attack surface makes it easier to prioritize tech and systems

Perry, GA: Dollar General employee arrested after $80,000 in fraudulent purchases
A Perry Dollar General employee has been arrested after investigators say she made dozens of fraudulent charges at the Dollar General on Plaza Drive. According to Perry PD, 32-year-old Vanessa Brownlee, from Warner Robins, made over 150 fraudulent transactions at the store. An investigation on Monday showed that these transactions cost the store nearly $80,000 in losses. wgxa.tv


Federal Prosecutor; "We Can Hope the Third Time is the Charm & That He Finally Learns His Lesson"
EyeglassesDepot.com Operator Busted a Third Time - Pleads Guilty in Federal Court of Defrauding His Customers
VITALY BORKER, the operator of "EyeglassesDepot.com" and other online retailers of purported designer eyewear, pled guilty today to one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud customers of his websites.

"Once again, Vitaly Borker has pled guilty to crimes relating to his fraudulent operation of eyewear websites. Borker's plea today demonstrates this Office's intolerance for recidivism, and we can only hope that the third time is the charm and that Borker finally learns his lesson."

Beginning in at least June 2020, after being released from federal custody and entering a Residential Reentry Center, VITALY BORKER operated an eyewear sales and repair services website called EyeglassesDepot.com. EyeglassesDepot.com claimed, among other things, that it sold "brand new and 100% authentic designer eyeglasses and sunglasses" and that it had "thousands of pairs of glasses in stock...ready for shipping as early as TODAY." In truth, however, the eyewear sold to customers of EyeglassesDepot.com was often used or counterfeit.

In order to conceal his role in operating EyeglassesDepot.com, BORKER - who has twice previously been convicted in this District of crimes relating to his operation of eyewear websites - used the identities of other individuals in connection with the operation of EyeglassesDepot.com.

BORKER, 46, of Brooklyn, New York, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and willbe sentenced on April 21. justice.gov


There's a lot more to this story - Stay tuned as we follow it.
DOJ: Brooklyn Man Indicted for Interstate Transportation of Stolen Goods
Tony Newton, 63, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged by indictment with two counts of interstate transportation of stolen goods. Newton was charged by criminal complaint in July 2022 for transporting stolen jewelry from a store located in a shopping center in Edison, New Jersey, to Brooklyn, and is detained.

On June 1, 2022, and July 16, 2022, Newton transported stolen jewelry across state lines from Middlesex County, New Jersey, and Union County, New Jersey, respectively, to New York.

Each count of interstate transportation of stolen goods is punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine. justice.gov


Mt. Laurel, NJ: Police Looking for Chronic Costco Shoplifter
The Mount Laurel Police Department (MLPD) is asking for the public's help in identifying an individual who is suspected of shoplifting from Costco on Centerton Road over the weekend - and it's not the first time the person is accused of stealing. The incident occurred on Saturday, January 21, when the suspect (pictured) entered Costco at about 9:26AM and loaded two Dyson vacuums and eight Roomba vacuums into a shopping cart. The individual passed all points of sale without paying for the items before they were confronted by Costco's loss prevention team, but was able to make off with two Roomba vacuums. According to the MLPD, the suspect then got into a black Lincoln MKX (pictured) and left the scene. This is not the first time the individual in question is accused of stealing, as the person is a suspect in numerous other shoplifting incidents at Costcos in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. tapinto.net


Mechanicsburg, PA: Police in Cumberland County seek 2 people who crashed vehicle into firearms store, stole guns
Police in Cumberland County are looking for two people who crashed a stolen vehicle into a firearms store and took guns. The burglary happened around 5 a.m. Saturday at SPAR Firearms in the 6000 block of Carlisle Pike in Hampden Township. Police said the burglars crashed a pickup truck, which was reported stolen in Dauphin County, into the glass windows in the front of the building. Video surveillance shows the two people enter the store through the damaged wall and steal a "small number of firearms" before taking off, according to investigators. wgal.com


National City, CA: Update: Organizer in 2019 National City jewelry store robbery sentenced
The organizer in an armed robbery of a South Bay jewelry store was sentenced to 96 months in prison, United States Attorney Randy Grossman's office said in a news release Monday. Trenelle Cannon, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiracy to Interfere with Commerce by Robbery in federal court for his involvement in the robbery of the Alpha and Omega Jewelry Store in National City back in 2019. At around 12:25 p.m. on March 26, 2019, National City Police Department officials say three masked individuals went into the store located at the 1500 block of Sweetwater Road, pointed a gun at the store clerk and smashed up to six jewelry cases to grab the merchandise inside before fleeing. Cannon never entered the store, Grossman's office said, instead assisting the operation in an organizational role. This included providing instructions to those who carried out the robbery on what to do during the operation and actively attempting to sell the stolen merchandise afterwards. In his plea agreement, Cannon also admitted to providing the gun used in the robbery. Cannon is apparently a member of the O'Farrell Park Street Gang, according to officials.  fox5sandiego.com


UK: Newcastle, England: Romanian organized crime group targeted North East stores in $180,000 'phone steaming' plot
A member of an organised crime gang who targeted electronics stores in a £150,000 smash and grab "phone steaming" plot has been jailed. A group of young criminals, mainly from Romania, struck at a series of mobile phone shops across the North East, using violence and aggression to frighten workers and customers and steal valuables. Two members of the gang - Ionathan Marin and Ionathan Stefan - were dealt with in September 2021 and now justice has finally caught up with Marius Dragusano after he went on the run. Others involved fled the country and were never caught.  chroniclelive.co.uk


Tauranga, New Zealand: Sunglasses stolen in early morning burglary of Tauranga eye clinic
Around 100 pairs of sunglasses were stolen within minutes in a smash-and-grab at a Tauranga eye clinic this morning. Tauranga Eyecare by Langford Callard director and optometrist Celia Cutfield told the Bay of Plenty Times the Cameron Rd building's alarm went off at 3.20am, and security arrived seven minutes later to find the glass front door smashed.  nzherald.co.nz