Theft, Cybersecurity & Store Safety Hot Topics at NRF PROTECT 2023
NRF Protect helps fashion retailers tackle cybersecurity

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is bringing the retail industry together to discuss loss prevention, asset protection, digital fraud and cybersecurity.

NRF Protect, which is taking place at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Texas and is aimed at tackling cybersecurity threats. The three-day event addresses retailers' concerns over protecting inventory from shoplifters, data from website hacks, and customers and employees from harm.

The speakers include industry experts from fashion and retail backgrounds with an array of sessions, including a keynote session with Walmart US president and CEO John Furner.

NRF explains: "You'll connect with brands that are facing the same challenges as you and learn vital insights on how to meet those challenges, so you can stay a step ahead of any threat. NRF Protect gives you a unique perspective because we are the only conference that brings together retail professionals from the loss prevention, asset protection, cybersecurity and digital fraud communities."

NRF Protect attendees on last year's event

James Cosseboom, LPC, director, asset protection, retail business services, an Ahold Delhaize USA company shares: "NRF Protect is an opportunity to hear from and network with colleagues from across a variety of retail verticals. Whether or not those retailers are in the same vertical as my company, many of the challenges are the same so I am able to always take away thoughts or ideas that I can apply to my company."

Megan Curtis, executive director of global asset protection and safety at Walt Disney Company adds: "Participation in the NRF's Protect conference provides retail risk and asset protection professionals with the opportunity to network, benchmark and learn from industry peers and leaders, as well as established, and/or build upon law enforcement Fusion Center partnerships. NRF Protect's Expo floor showcases third-party vendor engagement opportunities essential to supporting the ever-changing retail risk landscape."

NRF points out the event is also a platform for professionals to unite, share ideas and advance the future of retail security.

The complete agenda of NRF Protect (5-7 June) can be accessed here. just-style.com


Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls unveils new AM sheet labels at NRF PROTECT 2023, offering enhanced merchandise protection for metal products

• New AM metal sheet labels designed to help safeguard high-risk products like baby formula and paint cans, can help retailers mitigate shrink while reducing friction for shoppers

• An expansion of the magnetic InFuzion hard tag family and a magnetic, 2-tone alarming boot wrap tag are also on display at NRF Protect 2023

NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland-June 5, 2023-Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, recently introduced a new acousto-magnetic (AM) metal label designed to protect high-risk products like cookware, canned foods, power tools, and more. The new labels will be on display at NRF PROTECT 2023, booth 409, alongside an expanded portfolio of other merchandise protection options.

"With shrink growing, securing high-risk and hard-to-protect products without impacting customer experiences will be key to ongoing success," said Craig Szklany, vice president and product general manager for loss prevention and liability at Sensormatic Solutions. "Our new AM metal sheet label will help retailers safeguard previously vulnerable items with more precision while eliminating the friction that comes with locked cases and other physical barriers."

Read more here


In Case You Missed It
ADT Commercial unveils new Everon customer engagement platform
at NRF PROTECT

ADT Commercial rebrands eSuite customer engagement experience to Everon, with new, action-driven dashboards that bring critical activity to the forefront

ADT Commercial, a leading security integrator and premier provider of commercial security, fire, life safety, and guarding services in the U.S., today launched the redesign, rebrand and user experience transformation of its customer engagement platform to Everon (formerly eSuite).

The development of the modernized Everon platform was driven by years of direct customer feedback to provide a more intuitive, user-friendly experience that boasts a host of new features, system efficiencies, mobile responsiveness and supportive, self-service functions.

Read more in the Vendor Spotlight column below
 

The Great Debate Over How Retail Associates Should Deal With Thieves

New Legislation to Ban Retail Staff from Stopping Thieves
Store bosses call it an 'open invitation for thieves to come in and steal'

Bill to Stop Employees Confronting Shoplifters Passed by California Senate
Lawmakers in California are hoping to push through controversial legislation that would ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores.

Senate Bill 553, which was submitted by Senator Dave Cortese, has been passed by the State Senate and will now progress to policy committees in the State Assembly. Cortese hopes the proposed law will prevent workplace violence and protect staff from being forced by their employers to step-in during robberies. But some store bosses are furious about the plans, with the California Retailers Association mocking the move as an open invitation for thieves "to come in and steal."

The political wrangling in California comes just weeks after Home Depot security guard Blake Mohs, 26, was shot to death during an attempted robbery in Pleasanton, California. Other cities in the state are also facing their own problems as they attempt to deal with lawlessness.

San Francisco has been gripped by a crimewave that has seen Whole Foods close its downtown location after just a year of business, with bosses saying they were unable to "ensure the safety" of their staff in the city. Nordstrom followed suit by leaving the city this month, but many smaller businesses have had no choice but to remain, despite attacks on their premises.

The proposed new laws come as stores have blamed shoplifting for hitting their businesses, with Target issuing a statement in November blaming "organized retail crime" for an eye-watering $400 million loss in its profits in 2022.

The California bill, if enacted in law, would require employers to provide active-shooter training to workers, keep a log of any violent incidents, and allow companies to apply for workplace violence restraining orders.

But Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association, told Fox 2/KTVU: "This bill goes way too far, number one, where I think it will open the doors even wider for people to come in and steal from our stores." newsweek.com


Firing Employees Who Intervene During Shoplifting Incidents
Lululemon CEO stands by decision to sack staff for chasing thieves out of a store-and would do it again in the name of safety: 'It's only merchandise'

Two staff members at Lululemon were fired for intervening during a shoplifting incident-with the company's CEO standing firm on the controversial policy.

Last week staffers at the Peachtree Corners Lululemon near Atlanta had their employment terminated for confronting three masked robbers and video-recording the incident. The two women, Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers, told news outlets they were aware of the policy and had been let go without severance.

Despite outrage online from fans and critics of the brand alike-who suggested the staffers should have been given a warning instead of losing their jobs-Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald has doubled down on the policy.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy that we train our educators on around engaging during a theft," McDonald said. "Educators" are what Lululemon calls its store workers.

"Why? Because we put the safety of our team and of our guests front and center. It's only merchandise at the end; they're trained to step back, let the theft occur, know that there's technology and cameras and we're working with law enforcement.

"Unfortunately, in this situation the educators knowingly broke the policy, engaged with the thieves across multiple points-including following them out of the store-so post investigation and the zero-tolerance policy, which is well known, that was what resulted in the termination."

"We train them to step back. It's about their safety, and we take that policy seriously because we've had instances-and we've seen in other retailers instances-where employees step in and are hurt or worse, killed."

"The policy is to protect [staff and customers], but we have to stand behind the policy to enforce it, and that was unfortunately the situation in this store," McDonald added. fortune.com


Retail Workers 'Scared to Go to Work' Amid Violence Surge
National news outlets putting the spotlight on retail workers grappling with violence

'Organized Retail Crime Is Definitely a Thing'

Shop clerks should not have to develop elite crime-fighting skills.

Shoplifting is of course a vicious and destructive crime against the owners of retail stores. But perhaps not enough attention has been paid to the toll it takes on retail workers who must try to perform their demanding jobs in cities where politicians have decided to tolerate such lawlessness.

MarketWatch columnist James Rogers writes:

Half of retail and grocery workers witnessed a theft or attempted theft in their stores from October 2022 through mid-April 2023, according to research from learning provider Axonify...

Retail and grocery associates are also seeing "a notable increase" in hostile and violent situations... Over 20% of the respondents to Axonify's survey don't feel prepared to handle situations involving theft and 40% said they feel scared to go to work. Over a quarter of the workers surveyed said they have ignored a theft or attempted theft.

Some news consumers might have laughed to keep from crying about the San Francisco shoplifter who displayed so little fear of punishment that in 2021 he felt comfortable giving a television interview about how easy it was to steal from one of the city's grocery stores. The appalling failures of local officials that enable such lawlessness put everyone at risk and can put clerks into nearly impossible situations.

UBS analyst Mark Carden raised the issue with BJ's Wholesale CEO Bob Eddy on the company's recent earnings call. Here's an excerpt:

Mr. Eddy: ... let me start by saying organized retail crime is definitely a thing, and we see it in our business. As I talk to my counterparts across the retail industry, they are definitely seeing it in their businesses. ... It is a much more pointed problem in certain places, particularly on the West Coast or places like Chicago or Albuquerque that have blue state or local blue governments that don't really feel like prosecuting crime.

Let's hope that politicians in every market prioritize public safety so that workers in retail and every other industry don't have to fear the simple and virtuous act of going to work. wsj.com


San Francisco is 'Worse Than Afghanistan'
Immigrant store owner begs city for help amid theft epidemic

"At least in Afghanistan the Taliban will cut your hand off and people are afraid to commit such a crime."

A San Francisco store owner who immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan recently claimed that crime in the city is worse than in Afghanistan after violent criminals robbed his tobacco shop, stealing more than $100,000 in merchandise.

The Afghan immigrant slammed San Francisco's progressive policies that prevent criminals from being held accountable. "They know the police won't do anything," Zaid explained, revealing that the robbers were inside his store for 20 minutes before police were able to respond.

Police told Zaid that the long-response time was due to the department's staffing crisis, the outlet reports. "We have drugs issue, we have homeless issue, and on top of this these idiots come in here and take whatever they want," Zaid said, who opened his store in 2003 after immigrating to the US from Afghanistan in 1987.

According to Zaid, the city is seeing a mass exodus of both people and businesses due to its increased criminal nature. Zaid says he might soon be the next owner to close up shop.

Zaid closing down his tobacco shop would add to the growing list of businesses in San Francisco that have decided to permanently shutter their doors due to the city's vast increase in crime, rampant retail theft, open-air drug use, violent attacks carried out by homeless vagrants, and loss of foot traffic.

In recent months, Nordstrom, Whole Foods, T-Mobile, Walgreens, Saks OFF 5th, and Old Navy all have announced their departures from the once-beloved city.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has publicly claimed that the mass exodus of businesses in the city is not due to the increase in crime, but rather the changing directory between retailers and consumers.  thepostmillennial.com


Retailers Get Creative in the Battle Against ORC
Organized retail theft pushing stores to creative safety measures
Retailers have lost billions -- with shoplifting and organized retail largely to blame. Some businesses are redesigning their stores to reduce crime and help save their bottom line.

According to CWB Chicago, Walgreens there only has two aisles of touchable merchandise, with things like snacks. For everything else, customers have to plan an order at a digital kiosk or on the app and pick it up at a counter.

The Washington Post reported Giant Food has hired security guards, limited self-checkout to 20 things, and is also securing certain items in their grocery stores.

In San Francisco, the city's largest Whole Foods, a Nordstrom, and Old Navy's flagship store have all closed.

"Well, unfortunately, these types of situations where stores are either locking up most of their merchandise or just leaving communities altogether is not uncommon," said Zack Smith, who is a legal fellow and manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Heritage Foundation's Meese Center."

Smith said laws critics call soft-on-crime are to blame.

"And so if the people who physically go into the stores and steal the merchandise feel like there aren't going to be consequences for their actions, or the consequences are only going to be relatively minor for them, then at that point, the reward outweighs any potential risks they may face," he said. "It makes it much easier for these large retail rings to recruit people to be part of their organization."

In 2021, retailers lost $94.5 billion to shoplifting. That's up from $90.8 billion in 2020, according to the National Retail Federation's 2022 National Retail Security Survey.

"Nobody is in favor of throwing every shoplifter in jail but we definitely are in favor of breaking up rings and making it clear that if you participate in these rings you're gonna be prosecuted," Stephanie Martz, the NRF's chief administrative officer and general counsel, said. "If you're getting to the point where it is literally unprofitable to have a store open, there's only so long you can justify keeping that store open."

On June 27, online markets must be in compliance with the INFORM Consumers Act. The new law requires more transparency from high-volume, third-party sellers online. Retailers hope it will help with the fight to stop organized retail crime. wwmt.com


'It is OK to Steal in Colorado'
Opinion: Why are we making it easier for shoplifters?
Public and private interests in the Centennial State want people to know that "It is OK to steal in Colorado," writes George Brauchler, a prosecutor there. Theft there remains a low- or no-bond charge and is always probation-eligible no matter the size of the theft.

Employers are not helping the problem when they adopt policies letting shoplifters walk out the door with their loot without involving any store security. A Kroger store in Colorado fired several employees for trying to stop thieves. Those employees apparently tarnished the store's image of always providing positive customer service.

I know of a grocery store here in Utah where a shoplifter is regularly allowed to steal from the store. One day when the warm wrapped food item he was looking for was not available at the hot bar, he made a big fuss about employees not doing their job.

Is this really the best we can do to prevent criminal behavior in the Mountain West?  news.yahoo.com


Cargo Theft Up 41%
Cargo theft becoming major problem
Cargo theft and fraud is soaring. Theft prevention firm CargoNet says theft was up 41% in the first 20 weeks of 2023 compared with last year. One type of scam that has become especially popular with criminals is known as shipment misdirection. Fictitious pickup crimes are also soaring. Fictitious pickup groups have shown a preference for shipments of soda and energy drinks, alcoholic beverages, solar panels, and vehicle accessories.  newsbreak.com


Has violent crime increased in Minnesota in recent years?
After declining in 2018 and 2019, violent crime in Minnesota increased 17.2% in 2020 and 21.6% in 2021, according to Minnesota Department of Public Safety's 2021 statewide crime report.

Akron, OH: Mayor calls on community partners to help city reduce violent crimes by young people

(Updated) A Partial List of U.S. Mass Shootings in 2023

Worker Safety Front & Center as Boycotts Pick Up Steam
Target, Bud Light boycotts working due to social media, culture war

Target is the latest company swept up in a growing wave of boycotts

The confrontations - which stemmed from an online backlash led by right-wing commentators who made false claims about certain Target Pride merchandise - prompted Target to start pulling some of the products from its shelves and disassembling prominent Pride displays at some stores.

If it feels like these types of boycotts and online firestorms are gaining steam, that's because they are. Experts say it's due to a combination of the culture wars and panic-stoking media coverage that forces brands to either back down or face a firestorm.

Protests spark fears for worker safety

Glickman described the current situation as "kind of a perfect storm." The rhetoric around the boycott of Bud Light and protests against Target have been hostile to the point of threatening, with both companies citing fears for employee safety as a serious concern.

Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch said that several of its facilities had received threats following the weeks of backlash against its brands.

Target CEO Brian Cornell wrote in a letter to employees last week that call-center workers were getting "high volumes of angry, abusive and threatening calls" and that store employees had been confronted in the aisles. The decision to pull the merchandise, he wrote, was in an effort to alleviate the threats to employees' physical and psychological safety.

And this comes at a time when retail workers were already facing unprecedented levels of violence. Restaurant and store workers were on the front lines of the battle over pandemic mask mandates, forced to act as enforcers and bouncers in the face of angry and sometimes violent customers.

More recently, a surge in organized retail crime - where professional shoplifters steal large quantities of inventory to resell for cash - has put store workers at risk of physical violence and even death on the job. businessinsider.com


RFID's Retail Expansion Continues
This retailer is using RFID tags to make in-person clothes shopping less frustrating
Fashion retailer River Island's CIO Adam Warne has implemented a range of digital solutions -- incorporating radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, sensors, video screens, and data analytics -- to help clothes buyers overcome the challenges they encounter.

"If you've ever been in a fitting room and something doesn't fit right, it can be frustrating," he says. "The whole initiative started with, 'How we are going to improve life for the customer?'"

River Island -- which has 250 stores in the U.K. and a range of franchises, partners, and concessions in locations around the globe, including North America, Europe, and the Middle East -- uses RFID tags to give each product a unique reference number that can be recognized in smart fitting rooms, which include screens to help customers as they shop.

"Because we're RFID-tagged, you can take four or five items into a fitting room, you hang them on the hook, and a screen pops up and it tells you exactly what you've taken into the fitting room," says Warne.

"And then if you want a different size, you can press the screen and somebody will bring you a different size. So, it's effectively a customer-enhancing experience that saves some hassle."

Once items are scanned, customers gain access to the same product information they'd get online, such as information on size, color, and material.

The data-led initiative is powered by Snowflake's Retail Data Cloud, which allows retailers like River Island to tie together a variety of data sources into a single repository, supporting enterprise-wide efforts to turn information into insight. zdnet.com


Kroger's Payroll Mistakes Trigger Backlash & Lawsuits
Kroger paid employee bonuses in March, asked for money back in April

"It feels like a slap in the face," said a Kroger employee.

Kroger employees complained for months about payroll mistakes that made their checks too small. But it turns out it's also a problem if your bonus check is too large - and the company demands a refund bigger than the bonus and overpayment combined.

Kroger provided a statement about the bonus problems: "Kroger's values include honesty and integrity, which means when we make a mistake, we acknowledge it and act quickly to resolve the issue. Several months ago, a small percentage of local associates were paid more than their earned incentive. This was due to a clerical mistake. We immediately identified the error, notified and provided the affected associates with options to return the mistaken overpayments in a way that respects both their personal financial situation and integrity."

The bonus problem follows a series of payroll mistakes that led to hundreds of union grievances and four lawsuits filed on behalf of Kroger employees in five states. The lawsuits alleged the company's new payroll system, known as MyTime, caused late or missing paychecks and mistakes in hours worked, wages paid and statements of deductions and withholdings. 10news.com


Nordstrom Responds to Patagonia Counterfeit Lawsuit
(Update) Patagonia accuses Nordstrom of selling counterfeit items at the Rack
A Nordstrom spokesperson said Monday that the retailer is aware of the lawsuit and reviewing the matter. The Puget Sound Business Journal was first to report the lawsuit.

Nordstrom was an authorized retailer of Ventura, Calif.-based Patagonia for several years, but recently Patagonia decided not to renew the agreement, according to the lawsuit. Patagonia did not respond to inquiries about when or why it decided not to renew the agreement. Nordstrom continued selling the clothes already in stock.

Nordstrom "began selling counterfeit Patagonia products at Nordstrom Rack stores shortly after the end of the yearslong dealer relationship between Patagonia and Nordstrom," according to the suit. seattletimes.com


NRF Calls on the Biden Administration to Intervene with West Coast Port Labor Negotiations
"The United States ports, particularly those on the West Coast, play a critical role in the vitality of the American economy. Thousands of retailers and other businesses depend on smooth and efficient operations at the ports to deliver goods to consumers every day.

"As we enter the peak shipping season for the holidays, these additional disruptions will force retailers and other important shipping partners to continue to shift cargo away from the West Coast ports until a new labor contract is established. It is imperative that the parties return to the negotiating table. We urge the administration to mediate to ensure the parties quickly finalize a new contract without additional disruptions." nrf.com

   RELATED: Labor issues affect West Coast port operations


Five Below scoops up 16 Tuesday Morning leases

Bed Bath & Beyond in talks to sell Buybuy Baby to Go Global Retail

A 2023 recession appears unlikely to happen

Gathering Cybersecurity Threat Intel on Social Media
Don't Overlook Twitter's Trove of Threat Intel for Enterprise Cybersecurity

Social media data can provide critical clues to help get ahead of the next cyberattack, experts say.

Tagged, organized, and free for anyone who wants it, social media posts and data are an underused threat intelligence resource for many enterprise cybersecurity teams.

Just as cybercriminals have found social media platforms useful for gathering information on targets and launching attacks, network defenders should likewise be looking at Twitter and other similar public-facing social media data sources, so called open source intelligence (OSINT), to help inform cyber defenses, according to experts.

"Social media and other digital platforms are invaluable resources for gathering intelligence on external cyber threats, because it is often one of the earliest indicators of trouble brewing," AJ Nash, vice president of Intelligence at ZeroFox, explains to Dark Reading. "Waiting until a threat materializes to the point where it sets off an alert in your SOC might mean it's too late to stop it - a truly proactive security posture includes leveraging data from digital platforms to stay ahead of these threats."

Igal Iytzki with Perception Point himself uses Twitter and Reddit to share threat intelligence and advises cybersecurity teams to utilize social media as part of their overall strategy.

Gathering Social Media Threat Intel

"If you search for a particular IP, domain, malware, exploit, or CVE in the search bar on a social platform, you can easily find related tags or tweets about a particular attack or trend," Iytzki says. "What businesses need to do is make sure their security teams are taking the time to be part of that community and experimenting with which channels, profiles, and tags are yielding the most relevant and actionable data for them."

Outsourcing Social Media Threat Intel

Of course, the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming. For resource-strapped teams, an external threat intelligence provider can help manage the OSINT collection and verification process, according to Brian Wrozek, principal analyst at Forrester. darkreading.com


Remote Work Makes Cybersecurity Even More Important
Navigating cybersecurity in the age of remote work
In this Help Net Security interview, Jay Chaudhry, CEO at Zscaler, talks about connecting and securing remote employees and their devices to access organizational resources from any location. He discusses the potential risks of remote VPN access, the increasing reliance on personal devices, and transitioning to a cloud-first model.

How should CISOs manage the security concerns of employees working remotely and using personal devices to access organizational resources?

The best way to manage security for remote users is to provide access through a zero trust exchange, which is like a sophisticated phone switchboard where the remote employee is not connected to the corporate network but only to specific applications. This eliminates any lateral threat movement, hence the spread of the attack.

What steps can organizations take to prevent the exposure and theft of sensitive data in a cloud-first, hybrid workforce model?

Companies need to implement CASB solutions to protect data that may have misconfigurations causing oversharing of data. Companies must inspect SSL or TLS encrypted traffic to ensure that no sensitive data is hidden in the traffic. This requires a proxy architecture, as next-gen firewalls were not designed for it.

How has implementing a zero-trust security framework facilitated the transition of businesses toward a digital work environment?

Users can securely access any application from anywhere via a globally distributed zero trust exchange. New offices or branches can be set up in days rather than weeks or months. Hence zero trust has made it simpler and more secure for businesses to undergo digital transformation.

How are CISOs transitioning from traditional on-premises security to a cloud-first, zero-trust approach in the banking sector?

They are migrating their application suite from on-premises to the cloud, enabling them to scale to meet the demands of the business. helpnetsecurity.com


FTC Takes Aim at AI Businesses
FTC chair warns that AI businesses must still operate within existing laws

The rapidly expanding technology cannot be used for fraud or discrimination and dominant players must allow the market to remain competitive, Lina Khan said Thursday.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan warned that businesses involved in the rapid growth of artificial intelligence are not operating in a regulatory vacuum and can be held accountable by existing laws that protect against fraud.

Khan, speaking during a presentation at a Manhattan bookstore Thursday, said that while the technology is new, companies need to make sure they are operating within the law.

Khan was asked to explain the goals behind an op-ed in The New York Times on May 3, where she called for the regulation of generative AI. The technology has generated a significant amount of fear in recent weeks amid concerns it can replicate human behavior in the workplace or be used for fraudulent purposes.

The FTC is concerned about the potential for leading market incumbents to squeeze competitors of the space, Khan said during the interview with venture capitalist Bradley Tusk.

Under Khan's leadership the FTC has been at the forefront of holding Big Tech accountable for its ability to incentivize consumer purchasing, how social media has impacted children and whether major companies have accumulated too much control over market competition. cybersecuritydive.com


New court ruling sends a 'chilling' message to cyber companies, judge argues
An influential appeals court on Friday cleared the way for a lawsuit to proceed in a long-running feud between two manufacturers of anti-threat software. The decision could have wider ramifications for the cybersecurity industry.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit reversed a lower court's decision to dismiss Enigma Software's lawsuit against Malwarebytes from 2017. Enigma sued after Malwarebytes labeled Enigma's software as "malicious," "threats," and "potentially unwanted programs."

With the ruling, Judge Patrick J. Bumatay wrote, "our court sends a chilling message to cybersecurity companies - civil liability may now attach if a court later disagrees with your classification of a program as 'malware.' But we have neither the authority nor the competence to arrogate to ourselves regulatory oversight over cybersecurity." washingtonpost.com


Microsoft Links MOVEit Attack to Cl0p as British Airways, BBC Fall
Some billion-dollar organizations have already been identified as victims of the prolific ransomware group's latest exploit, amidst ongoing attacks.

What will stop AI from flooding the internet with fake images?
Google, Adobe, Microsoft, and other tech companies are trying new ways to label content made by AI.

9 free cybersecurity whitepapers you should read

Luxury handbags worth $53K stolen from The Mall at Green Hills
Police arrested a suspect accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of handbags from a mall in Nashville. According to an arrest report, Antonio Marquis Crockett, 24, was one of eight people who went into the Nordstrom at the Mall at Green Hills back on Feb. 6, 2023. Police said more than $53,000 worth of merchandise in luxury handbags was taken. The affidavit stated the group carried wire cutters and cut several bags from security wires. All eight suspects ran from the store and fled in three separate vehicles., a gray Nissan Sentra, a white Nissan Rouge and a black Jeep Latitude. Crockett was identified from previous shoplifting reported by the store, but the accusations didn't end there. According to an arrest affidavit, he and another person stole $7,240 worth of merchandise from the Burberry store at the Mall at Green Hills on Christmas Eve 2022. On March 9, 2021, police said this suspect also stole three Off White brand bags from the Nordstrom at the same mall, valued at $3,395. The 24-year-old was booked into the Metro jail four days later on six charges and is not eligible for release due to warrants outside Davidson County. His total bond is $113,000.  wkrn.com


ATF Capture MD Thief Who Stole 53 Weapons From Virginia Gun Store
Cedric Antonio Minger, 20, was arrested by the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) at a home in Washington DC on Monday, May 22, county police said. Minger and three other masked men were captured on surveillance footage breaking into Dominion Defense on Fullerton Road in Springfield through a small opening above the door around 3 a.m. Saturday, April 29, county police said. Minger and others stole 53 firearms, which were a combination of long guns and handguns, authorities said. The fourth subject remained outside as a lookout. The suspects left in a gray Acura four-door sedan with no front license plate. dailyvoice.com


Racine County, WI: Milwaukee woman accused of stealing almost $30K from at least 2 Ulta stores
A 20-year-old Milwaukee woman is suspected of stealing almost $30,000 in perfume, makeup, and other items from two Ulta stores in Wisconsin and Illinois. Shavona Williams was charged Friday, June 2, in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony charge each of retail theft of an amount greater than $10,000 and bail jumping. If convicted, she faces up to 16 years in prison and/or up to $35,000 in fines.   racinecountyeye.com


Middletown, PA: 'Let's Hit Five Below Next': Thief Gets Text From Accomplice While In Police Custody, Cops Say
A woman accused of stealing from retail stores in Delaware County received an inconvenient text from her alleged accomplice while she was in police custody, authorities claim. State troopers were dispatched to the Kohl's at Granite Run Mall in Middletown for a theft in progress on May 4, they wrote in a release. While officers were en route, the suspect hopped into a Ford Focus, went to the nearby Boscov's, and stole more merchandise, police said. She was arrested at Boscov's and identified as 28-year-old Nye'jierra Drummond of Wilmington, Delaware, troopers wrote. While Drummond was being processed at the state police station, authorities say she received text messages that said "Yo, you good?", "Where you at?", and "Let's hit Five Below next." The sender, police say, was 23-year-old Tre'tearra Parson, also of Wilmington. She was found sitting in the Ford Focus parked right outside the Five Below, troopers added. Investigators claim the pair stole "miscellaneous fragrances" and clothes valued at over $3,500.   dailyvoice.com


Carlisle, PA: Police searching for 3 suspects who allegedly stole PlayStation 5 consoles from Walmart

Murfreesboro, TN: Police Investigate Alleged "Retail Fraud Case" at Target