Joe Guzzone promoted to Senior Regional LP Director for J Crew
Joe was previously a Regional LP Manager for the retailer and has been working for them since 2003 when he started as a Store Manager. He's held a variety of positions throughout his 14 years there, including LP Analyst and District LP Manager. Congratulations Joe!

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position

Cash management technology helps deter internal cash theft

Part 2 of 2 - Read Part 1 here

By Dave Lunn, Group Sales & Marketing Director, Tellermate

It's sad but true: Retailers worldwide lose millions of dollars in cash profits each year because of employee theft. Stealing cash is potentially the perfect crime because you've trained employees to know the ins and outs of - and inadvertently the holes in - your cash handling processes.

Although most of your staff members don't steal from you, one who does is one too many. And if this employee steals money, they likely steal merchandise, too. But let's focus on cash loss and some common ways internal thieves can make your money disappear...

Building the bank is a catch-all phrase for "building up" the amount of cash in the drawer in order to steal the excess later. This is done in a number of ways:

Shortchanging a customer. This happens when a dishonest employee rings a discounted price but charges the full amount.

Coin stacking. An employee might have a smattering of loose coins near - but not in - the register. Seven pennies=seven unaccounted-for $1 bills; Five nickels=five $5 bills, and so on. This cashier might use coins or another kind of "marker," such as paperclips, straws or even M&M's.

Printing extra receipts. This happens when a restaurant, for example, offers a daily special. Let's say it costs a customer $10. The first patron who pays in cash presents an opportunity for the employee to ring up this order, print the receipt along with numerous duplicate receipts. When subsequent customers pay with cash, they are given a receipt but the transaction is never entered into the register.

Excessive voids and no-sales. Either of these two should set off red flags. Perhaps real sales are being voided or the register is being opened - without a sale - several times during a shift.

Other methods of building the bank exist; but they all have at least one thing in common. The thief is storing but not recording cash intake in order to swipe it later.

Retail technology, in the form of an intelligent cash drawer system, can prevent building the bank and other forms of theft - and even honest cash-related mistakes.

Tellermate's LiveDrawer solution includes the hardware: an intelligent cash drawer - LiveDrawer; as well as the software - LiveDrawer Manager to help you eliminate cash loss at the source. This count-by-weight solution reconciles cash in the drawer against your point of sale (POS) system in real-time - meaning you'll get a real-time picture of the physical cash in your drawer. If a cash handling mistake occurs, or an employee pockets a $20 bill, you'll get an instant alert allowing you to pinpoint this loss.

If a cashier places cash in the register with the intent to take it later, the system flags this discrepancy as well. In fact, it records each transaction down to the cashier, transaction time and even receipt, lane and store number. Regardless of whether you are on site or remote, you know where your cash is at all times.

The entire LiveDrawer suite can be integrated with an intelligent safe and your POS - giving you full visibility of the cash in your stores at all times and from anywhere.

Even if you think your manual, legacy cash management system works fine, think again. Chances are, your employees are savvy and could very well take advantage of old-school, lax, or even a lack of cash handling procedures. Right now. After all, you wouldn't have hired them if you didn't think they were smart.

How to Use Security to Drive Sales
The Value of Your Security Story
Security professionals are seen as technical risk managers tasked with prevention instead of growth, compliance in place of strategy, and technical point solutions instead of culture change. As a result, security is seen as a cost center; at best, it's a necessary expense that needs to be minimized. That leaves most security teams undervalued, underutilized and misaligned with stakeholder vision.

If you think your job as the CISO or CSO is to be the guardian of your organization's data or infrastructure, think again - that is just the beginning.

Your job is to be the curator and custodian of the organization's security story. Your security story is the sum of all the ways your company defends assets, meets compliance and market criteria, implementing the right technologies that keep these said valuable assets safe.

The foundation of a strong security story emerges when a business can answer the following questions:

● How much revenue has our security team helped drive to close? How has the security story increased upfront sales or market access, or helped to defend annual recurring revenue (ARR)?
● How have other teams in your ecosystem worked more efficiently and more effectively with fewer security defects at source?
● Which of our stakeholders know how our security story satisfies their specific requirements and criteria?
● Can you show how each and every tooling decision aligns to either market requirement, client specification, contract commitment or insurability criteria (or all four)?

A good security story is built with input from multiple internal departments, so it is relevant for all potential stakeholders.

The security story has a major impact on sales operations. A good security story breeds trust in the supply chain, opens up new market opportunities, shortens sales cycles, increases upstream and downstream assurance, and ensures that the sales team doesn't get road blocked by concerns around how data and assets will be protected. A company could get by with a good operations story in the past - or a good marketing story, or even a good finance story - nobody today gets by without a good security story. securitymagazine.com

Organized Crime Gangs Behind 50% of Cyber Attacks
Verizon 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report: Ransomware still a Top Cybersecurity Threat
Ransomware attacks are a key cybersecurity threat for global organizations, warns Verizon's 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). Ransomware is the most common type of malware, found in 39 percent of malware-related data breaches - double that of last year's DBIR - and accounts for more than 700 incidents. What's more, Verizon's analysis show that attacks are now moving into business critical systems, which encrypt file servers or databases, inflicting more damage and commanding bigger ransom requests.

DBIR analysis also flags a shift in how social attacks, such as financial pretexting and phishing, are used. Attacks such as these, which continue to infiltrate organizations via employees, are now increasingly a departmental issue. Analysis shows that Human Resource (HR) departments across multiple verticals are now being targeted in a bid to extract employee wage and tax data, so criminals can commit tax fraud and divert tax rebates.

The human factor continues to be a key weakness: Employees are still falling victim to social attacks.

Financial pretexting targets HR: Pretexting incidents have increased over five times since the 2017 DBIR, with 170 incidents analyzed this year (compared to just 61 incidents in the 2017 DBIR).

Phishing attacks cannot be ignored: While on average 78 percent of people did not fail a phishing test last year, 4 percent of people do for any given phishing campaign.

DDoS attacks are everywhere: DDoS attacks can impact anyone and are often used as camouflage, often being started, stopped and restarted to hide other breaches in progress.

Most attackers are outsiders: One breach can have multiple attackers and we found the following: 72 percent of attacks were perpetrated by outsiders, 27 percent involved internal actors, 2 percent involved partners and 2 percent feature multiple partners. Organized crime groups still account for 50 percent of the attacks analyzed. securitymagazine.com

Companies hit by payments data breaches step up security efforts
Customer Friction Concerns Decreases 23%
Payments security is becoming a priority among companies, especially those that have been victimized by a data breach.

More than 70% of organizations that experienced payments data theft intend to increase their payments technology investments in 2018, according to the "2018 Global Payments Insight Survey: Bill Pay Services," from ACI Worldwide.

According to the study, one in five organizations has experienced payments data theft over the past 12 months, and 36% of organizations across all industries believe they are at a greater risk of data breach than a year ago. Meanwhile, 44% agreed with the view that: "My company would not invest in fraud solutions that add friction to the customer experience." This sentiment is down from 57% a year ago.

The good news is that more than 80% of organizations that have been impacted by a data breach have introduced a new security framework, especially those related to protecting digital payments. For example, 79% of companies have reduced employee access to customer data.

Another way that companies are fighting back is with real-time payments. In fact, 80% of organizations believe real-time payments will bring cost savings, a jump from 48% the prior year. Meanwhile, 77% believe that real-time will bring improvements in their customer service.

Seventy two percent of respondents expect to move more of their organizations' payment software into the cloud in the future, an increase of nearly 20% from last year. This reinforces a strong uplift in the popularity of cloud.

Mobile-optimized electronic bills are the biggest current development area, with just under half (49%) of all organizations currently adding new capabilities. Payments from a mobile-optimized website (46%) and text message (42%) are also popular payment methods in development.

Nearly 30% of organizations are developing voice payment features for consumers to trigger payments, with a further 19% are interested in exploring this area in the future, according to the study.

"Security has clearly become a focus for organizations as it relates to billing and payments, and with good reason," said Steve Kramer, VP, ACI Worldwide.

"The potential reputational and financial costs that could be incurred because of a breach are a major concern," he added. "Organizations must protect themselves with advanced technologies, such as point-to-point encryption, tokenization and a private cloud." chainstoreage.com

Unpatched Vulnerabilities the Source of Most Data Breaches
Nearly 60% of organizations that suffered a data breach in the past two years cite as the culprit a known vulnerability for which they had not yet patched.

Half of organizations in a new Ponemon Institute study conducted on behalf of ServiceNow say they were hit with one or more data breaches in the past two years, and 34% say they knew their systems were vulnerable prior to the attack. The study surveyed nearly 3,000 IT professionals worldwide on their patching practices.

Patching software security flaws by now should seem like a no-brainer for organizations, yet most organizations still struggle to keep up with and manage the process of applying software updates. "Detecting and prioritizing and getting vulnerabilities solved seems to be the most significant thing an organization can do [to prevent] getting breached," says Piero DePaoli, senior director of marketing at ServiceNow, of the report. darkreading.com

Ransomware Up for Businesses, Down for Consumers in Q1
Ransomware, spyware, and cryptomining were the biggest enterprise threats during an otherwise quiet quarter for malware, researchers report.

Cybercriminals go where the money is, and these days the money is in cryptomining. Researchers detected a 28% increase in cryptomining malware among enterprise victims in the first quarter of 2018, during which "virtually all other malware was on the decline."

The data comes from Malwarebytes' Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques: Q1 2018 report, which pulls intel and statistics from consumer and business products between January and March 2018. Cryptomining, ransomware, and spyware were the biggest threats to business targets.

Ransomware dropped 35% among consumers but continued to be a problem for businesses, where detections are up but overall attack volume remains low. "It seems like there's been more and more activity pushing ransomware to businesses, where I believe the return on investment is worth it," says Kujawa.

Attacks on businesses, that's where the money really comes from," he says. "Businesses don't have the option to say, 'I can go without those pictures.' They have to protect customer data."

"Ransomware won't return to its former glory," Kujawa predicts. "But I don't think it's ever going to vanish completely." darkreading.com

More than one in 10 employees fall for social engineering attacks

How to Make Text Easier to Read on Your Computer

As laptops get smaller and lighter you may find that text is becoming harder to read. Here are two quick keyboard shortcuts to zoom in. To adjust the size of a web page simply do this on your keyboard: press CTRL and the + or - key to zoom in or out (on PC's), or COMMAND and the + or - key (on the Mac).

Miss an episode? Catch all our "Live in NYC" 2018 videos here.

Get involved in our next broadcast in June at NRF Protect in Dallas. Contact us!

Can Amazon and its marketplace rivals fix their fake stuff problem?
A Comprehensive Analysis of the Marketplaces Counterfeit Fight
Counterfeiting could soon be a $1 trillion criminal enterprise. As fakes proliferate online, the government is taking notice and brands are taking their arguments public - and to court.

Counterfeits are a booming business. Trade in pirated and counterfeited intellectual property accounted for $461 billion in 2013, or about 2.5% of all trade, according to the International Trademark Association. By 2020, the figure could reach nearly $1 trillion, the association said. (For comparison, the entire global apparel industry is currently worth about $3 trillion in sales, according to FashionUnited Group.) retaildive.com

Alibaba Invests in Chinese Facial-Recognition Startup
It underscores the e-commerce company's move into businesses that use artificial intelligence.

Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba is leading a $600 million funding round in SenseTime Group Ltd., which makes surveillance systems using facial recognition for law enforcement and commercial applications.

Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services Group has developed a mobile-payment system based on facial recognition, and Alibaba is also using AI to develop so-called smart cities where technology is used to dispatch police, speed traffic flow and regulate other public services. wsj.com

Worried About Online Scammers? Robots Can Help
Shopping online at North Face is one thing, though, but trolling Craigslist for deals is another. Classified sites face unique challenges that other e-Commerce sites don't, and AI just doesn't work the same on one as it does on the other. A company selling its own products controls an item's metadata from the beginning.

Classifieds, on the other hand, rely on unstructured, user-generated input. An AI algorithm looking to understand classifieds listings must be able to understand the natural language of users (read: full sentences, not preset tags) or identify and categorize items based on pictures alone. As classifieds platforms don't have much control over who posts, AI must also filter out spam listings jam-packed with keywords put up by shady sellers. It's a big task for any algorithm to take on, no matter how well-trained it is.

When it comes to shifty or fraudulent users, AI will be able to use the full extent of data that classifieds apps and sites have in order to study user behavior, not just the end result (the listing or article). To detect fraud, for instance, our company uses machine learning to study the way "good" users behave on our platform, from the start of the listing process all the way to the final listing, and detect anomalies that might indicate a user is "bad." This is in contrast to the way many apps and sites are currently using large teams of offline content moderators to recategorize incorrect listings, remove duplicates and remove spam. retailtouchpoints.com

Monroe, WA: Police arrest pawn shop owner over purchases of stolen goods Hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise seized
Monroe Police estimate pawn shop owner Samvel Grigoryan took hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen goods, and he remains under investigation for first-degree attempted trafficking of stolen property, however, charges have not yet been filed.

Law enforcement raided NW Gold Buyers and found thousands of dollars worth of new tools, bottles and bottles of dietary supplements, gift cards, allergy medicines, pregnancy tests and hair loss treatments, according to the warrant.

A large cardboard box containing Allegra was valued at nearly $6,000 by itself. There were dozens more to be filled. The evidence is valued at around $70,000, and investigators believe Grigoryan took in thousands more in stolen merchandise during the two-year investigation. monroemonitor.com

Three apprehended in connection with Coventry Mall thefts; hitting nearly a dozen stores
Three women were taken into custody Saturday night at the Coventry Mall after police received information about a theft in progress. Authorities were responding to an alert for a vehicle with Virginia plates whose occupants reportedly stole thousands of dollars worth of goods from the Limerick Outlets. Five people were stopped by police while allegedly trying to flee. The three women were apprehended, and two others - a man and a woman - were questioned by police, then allowed to go on their way. Police said at least three "Booster Bags" were used by the trio to bypass security devices in the stores. A witness at the scene observed merchandise from approximately a dozen stores. pottsmerc.com



Moline, IL: Two suspects wanted after allegedly stealing $3,500 worth of merchandise from Moline Walmart
Two people are wanted out of Moline after officials say they stole over $3,500 worth of merchandise from a Walmart in Moline. On Saturday, February 10, three suspects entered the Walmart and left through an emergency exit with 3-4 stolen duffle bags full of electronics. kwqc.com




Champaign, IL: Wanted: Info on four women behind Kohl's theft
Champaign County Crime Stoppers is asking for the public's help finding the women responsible for stealing several thousand dollars worth of merchandise from a Champaign store. At about 9 p.m. March 29, four women entered Kohl's on Convenience Center Road, stole the items then left in what was believed to be a white, late model Ford sport utility vehicle. news-gazette.com


Upland, CA: 2 arrested on suspicion of stealing car and $1,500 of Walmart merchandise
A traffic stop by Claremont Police officers resulted in recovery of a vehicle that Riverside Police had reported stolen - plus merchandise including pet flea and tick treatments, memory cards and video games and controllers that a Walmart in Upland said had recently been stolen from the store. Both men had several prior convictions for theft-related crimes and two outstanding warrants. dailybulletin.com

Fort Lauderdale, FL: Man arrested for Orchestrating "Top-Shelf" Liquor thefts throughout Broward and Palm Beach counties; over $1,000
Curtis Plummer Jr., 39, was arrested Thursday on charges of organized fraud and aggravated grand retail theft. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said, Plummer stole more than $1,000 worth of liquor from various stores since January, including two thefts from the Total Wine in Wellington. In each of the thefts, the same man entered the store and walked out without paying for the booze. The man was accompanied by a different accomplice each time. local10.com

Logan, UT: Police seeking 2 suspects in multiple store thefts; over $1,000
Authorities said two people are accused of stealing $1,000 of merchandise from at least two stores in the Logan area. Police a third person may have been with the pair during the alleged theft. fox13now.com

UK: Dewsbury, England: Alcoholic used foil-lined bag to steal bottles of vodka from Asda; 68 prior charges

Shootings, Stabbings & Deaths

Albuquerque, NM: Arrest made in stabbing death inside Albertsons
An arrest has been made in connection with the fatal stabbing of a man at a South Valley grocery store on Saturday. Lucas Herron, 27, is charged with murder and tampering with evidence after deputies say he stabbed 48-year-old Daniel Sandoval to death during an altercation at the Albertsons at Rio Bravo and Isleta SW. The stabbing happened around 3 p.m. after Herron thought Sandoval was challenging him to a fight in the parking lot. Herron then allegedly waited for Sandoval inside the grocery store with a concealed knife. Herron confronted Sandoval when he entered the grocery store, and a fight broke out. During the fight, Herron allegedly pulled out the knife and stabbed Sandoval once in the chest before fleeing. abqjournal.com

National City, CA: Man shot and killed outside 7-Eleven, 2nd killing at that location
in 2 weeks
A man was killed in an early-morning shooting outside a 7-Eleven in National City on Sunday. At 4:52 a.m., 911 calls began coming in reporting the sound of gunshots. Officers headed to the scene and found a 55-year-old man with a gunshot wound. Paramedics took the man to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he later died. It's the second killing outside the same 7-Eleven in two weeks. On March 27, a body was found near the store after gunfire was reported in the area. cbs8.com

Robberies & Thefts

Lawyer suspended for stealing from her employer while working retail at Kohl's
A Florida lawyer has been suspended by the state Supreme Court until further order for stealing $760 while working as a Kohl's employee. The suspension of Jacqueline Kinsella, a 2014 graduate of Barry University law school who lives in Central Florida, was announced in the latest Florida Bar discipline report and began March 17. Kinsella pleaded no contest to petit theft and received a year's probation. miamiherald.com

Monroe, LA: JCPenney employee accused of stealing nearly $3K
An employee at JCPenney has been arrested after being accused of stealing nearly $3,000 in fraudulent transactions. Decarius Franklin, 20 of Monroe, was arrested Sunday. Monroe Police Officers responded to JCPenney at Pecanland Mall making contact with JC Penney Loss Prevention who said DeCarius Franklin, an employee at JCPenny, made 38 fraudulent transactions and received more than $2,968.00 in returned cash. Officers said Franklin admitted to the theft. myarklamiss.com

Fairfax, DE: Delaware State Police seek assistance in locating $2,300 Panera Bread embezzler
A Delaware State Police investigation has discovered that a Panera Bread employee from the Concord Pike restaurant in Fairfax has allegedly embezzled over $2,300. Yasser Wolf , 36, has been stealing from the location's register and conducted over 150 fraudulent refund transactions between October of 2017 and January of 2018, said state police. wdel.com

Champaign, IL: 53% spike in Property crime prompts for designated Police unit
In 2016, 2,981 property crimes were reported in Champaign, which increased by 53 percent from the previous year, according to the Champaign Police Department. In Illinois, 262,306 property crimes were reported in 2016, according to the Disaster Center, and 7,919,035 property crimes were reported in the U.S., according to the FBI. Both the Disaster Center and the FBI have not released the statistics for 2017. dailyillini.com

Star Valley, UT: Man wanted in pharmacy break-in arrested after crime spree in Utah; shooting out windows of an area High School

Las Vegas, NV: Police search for suspect in Metro PCS store robbery

Johnson County, MO: Man charged with hiding cellphone, taking photos in Forever 21 at Oak Park Mall

Skimming Thefts

Harvey, LA: Cuban skimming trio admits to credit card skimming scheme
Prosecutors in Louisiana say three Cuban nationals have admitted that they agreed together and with others to obtain credit and debit card numbers that had been skimmed from gas pumps. NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports the men, who had been residing in Texas before their arrest, traveled to locations in Louisiana, where skimmers were previously installed and returned to Texas. They would then return to Louisiana with counterfeit access devices, which they used to make purchases as a local merchant. tribtown.com

Punta Gorda, FL: 2 juveniles arrested as part of $40,000 credit card skimming ring

Tampa, FL: Police arrest man in major skimming operation

Madison, WI: Florida Man Sentenced to 9 Years for Fraud Scheme Involving Gas Pump Skimmers

Washington County, IL: Two KY men arrested for placing skimmer on gas pump

Dallas, TX: Man seen installing ATM device to steal card information at gas station

Davie, FL: Gas station clerk spots men putting skimmer on pump

Lafayette, LA: Two men arrested for skimming credit card info

Perry, IA: Card-skimmers target Perry gas stations

Sentencings & Charges

(Update) Ontario, CA: Sam's Club explosion suspect formally charged with attempted murder, arson
Prosecutors on Monday formally charged a man with eight criminal counts days after he allegedly detonated two small explosive devices inside a Sam's Club in Ontario. Hugo Gonzalez, a 49-year-old Fontana resident, faces three counts of attempted murder, one count of arson, two counts of exploding a device, one count of attempted burglary, and one count of evading police. abc7.com

Portland, OR: Man sentenced to four months in prison for Nike counterfeits

New Haven Man Sentenced to 77 Months in Prison for Role in Armed Robbery of Video Game Store

Moline, IL: Man accused of using fake credit cards receives 30-month sentence

Greenwich, CT: Man sentenced to 14 years for Cosi Restaurant Armed Robbery

Philadelphia, PA: Man Charged With Passing Counterfeit Currency

Submit Your New Hires/Promotions or New Position

Featured Job Spotlights

 

Featured Jobs

To apply to any of today's Featured Jobs, Click Here

Sponsor Today's Internet Jobs 

Great Leaders Relieve Stress with Laughter, Practice Patience, Let You Shine
 

4 Habits of Ultra-Likable Leaders That Are Hard to Find
Leadership is a journey. When you think you've reached your peak, there's always something else to learn or do to make you even better. Here are some lessons every great leader has learned to help them become even better. Slow to anger

Three Things the Best Bosses Do That Keep Employees Engaged
What motivates people to work? While the answers are quite endless, the most important sources of workplace motivation are autonomy, purpose and mastery. Here's how bosses can use these three aspects to boost performance and engagement. Help them get good at their job

13 Inspiring Traits of Exceptional Leaders
If you've ever worked with a truly remarkable leader during your career, you understand the kind of impact they can have on your growth and motivation to really work hard. Truly exceptional leaders share certain qualities that set them apart. Find opportunities to let you gain visibility

How Great Leaders Use Humor to Create Emotionally Safe, Fun Cultures
Nothing relieves stress faster than laughter. Through leveraging humor, leaders can create a safe, trust-based work environment, where employees can feel at ease, remain productive and teams can be brought together. Here's how you can implement a humor strategy in your workplace. CELEBRATE

Submit Your Group LP Selfie Today!

Being engaged in the business of your retailer is a critical element for every Loss Prevention executive. For decades, our industry has often been accused of being silo'ed and separate from the operators and the merchants. This separateness in many cases ultimately leads to a disconnect, a sense that we aren't part of the team. Which in actuality, regardless of your performance, it can lead to your job being eliminated or just you being replaced with someone new. So the real question is: How do you become engaged in the business and truly add value to the company's success beyond reducing shrink? And then having the courage to go make it happen. We all tend to stay in our comfort zones and remain safe. At least that's what we think. But at the end of the day, it's that comfort zone that can actually increase your risk. So the next time you're in a corporate meeting or traveling stores with your operators or merchants, go beyond with your comments and opinions - take a risk - add some value - help them run the business - you might be surprised.

Just a Thought,
Gus

Not getting the Daily? Is it ending up in your spam folder?
Please make sure to add d-ddaily@downing-downing.com to your contact list, address book, trusted sender list, and/or company whitelist to ensure you receive our newsletter. 
Want to know how? Read Here