Retailers Try to Lock Out Gangs of Thieves
Best Buy, Home Depot Lock Up Goods to Fight Theft

With theft attempts elevated from prepandemic levels, stores are grappling with how to stop the problem without turning off shoppers and investors

Shoppers are finding more empty space on store shelves, but not because the retailer is out of stock. In many cases, the items are locked away to prevent theft.

At a Best Buy Co. store in the suburbs of Houston, hundreds of items including Bose speakers and Fitbit activity trackers have been replaced by small blue signs that read, "This product kept in secured location," and ask shoppers to find store workers for help.

The store is a sign of an endemic challenge for retailers: how to stop theft without shrinking profits or inconveniencing shoppers. Retailers have long dealt with theft, and frequency is down from a peak last winter for some, said retail executives. But theft attempt levels are higher than they were before the pandemic.

Many large retailers, including Home Depot Inc., have been locking up more items while testing other solutions. They track high-risk goods and lock up items in regions or stores being hit hardest, retail executives say. Best Buy says it isn't locking up more items overall than in the past, but continues to do so where needed.

Theft surged after stores reopened early in the pandemic, retail industry executives say. In part, the rush to buy more online during that period led to more demand online for stolen goods, they say. In some cases stores have been understaffed due to the tight labor market or staffing choices, which means fewer watchful eyes, say some executives. In addition, well-organized theft groups working regionally have become prevalent, making the problem harder to solve than run-of-the-mill shoplifting.

Home Depot has been locking up more products during the past 12 months as a stopgap while testing more customer-friendly, higher-tech solutions, according to the company. "It's a triage-type scenario. It's stop the bleeding and give yourself some time," said Scott Glenn, vice president of asset protection at Home Depot.

Overall theft attempts at Home Depot continue to rise compared with before the pandemic, Mr. Glenn said. Shoppers don't like when items are locked and Home Depot tries to avoid it, he said. But after a high-theft item is locked up, sales gradually go up because the store stays more consistently in-stock, Mr. Glenn said. In stores where Home Depot has aggressive theft deterrents, it has reduced loss to theft, he said. wsj.com

Retailers are 'Ripe Targets' for Crime & Violence
Shoplifting a growing problem for police, retailers and residents
Walmarts have long been known as magnets for crime - mostly shoplifting. But sometimes, it's far more serious. In a two-year span at that Walmart store in Rio Rancho (NM), 239 people were arrested, according to records obtained by the Observer from the Rio Rancho Police Department. That amounts to about two arrests per week.

But shoplifting isn't the only crime that Walmart seems to attract. In addition to shoplifting, arrests were made for disorderly conduct, aggravated driving while under the influence, larceny, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated assault on a police officer, stalking, armed robbery and possession of drugs.

Walmart, not wanting to give thieves an advantage, doesn't disclose its security measures, said Walmart spokesman Robert Arrieta.

"Unfortunately, crime has become an issue in many communities across the country, and retailers of all sizes are not immune," he said in an email statement. "Walmart's more than 5,000 locations in communities large and small are vital gathering places for millions of consumers every week. And, like other retailers, our properties are sometimes directly impacted by the terrible reality of crime."

Walmart, he added, takes "meaningful action as a retailer to create a safe environment for our customers and associates and consider local law enforcement invaluable partners in doing so."

Stores like Walmart, said Jacquelynn Reedy, RRPD spokeswoman, are ripe targets for thieves. The department, she said, "works closely with Walmart Security to reduce and prevent property crimes."

But it isn't just Walmart. Other stores are getting hit during what amounts to a shoplifting epidemic. At a Target store in Rio Rancho recently a man tried to walk out of the entrance with a big-screen TV he didn't pay for. He didn't get far before RRPD officers arrested him.

Some of the shoplifting these days, however, is organized crime. To combat the growing crime, New Mexico, recently announced that it is joining a 20-state network to gather data on organized retail crime. rrobserver.com

Liquor Store Shoplifting Surges 450%, Burglaries Up 500%+
Portland liquor store owners ask state for help curbing rise in robberies, thefts

According to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, shoplifting claims are up more than 450% since 2018.

According to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, the state agency overseeing liquor stores, shoplifting claims are up more than 450% since 2018. Burglaries, when someone breaks into the store after hours, are up more than 500% since 2018. As for armed robberies, at least four have been reported this year. Three of them happened at Hollywood Beverage.

On top of the more threatening crimes, liquor store owners are seeing people brazenly steal multiple bottles at a time. About two months ago, Hollywood Beverage found that a group of people stole 18 bottles at once. Miner said they often don't know for sure that it's gone until they review the security camera footage, and by that point it's too late.

When someone shoplifts in Portland, the store owner can call 911 if the crime is in progress; otherwise they need to call a non-emergency line. Miner said he's been told to file online reports and many have gone unanswered. KGW reached out to the Portland Police Bureau but haven't heard back yet.

Meanwhile, Miner took his concerns to the state last week and asked for some type of financial relief or help in curbing these crimes. The OLCC responded by joining The Oregon Retailer Crime Association to learn more on how to address retail crime.

"Right now, we can't count on civil order. I think the state has an increased responsibility to help find a solution and to reduce this issue," said Miner.

This string of theft isn't happening exclusively in liquor stores - it's impacting small businesses across the city. kgw.com

Smash & Grab ORC Legislation
Small business owners seek legislation and tech to combat retail crime
Small business owners in California used to leave their doors open and kept their displays full of their products. Now, many are keeping the doors locked during the day and keeping all of their valuables off the sales floor.

Organized retail crime, including professional shoplifting, has increased dramatically since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and is regarded as the source of the decline. A recent focus of retail crime that has plagued small business owners in recent years is "smash and grab" crimes.

Last month, David Hayman Jewelers, located in Yorba Linda, California, was the victim of a smash and grab, which caused Hayman to rethink his business operations. Now, his display cases are made with plastic inlays, and the sample jewelry pieces are not made with precious metals.

Tara Riceberg owns two stores, one in Los Angeles and one in Beverly Hills, California. She says each store, despite selling the same products, could not have a more different atmosphere. "Even though my stores are one mile apart, I'm in two different cities with two different governments, with two different crime rates," Riceberg said.

Los Angeles, since 2018, has been the top city in the United States consistently affected by organized retail crime, specifically pertaining to violence, shoplifting, and "smash and grabs."

To combat the rise in crime, Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) introduced a bipartisan bill called the "Improving Federal Investigations Retail Crime Act of 2022" to strengthen coordination between federal, state, and local agencies and small businesses to combat the rise in organized retail crime.

Hayman said he thinks states and counties should be sharing criminal data with each other to prevent criminals from smashing and grabbing and then crossing county or state lines to avoid punishment - something Hayman believes perpetuates organized retail crime. washingtonexaminer.com

America's 'Defund' Capital Grapples with Violence Surge
Once nicknamed 'Murderapolis,' the city that became the center of the 'Defund the Police' movement is grappling with heightened violent crime
After the police murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, Minneapolis became a worldwide symbol of the police brutality long endured disproportionately by Black people. In a kind of Newtonian response, the city became the epicenter of the culturally seismic "Defund the Police" movement. But that progressive local effort fizzled with a decisive referendum last November.

Now, with its police department under investigation by the Department of Justice, the city of 425,000 is trying to find a way forward amid a period of heightened crime that began shortly after Floyd's death.

That year, the number of murders soared to nearly 80 - dwarfing the 2019 body count of 46. It has cooled somewhat this year, though the amount of killing - and violent crime in general - remains elevated far above 2019 levels and homicides are on pace to surpass the 2020 figure. The reasons why are far from clear. cnn.com

Video: Why Shoplifting Is Getting Out of Control
Organized retail theft seemed to spring out of nowhere two years ago as pandemic lockdowns began. A California district attorney says that increased lawlessness hit the state due to misguided policies.

Extremism, mass shootings & assault on democracy: Time for social media rethink?

TX police chiefs on surging violence: 'Lack of value for life... no fear of consequences'

US: 97.9M Cases - 1M Dead - 94.6M Recovered
Worldwide: 620.8M Cases - 6.5M Dead - 601.1M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 797

The COVID Conflict Continues
Is the pandemic over? Pre-covid activities Americans are (and are not) resuming.

Biden says the pandemic is over - and when it comes to casinos, concerts and cosmetic procedures, Americans seem to agree. But many are still conflicted.

Two-and-a-half years into the coronavirus's deadly spread, after nearly all government-imposed restrictions have been lifted, as many businesses urge or require workers to come back to their offices, President Biden declared last week that "the pandemic is over." Yet even as the passion to get back to normal overrides years of caution, many Americans remain conflicted and confounded about what activities are safe.

Americans are coming out of the pandemic in the same kind of dynamic disarray that marked its beginning, with a crazyquilt of contradictory decisions about how to spend their discretionary time and money: Americans are flying again, but they're not too keen on getting back aboard buses, subways and other public transit. Concert tickets are being snapped up, but theater tickets, not so much. In-person visits to medical doctors have returned to pre-pandemic levels, but mental health counseling remains overwhelmingly virtual. washingtonpost.com

COVID's Enduring Impact on Work
Why does work feel so dysfunctional right now? Experts weigh in

Dysfunction in the Covid-era workforce has reached a fever pitch.

If you've talked to anyone about work in the last month, you've probably discussed quiet quitting (or setting boundaries), the not-so-quiet backlash from bosses, and even warnings of quiet firing (or managing out).

Railroad workers prepared to go on strike. Starbucks workers are unionizing. Teachers and nurses, burned out beyond belief in year three of the pandemic, say they're reaching a breaking point.

All the while, the Great Resignation has become less of an anomaly as sky-high turnover every month has become the new norm. Even worries of a looming recession and mounting layoffs haven't shaken workers' confidence.

The power struggles between workers and bosses may have buzzy catchphrases now, but they're really nothing new, says Sharon Block, professor and executive director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School. "The experiences of the pandemic have brought these conversations of dysfunction to the fore." Block says.  cnbc.com

CDC tracking 3 new COVID-19 variants as some experts warn cases could increase
Some experts are predicting another surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. this fall as new variants are spreading nationwide

How to Find Your Vaccine History-and Store It Safely
Worries about polio, monkeypox, and Covid-19 are rising. Here's how to gather your health information, even if you've lost the paper records.

UK high street warned not to expect return of pre-Covid Christmas

Shift to remote work during COVID pandemic drove over 60% of house-price surge

Curbing the Workplace Violence Surge
SLC 2022 Preview: Mitigating Workplace Violence

Learn how to diffuse situations that can lead to violence and how technology can help reduce that risk further.

In order to keep workers safe, we have to confront the grim possibility of workplace violence. Unfortunately, statistics show that violence against workers has been on the increase for the past several years, and it seems-at least anecdotally-to have skyrocketed increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

EHS Today spoke Kenna Carlsen, research associate at the National Safety Council about the worrisome trend and what factors can contribute to workplace violence. Carlsen will speak at the 2022 Safety Leadership Conference, being held in Cleveland from Oct. 18-20. Below is a preview of what to expect from her presentation.

What effect does a culture of safety have on workplace violence?

Culture plays a huge role in preventing workplace violence. A company that cultivates a culture built on mutual respect and trust not only reduces their risk of violence but also empowers employees to come forward with their own safety concerns and contribute to conversations around potential solutions. Just like any strong health and safety plan, a strong violence prevention plan involves a top-down commitment and an ongoing and open discussion at all levels of employment.

How or where does technology fit in the mix?

Hazard prevention and control is an essential building block to any successful workplace violence prevention program. There are a wide variety of technological solutions that, combined with a written policy and employee training, can help prevent, mitigate and/or respond to potential violence.

What about violence at the workplace keeps you up at night (at least metaphorically)?

Workplace violence is notoriously underreported. According to a report from the U.S. House of Representatives, workers may be suffering as many as three times the amount of injuries and illnesses than officially reported (U.S. House, 2008). Simply too many workers are suffering in silence and might not have access to medical and mental health resources necessary to overcome a traumatic event like assault or abuse. ehstoday.com

The Hayes Report on Loss Prevention
Quarterly - Fall 2022 - Vol. 37 No. 4

Topics: Cargo Thefts – Take Precautions - Shoplifting Prevention Tips - Company Shrink Stats & Trends - Believe It or Not - The Bulletin Board

Mark Doyle Talks --- Holiday Season: The Two Edged Sword...

First, let me be very early in wishing you, are valued readers, a very Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays greeting. Thank you for being a subscriber to our newsletter this past year and we greatly appreciate your contributions and comments throughout the year. Now secondly, yes, another holiday season is fast approaching which means more shoppers and hopefully great sales increases for the industry!

Unfortunately, the holidays also bring more shoplifters into our stores and therefore we need to be more vigilant in our loss control efforts. Everything from promptly greeting customers, to providing consistent customer service, to ensuring high valued/highly pilferable product is properly secured on the sales floor. Your efforts during this busy season will greatly impact store profitability. Let's all make this a great and successful holiday season! Until next year...

Click here to read the full newsletter

FRT is Expanding in Retail - But Still Far Off From Widespread Adoption
Will biometrics be the future of payments?

The use of biometrics to authenticate payments is poised to bring greater security and speed to transactions, but some say broad adoption is still far from reach.

Now is the moment for the technology. The FIDO Alliance, which seeks to eliminate passwords and advance biometrics for authentication, is one of several actors pushing payments in that direction. In the U.S., the retail sector is expected to generate $5.5 trillion by 2027 and Aite-Novarica estimates fraud losses just for card-not-present transactions will reach $9.2 billion next year, so there's strong appeal in making payments simpler and more secure.

New payment methods emerge

Face-pay tools ask users to look into a camera as their image is captured and compared against facial scans; methods involving the eye can scan the retina or iris to authenticate payment. People tend to be less comfortable with a biometric that involves the eye than a fingerprint, scholars said. In geographic regions of the world that have already turned to biometrics, like China, face-pay is more popular than palm-pay.

Big names pursue biometrics

FIDO stands for fast identity online and the consortium is spearheading that change. PayPal, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and large retailers Best Buy, Wayfair and eBay are among those already accepting FIDO for log-in, said Megan Shamas, FIDO's senior marketing director. It's gained traction in online payments in Europe, because it's easier for consumers than a one-time password or multi-factor authentication, Shamas said.

Privacy, security concerns

About half of U.S. adults favor the use of facial recognition technology for security purposes, such as enhanced security with a credit card payment.  When it comes to checkout, 74% of U.S. adults expressed privacy concerns about their biometric data, like fingerprints or retina scans, being stored by a marketer. paymentsdive.com

   Australia: CHOICE backs new law to rein in use of facial recognition technology

Boards Go Up & Evacuations Underway
Hurricane Ian Could Bring Prolonged Surge Near Florida

"Life-threatening storm surge is possible along much of Florida west coast," says National Hurricane Center, "with the highest risk from Ft. Myers to Tampa Bay."

Residents from Naples to the Florida Panhandle are making preparations - boarding up their houses and deciding whether to evacuate as the track of the storm has moved east. A hurricane watch has been issued for the Tampa area. On Sunday, landfall was predicted on the Florida Panhandle, and by Monday morning it had moved south to near Tampa.

Large swells and gusty winds are expected to affect the Gulf waters during the middle to end of this work week, according to an alert from Harrison County Emergency Management, and that will result in hazardous conditions across the coastal waters, especially beyond 20 nautical miles from shore Wednesday through Friday. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina will also feel effects from the large storm, the NHC predicts.

"Regardless of Ian's exact track and intensity, there is a risk of a life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall along the west coast of Florida and the Florida Panhandle by the middle of this week," the NHC says. govtech.com

   RELATED: Hillsborough County Orders Evacuations Ahead of Ian

Retail's Holiday Hiring Slowdown
Holiday hiring slows down: Retailers adding fewer seasonal jobs

Retailers are approaching holiday hiring with caution, adding fewer temporary workers than last year as they brace for a smaller bump from this year's shopping season.

Driving the news: Several retailers have already said they're pulling back:

● Walmart will hire 40,000 temporary workers, down from 150,000 in 2021.
● Macy's said Monday it plans to hire 41,000, down from 76,000 in 2021.
● Dick's said Monday it plans to hire 9,000, down from 10,000 in 2021.

The big picture: The economy is rebalancing, as consumers are shifting their spending from physical goods to more services, including travel and entertainment, after binge-shopping earlier in the pandemic. Plus, inflation is dampening shoppers' enthusiasm. axios.com

Businesses Hit with New Minimum Tax
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway Could Be Among Top Payers of New Minimum Tax
A handful of large companies, such as Berkshire Hathaway Inc.and Amazon.com Inc., could bear most of the burden from a 15% corporate minimum tax President Biden signed into law last month.

According to the UNC estimates, Berkshire Hathaway would have paid the most in 2021, at $8.3 billion-or about a quarter of the estimated total-followed by Amazon at $2.8 billion and Ford Motor Co. at $1.9 billion.

Add the next three companies and that reflects more than half the $31.8 billion total: AT&T Inc. at $1.5 billion, eBay Inc. at $1.3 billion, and Moderna Inc. at $1.2 billion. wsj.com

4 Retail Technologies That Minority Report Predicted
 

Cybercrime: The Top Reason to Monitor Your Employees
You should monitor your remote workers - but not because you don't trust them

Cybercrime attacks are increasing. That's one good reason to keep track of employees who work from home

According to a recent report in the New York Times, eight of the 10 largest private US employers are using software and other technologies to track the productivity of their employees in the office and at home.

Surveillance is booming. Sales of employee monitoring software are through the roof, with products like Teramind, ActivTrak and Hubstaff offering features that range from tracking applications your remote employees are using and the websites they're visiting to providing screenshots of their activities and monitoring their keystrokes. The industry is expected to grow from an annual sales rate of about $488m to $1.7bn by 2029.

You should not be monitoring their productivity, their attentiveness, the number of clicks on their keyboard during the day or whether or not they're doing actual work or watching YouTube. It's a waste of time and resources. It creates a toxic culture.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be monitoring them while they're working at home. Why? Because your remote employees - even your best ones - are still causing you a problem. A security problem.

According to various sources, the FBI saw a 300% increase in reported cybercrime attacks since Covid-19 and cybersecurity predictions reveal that the US is going to be a "soft target" for more than half of cybercrime attacks in another five years. And the No 1 reason is because you and me and our employees are working more from home and our home environments are very insecure.

So here's my advice: don't worry if your employee is working on that project plan or buying shoes on Zappos. Instead, worry that your employee is doing something that's going to cause a serious security problem at your firm. For this reason and this reason only, you need to monitor them. theguardian.com

Ransomware Groups Evolving
Ransomware operators might be dropping file encryption in favor of corrupting files

Corrupting files is faster, cheaper, and less likely to be stopped by endpoint protection tools than encrypting them.

The attacks have become so widespread that they now impact all types of organizations and even entire national governments. The cybercriminal groups behind them are well organized, sophisticated, and even innovative, always coming up with new extortion techniques that could earn them more money. But sometimes, the best way to achieve something is not to complexity but to simplify and this seems to be the case in new attacks seen by researchers from security firms Stairwell and Cyderes where known ransomware actors opted to destroy files instead of encrypting them.

Exmatter data exfiltration tool gets an upgrade

In recent years it has become common for ransomware affiliates to double down and steal data from compromised companies in addition to encrypting it. They then threaten to release it publicly or sell it. This started as an another method to force ransom payments, but data leak extortion can also happen on its own without the ransomware component.

Data corruption vs encryption

Why destroy files by overwriting them with random data instead of deploying ransomware to encrypt them? At a first glance these seem like similar file manipulation operations. Encrypting a file involves overwriting it, one block at a time, with random-looking data -- the ciphertext. However, there are ways to detect these encryption operations when done in great succession and many endpoint security programs can now detect when a process exhibits this behavior and can stop it. Meanwhile, the kind of file overwriting that Exmatter does is much more subtle. csoonline.com

The Dangerous Evolution of Deepfakes
The deepfake danger: When it wasn't you on that Zoom call

Deepfakes pose a real threat to security and risk management and it's only going to get worse as the technology develops and bad actors can access malicious offerings

The scam is so novel that if it weren't for astute investors detecting oddities and latency in the videos Hillman may have never known about these deepfake video calls, despite the company's heavy investments in security talent and technologies.

Deepfakes as a service

"We're already seeing deepfakes as a service on the dark web, just like we see ransomware as a service used in extortion techniques, because deepfakes are incredibly effective in social engineering," says Derek Manky, chief security strategist and VP of global threat intelligence at Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs. "For example, leveraging deepfakes is popular in BEC [business email compromise] scams to effectively convince somebody to send funds to a fake address, especially if they think it's an instruction from a CFO."

Retooling needed to spot deepfakes

"The issue of deepfakes is important enough that the Adobe CEO is pressing for authentication of content behind the image and audio files. This is one example of how protecting against deepfakes will require a new set of countermeasures and context, including deep learning, AI, and other techniques to decipher if something is real or not," explains Brian Reed, former Gartner analyst who is now advisor at Lionfish Technology Advisors. He also points the Deep Fakes Passport Act introduced as Senate Bill HR 5532, which seeks funding for deepfake competitions in order to foster mitigating controls against them.

Faking biometric authentication

Hillman also urges businesses to update their training and awareness, both internally for employees and executives, and externally for clients. "The idea of whether deepfakes are going to be a problem is no longer a question of if but when and I don't think businesses have a playbook about how to defend against deepfake attacks," he predicts.  csoonline.com

Organizations Going Beyond Passwords
Zero trust closes the end-user gap in cybersecurity

Organizations go beyond passwords to embrace a new approach to defending against cyberattacks.

You may have noticed it's a little harder to get around in cyberspace. More six-digit authorization codes texted to your phone. More requests to confirm the name of your first pet or fourth-grade teacher. More boxes to check to "trust this device." Overall, having to prove more often that you are you.

It's not your imagination. It's a comparatively new cybersecurity philosophy called "zero trust," and it's transforming networks globally. It's just what it sounds like: the network, site, or application won't allow you in without proof you belong there. Mayank Agarwal, head of cybersecurity for North America at Infosys, thinks of zero trust as a mindset change. "Zero trust is front and center of all cybersecurity discussions. It's about principles of least privilege. This means giving access only for a time, with the least amount of access. Once done with whatever job you are supposed to do, access is taken away."  technologyreview.com

Researchers unearth hacking group that's been active, yet undetected for years
The group has targeted telecommunications, internet service providers and universities in the Middle East and Africa, researchers said.

Despite Recession Jitters, M&A Dominates a Robust Cybersecurity Market

$2 Million Apple Theft Scheme
Cleveland, OH: Update: Miami twins convicted for their roles in national identity theft scheme using Apple products
Two twins from Miami were convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Monday afternoon for their roles in stealing over $2 million in an identity theft scheme involving Apple products, according to a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Luis and Jorge Socarras, both 27, were both charged with two counts of access device fraud, interstate transfer of stolen property and aggravated identity theft, according to a press release. The duo 'fraudulently gained access' to around 2,366 AT&T mobile accounts, the release said. They would charge 'millions of dollars' worth of electronic devices through the accounts for Apple products. Court records stated the national scheme caused a total of $2,155,483.78 in losses, the release said. Luis and Jorge would later resell the fraudulently-purchased devices from their home in Miami, the release said. Law enforcement agencies identified the brothers fraudulently buying iPhones and iPads through 'numerous' AT&T accounts through different electronic retail stores throughout Northern Ohio in Jan. 2020, officials said. While executing a search warrant on a vehicle owned by Luis that was left behind a parking lot of a retail store, investigators found 49 different Apple products. cleveland19.com

Hesperia, CA: Out of state men suspected of stealing nearly 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel
Three men from Las Vegas, Dallas and Miami were arrested on suspicion of stealing thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from a Hesperia gas station. The Hesperia Sheriff's Station reported that on Sept. 10, a gas station in the 15000 block of Ranchero Road in Hesperia reported theft of approximately 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel worth approximately $16,000. Detectives assumed the investigation and discovered an electronic manipulation device had been inserted into the fuel pump. Video surveillance from the gas station showed a white Ford F-250 pickup truck bearing Nevada license plates and a white GMC pickup truck bearing a temporary Florida license plate. Both vehicles contained large fuel tanks installed in the bed of the trucks. Detectives determined the suspects had also used a U-Haul truck during the theft.  vvdailypress.com

Merrimack, NH: Thieves caught on video smashing into store, stealing high end street wear
Five thieves dressed in hoodies smashing their way into La Ola Street Wearat the Merrimack Premium Outlets. At about 2:30am, quickly grabbing high end apparel and accessories that retail for up to $1000 a piece. wmur.com

New York, NY: Police respond to Orchard Smoke Shop where an employee was shot after confronting 3 robbers
A Manhattan smoke-shop employee was shot when he confronted three robbers outside his store late Sunday, authorities said. The 35-year-old worker was inside the Orchard Smoke Shop on Orchard Street near East Houston Street on the Lower East Side just after 10:30 p.m. when the trio swiped about $12,000 in merchandise and around $300 in cash, police said. As the bandits left, the worker went outside and confronted them, cops said. During the clash, one of the suspects shot the worker in the torso and arm, cops said. he worker was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition. nypost.com

Memphis, TN: Three men were arrested after a robbery at a local liquor store
One incident happened Aug. 5 at Buster's Liquor, 191 S. Highland. According to a police affidavit, 14 people broke into the store by smashing out the front glass windows. Once inside, the suspects grabbed various liquors then fled in various Infiniti vehicles. The store owner said over $10,000 worth of liquor was stolen and the store had over $1,000 in damage, records show. Prior to the Buster's break-in, there were nearly 40 other liquor store burglaries with the same suspect and vehicle descriptions, according to the affidavit. On Aug. 9, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) received information from a confidential informant that someone was selling stolen liquor from Buster's out of an apartment on Alcy Road. The person's Facebook page showed unopened bottles of liquor for sale, according to police. The next day, police executed a search warrant at the apartment and two people were detained. The woman accused of selling the liquor admitted to selling it out of her apartment, police said. fox13memphis.com

Alpena, MI: Pair caught swapping barcodes to steal from Michigan Walmart
A pair is accused of swapping barcodes at a northern Michigan Walmart store to get more expensive items for cheaper. Police were called to the store on M-32 in Alpena County after a loss prevention worker watching security tapes saw a man and woman putting barcodes from inexpensive items onto more expensive items. This happened between March and June, and more than $1,600 worth of merchandise was stolen using this method, police said. fox2detroit.com