Retail Criminals Using 'Terrorist Tactics' in Stores
Consumers fear 'putting themselves in harm's way when they shop'

Danger In The Store: Retail Crime Makes Everyone A Potential Victim
Despite multi-pronged efforts, retailers and law enforcement have been ineffective in preventing retail crime. Now, consumers, on whom the retail industry depends, are aware that they may be putting themselves in harm's way when they shop. It's a price much higher to the retail industry than the cost of their monetary losses

"I don't know that the public or the media really understand that if somebody comes to your place of business and takes your stuff or worse, intimidates your people or customers, they're all crime victims," criminologist Read Hayes, Ph.D. at the University of Florida, shared with me.

Retail crime is far from a victimless crime committed against a faceless corporation that can absorb the losses. Real people are the victims. And increasingly, retail criminals are using terrorist tactics of aggression, intimidation, even violence to put anyone off who might interfere with their crime.

"Retailers are seeing unprecedented levels of theft coupled with rampant crime in their stores, and the situation is only becoming more dire," said NRF's David Johnston in the NRF report, as he called out increased violence and safety concerns as the number one priority for retailers, law enforcement and public policymakers to address.

Framing The Problem

Overall, 88% of retailers reported that shoplifters are more aggressive and violent now compared with a year ago, including 49% who said they have observed "much more" violent and aggressive behavior. ORC is the shoplifting category associated with the highest threat of violence, with 67% reporting more violence and aggression among that class of retail criminals.

More To Be Done

The NRF is leading the charge to address the retail crime crisis. It has designated Thursday, October 26 Fight Retail Crime Day, when it will host a fly-in for retail leaders to meet face-to-face with members of Congress and their staff to advocate for the Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act.

The Combatting Organized Retail Crime Act would establish an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center to facilitate information sharing and cross-agency investigations nationally and internationally by developing national-level ORC intelligence.

So far, the NRF reports 34 states have passed ORC legislation, but since many of these incidents cross state lines, nearly 90% of retailers believe a federal law is needed as well.

Inside The Criminal Mind - Ounce Of Prevention - Pound Of Cure: forbes.com


Federal Effort Needed to Fight ORC
Home Depot's organized crime bust shows how hard it is to fight retail 'shrink'
Robert Dell, who operated a drug recovery program out of a church in St. Petersburg, Florida used his position as a pastor and counselor to coerce people to steal for him, often hitting stores five or six times per day. He also allegedly stole $1.4 million of goods.

Dell would then fence the goods on eBay under the account "anointedliquidator," where he had 100% positive feedback and a 35,000-item history. Dell and other associates were finally busted in August, and while this may seem like a breakthrough, it's just one syndicate.

"These cases are pretty typical in both the scale and breadth," Scott Glenn, Home Depot's vice president of loss prevention, told Yahoo Finance. And while the problem is getting more and more attention - Florida's attorney general is one of many AGs and local district attorneys tackling shrink - these cases are often linked to more unseemly crimes like money laundering and even human trafficking.

The $1.4 million scheme Dell and his accomplices carried out is only a drop in the bucket. Retailers suffered more than $112 billion dollars in losses due to shrink last year alone, according to the National Retail Federation, putting the bust at just 0.00125% of the year's total.

Besides efforts by attorneys general and retailers, Congress passed the Inform Consumers Act to combat selling stolen goods, something Home Depot's Glenn said was a step in the right direction.

But it's not enough for retailers like Home Depot, which will likely provide an update this November as they release quarterly results.

"We really need a much more coordinated and systemic effort at the federal level to take this problem seriously and really understand how much it impacts not only the financials of retailers and consumers but also the safety of the associates in our stores and the customers and the shopping public at large," Glenn said. finance.yahoo.com


Home Depot VP of AP Talks Theft & Shrink
Video: Home Depot exec. explains why worst of retail shrink not behind us yet
Major retailers have felt the brunt of retail theft - commonly referred to as retail shrink - with organized retail crime reportedly costing stores over $112 billion in inventory losses in 2022, according to the National Retail Federation.

Home Depot Vice President of Asset Protection Scott Glenn sits down with Yahoo Finance to discuss where these pressures are showing up in consumers' receipts and how retailers are partnering with lawmakers to crack down on retail theft.

"There's two sides to it - there's the supply chain side of it... [which] certainly puts pressure on all of us in terms of keeping our shelves full, keeping product available for the customer," Glenn states, "and then there's the back side of it... [which] we certainly think the online resellers can and should be doing more to kind of police themselves."  finance.yahoo.com


Shoppers Worry that Crime Closures Will Hit Their Neighborhoods
Consumers Concerned About Neighborhood Stores Closing Due to Retail Theft, Research Finds

Consumers are getting increasingly nervous about stores in their neighborhoods closing due to retail crime.

According to a Coresight Research survey conducted with more than 400 U.S. consumers in July 2023, 56 percent of respondents are moderately, very or extremely concerned that some of the stores in their communities could be closed to due increased levels of retail crime and theft.

Recently, several retailers have announced plans to close some stores in areas where crime retail crime has become increasingly problematic. Just last month, Target said it would close nine stores in four major cities as it faces waves of organized crime and theft, a move which inspired anger and disappointment from locals in the area, according to local news reports. Nike also recently closed a store in Portland amid a rise in crime in the area and Nordstrom officially shut the doors on two of its stores in downtown San Francisco, including a flagship location, as crime and safety issues continue to impact the city.

In recent quarters, retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods, Walmart and Target have spoken out about external retail crime bitting into profits in a major way, with some chains announces store closures or increased security measures to combat the issue, such as locking up merchandise.

But according to Coresight data, not all consumers are thrilled with retailers' potential mitigation tactics. 17 percent of respondents said they would shop elsewhere if their local stores closed and 25 percent said they would shift to online shopping if their stores kept its products locked up.  footwearnews.com


Theft Data is Fuzzy But Target's Closures are a 'Sensible Business Move'
As Target prepares to close theft-ridden stores, crime data and foot-traffic are in the spotlight
The Target closure news garnered plenty of attention, although Target has not revealed data about specific incidents at the stores. Nonetheless, researchers have sought to fill in these gaps.

Citing publicly available crime data, Popular Information reports that stores being closed in New York, San Francisco and Seattle actually have lower levels of theft than nearby stores that have remained open. Data suggest that factors other than crime are driving Target's decision to close stores in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, according to Popular Information. While the issue of "shrink," has been cited by multiple retailers in recent months, the website added that companies may be overemphasizing crime to deflect from internal issues such as staffing levels.

"Target's decision to close stores in cities like San Francisco, New York City and Seattle, where foot traffic has declined and theft rates are notably high, aligns with a strategic move to mitigate financial losses," Gravy's chief marketing officer, Jolene Wiggins, said in a statement. "However, the closure of stores in a city like Portland, where customer visits have recently surged, might seem puzzling at first glance."

But Wiggins pointed to the broader challenges Target is facing. "Even with increased foot traffic, if these stores face challenges in generating sufficient profits due to rising theft and the accompanying security costs, Target's decision to close stores in Portland becomes a sensible business move," she added.

Speaking on the conference call to discuss Target's second-quarter results in August, Target CEO Brian Cornell said the company was facing an "unacceptable amount" of retail theft and organized retail crime. Cornell also highlighted safety threats Target employees are facing, saying that during the first five months of 2023, Target stores saw a 120% increase in theft involving violence or threats of violence. morningstar.com


Inventory Management, Not Just Theft Crackdowns, Will Reduce Shrink
The Supply Side: Retail shrink is more than theft, may be overstated
Brand Elverston, CEO of Bentonville firm Elverston Consulting does not believe theft accounts for 65% of shrink, saying it's more likely around 50%.

Elverston said theft is a part of shrink, but so are the under-reported accounting errors that start from creating a retailer purchase order. He said mistakes can happen at the manufacturer who ships the wrong number of widgets. Some transportation carriers take the product to retailer distribution centers or cross docks, and no one is counting the items along the way. The retailer will drop the order at the back door of a store, and most retailers only do random item counts. According to Elverston, most products entering the retailer's backroom are not counted.

Shipment shortages are an area where shrink occurs, and it's not detected until the retailer's year-end count against the point of sales data. Retailer mark-downs of perishable goods are another area where shrink occurs.

Elverston said retailers who manage their inventory well, execute at the store level and adequately staff their stores will have less shrink, less theft and fewer purchase order mistakes.

Elverston said shrink increases are typically cyclical. He said the rise in shrink some retailers are reporting is likely tied to the massive changes in operations brought on by the pandemic. "A well-staffed store is a theft deterrent," he said.

He told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal that the retail industry has a golden opportunity for seriously disruptive change, which will take investment and a culture shift from the C-suite down. Elverston said Lowe's is a retailer benefiting from a strategy shift and investment in people and technology to address shrink. He said other retailers looking to trim shrink should follow suit. talkbusiness.net


Cargo & Shipment Theft Surging
Shipment Thefts on the Rise: The Kiplinger Letter
It isn't just stores dealing with a plague of retail thefts. Organized crime rings are also targeting goods in shipments. One operation that was broken up earlier this year in southern California had stolen 200 truckloads of goods.

Thieves are forging phony papers when picking up cargo shipments and then disappearing. They may also pose as legitimate companies that fool brokers into hiring them for a job but never deliver the product. Some even register with federal authorities as a "new" company and then steal as much as they can before they can be audited. Targeted goods, like electronics, tend to be easily resold.

Criminals are aggressively eyeing containers in backlogged ports filled with everything from home appliances to apparel and more. Union Pacific reported a rash of cargo container break-ins as shipments were transported out of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, according to Freight Waves.

Shippers need to be extra careful when checking a trucker's paperwork before hiring them. Some shippers are even refusing to use any trucking company in operation for less than 90 days to avoid fraudulent operators that pop up and disappear. Sensors can track cargo in transit and alert shippers to deviations in planned routes, and services like Carrier411, TIA Watchdog, Convoy and CargoNet can verify trucker IDs. kiplinger.com


Supply Chain Giving 'Huge Opportunities' to Thieves
Most of Retail Shrink May Occur in the Supply Chain

Large retailers don't check trucks before they're unloaded, expert says.

Someone who has spent the past 30 years specializing in retail asset protection, including 23 years at Walmart's HQ in Bentonville, AR, says that people are conflating the burgeoning growth of retail shrink with the in-store shoplifting epidemic dominating the headlines.

In-store theft, as well as organized retail crime, no doubt is a major factor expanding the huge tallies of shrink being reported by some of the largest retailers, including Target. But huge opportunities for shrink also occur in the supply chain and from accounting errors. globest.com

   RELATED: Cargo Thieves Zero in on Information from Supply Chains


San Francisco Street Vendors Posing Safety Risk
SF to ban street vendors on Mission St as supe cites threats to city workers
San Francisco will ban street vending on Mission Street beginning next month, Supervisor Hillary Ronen announced in a letter to constituents.

After discovering that some Public Works employees were wearing bullet-proof vests to work because they feared for their safety, Ronen said her office convened meetings with the mayor's office and the city attorney's office to "find a way within the law to address the situation."

"After pulling health and safety records in the neighborhood, we were able to make the case that allowing vending on Mission Street and around BART Stations are creating measurable hazards in the neighborhood," she wrote.

"It is incumbent on us to offer alternatives so that vending doesn't become something they rely on, because it is not safe out there," Lerma said, noting that fights have broken out among sellers over vending territory. sfchronicle.com


Alarm over bare store shelves deflects attention from complex problems
Shoplifting at the Columbia Heights CVS is a problem - for city residents and for the company. But the retail giant could do more to find solutions.

Criminals making millions from running organized retail crime rings

Opinion: Armed citizens don't often stop mass shooters

Retail Sales in September Up 0.7% From August - Up 3.8% Year Over Year
Retail Sales Grew in September, But Core Year-Over-Year Gains Are Slowing
Retail sales continued to grow in September even as consumers faced continuing economic pressures, the National Retail Federation said today.

"September retail sales show that consumers have retained the ability and willingness to spend despite accumulating economic headwinds from higher interest rates and slowing growth," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. "As we gear up for the holiday season, we expect moderate growth to continue as consumers focus on value and household priorities. Retailers have been hard at work getting holiday inventories in place to provide consumers with great products, competitive prices and convenience at every opportunity."

The U.S. Census Bureau today said overall retail sales in September were up 0.7% from August and up 3.8% year over year. That compared with increases of 0.8% month over month and 2.9% year over year in August. nrf.com

   RELATED: Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, much stronger than estimate


553K Retail Holiday Hires
What holiday hiring efforts look like in 2023

Hiring is expected to be low this year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, but some retailers are holding steady to prior years' plans.

Holiday sales growth is expected to slow again this year, and seasonal hiring may follow suit.

In anticipation of softer sales, employers may pull back on their typical holiday hiring sprees, according to a September analysis by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The numbers appear to support that sentiment, as retailers announced more than 55,000 job cuts through August, according to Challenger's data.

Despite that decline, nearly a dozen retailers and retail-adjacent companies want to hire about 553,000 workers this season, according to Challenger's tracking data provided to Retail Dive. That's down from nearly 598,000 workers from holiday season hiring announcements Challenger tracked last year and about 966,000 in 2021. retaildive.com


Home Depot 'Cause for Alarm' Campaign
The Home Depot & Kidde Partner During Fire Prevention Month
Kidde, a leader in fire safety for more than 100 years and trusted partner of The Home Depot since 2006, recently kicked off its second annual Cause For Alarm campaign.

This fire safety awareness initiative addresses gaps in education and access to fire safety measures. It was designed to teach families and children about the importance of having working smoke alarms and practicing fire safety at home. Three out of five home fire deaths result from fires in properties with no working smoke alarms, and these devices can double the chances of escaping from a home fire safely. 

The company has also teamed up with The Home Depot and other retailers to donate fire safety products to National PTA, The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW), and Vision 20/20. This will help ensure the life-saving devices get into the hands of those who need them most and will further close the protection gap by reaching parents, caregivers and communities in need. For every Kidde alarm purchased at participating businesses through November 2023, a $1 contribution will be made toward donated smoke alarms, up to a total retail value of $1 million.

Learn how to install a smoke detector and find smoke and carbon monoxide alarms for your home on homedepot.com. corporate.homedepot.com


U.S. Walkouts of Walgreens & CVS Pharmacists May Happen Oct. 30 & Nov. 1
They Don't Want to Miss Halloween on the 31st - Just Kidding

Walgreens, CVS pharmacists may be planning a nationwide walkout

Though CVS says it is currently not seeing any signs of a protest at that scale

Over the last two weeks, some Walgreens pharmacists and a group of CVS pharmacists in Kansas City have walked off the job due to an ongoing overwhelming work environment, and now there might be a much larger protest in the works, reports CNBC.

Walgreens pharmacists are leading the charge, and they are reaching out to disgruntled workers at other retailers to potentially stage nationwide walkouts on Oct. 30 and Nov. 1. CNBC confirmed the protests via a CVS employee who led the initial CVS pharmacist walkout in Kansas City.

Prem Shah, CVS's chief pharmacy officer and president of pharmacy and consumer wellness, met with the striking workers at the time of the initial strike and promised better working conditions. Some CVS pharmacists have scheduled another meeting with Shah later this week, and if it ends poorly, those workers will then notify Walgreens pharmacists to move forward with a nationwide strike. supermarketnews.com


Should Grocers Close on Thanksgiving?

McDonald's manager sexually harassed teen worker until she resigned, feds say

First Half of 2023 Sees Ransomware Surge
Ransomware Comes Back in Vogue for Cybercriminals

Insurers say ransom-related claims rose sharply in the first half of 2023

Ransomware came back into fashion for cybercriminals in the first half of 2023, insurers say, after a brief lull in early 2022. Cyber insurer Coalition said ransomware claims frequency rose by 27% across its policyholders in the first half of the year, from the second half of 2022.

"Our data shows that ransomware is coming back in full force," said Shawn Ram, head of insurance at Coalition.

Ransomware was also a major cause of claims for clients of insurer Resilience Cyber Insurance Solutions, the company said in its midyear claims report, published Tuesday. Resilience said that around 16.2% of its total claims were related to this method of cyberattack.

The insurer said that between the second quarters of 2022 and 2023 it saw a 1,100% increase in ransomware incident notifications, and that notices received so far this year have already reached 100% of those in 2022.

The frequency and severity of ransomware attacks had broadly dipped after peaking from 2019 to 2021, said Patrick Thielen, head of insurer Liberty Mutual's cyber insurance team.

The lull, he said, was broadly attributable to companies investing in their cyber defenses, and government and international efforts to crack down on ransomware following events such as the attack on Colonial Pipeline in May 2021, and the onset of the war in Ukraine in early 2022.

That break appears to be over. Cyber insurer Corvus said that the number of victims posted to leak sites it tracks on the darknet, where hackers publicize the names of the companies they attack, increased by 5.1% in September from August. The increase was 79.8% year over year. wsj.com


Third-Party Owned .AI Domains Pose Significant Risk
Cybercriminals register .AI domains of trusted brands for malicious activity

Third parties are registering brands under the .AI domain to launch phishing attacks or other types of brand abuse.

Almost half of Forbes Global 2000 companies do not have control over their branded artificial intelligence (.AI) domain names, which are registered by third parties. That's according to the 2023 Domain Security Report from CSC, which revealed that cybercriminals are exploiting AI's popularity by attempting to register the domains of trusted brands for malicious activity.

Malicious actors are also continuing to capitalize on lookalike domains (homoglyphs) that resemble Global 2000 brands to launch phishing attacks, other forms of digital brand abuse, or IP infringement, the report found.

Third-party owned .AI domains pose significant security risks

The combination of a company's familiar brand name plus .AI as a domain extension gives target victims a false sense of trust and become more susceptible to falling prey to an attack. "Due to the significant media coverage recently on the potential use of AI for fraud in the future, registering your brand in the .AI domain extension is important to protect your key trademarks," Calandra says.

Phishing emails, malicious content among lookalike domain threats

The report also detected a slight increase in the amount of lookalike domains owned by third parties, up 4% from 2022 to 79% in 2023. Of the lookalike domains CSC assessed, 40% have mail exchange (MX) records, which can be used to send phishing emails or to intercept email, according to the report. Other uses cited in the paper include pointing to advertising, pay-per-click ads, or domain parking (36%), resolving to a live website not associated with the brand holder (14%), and pointing to malicious content that could damage a brand's reputation and customer confidence (1%).

The threats posed to legitimate brands by lookalike domains came to the fore in the wake of the launch of Threads by Instagram in July 2023. Security firm Veriti observed a surge in the creation of suspicious domains with over 700 domains related to Threads registered daily. These domains posed a significant risk as they can be used to deceive users, distribute malware, and lure unsuspecting individuals into downloading untrusted versions of the app. csoonline.com


Zero Trust Network Access
Why zero trust delivers even more resilience than you think
An essential principle of zero trust network access (ZTNA) is to work in terms of one-to-one connectivity and access: a specific, identifiable user connected to a specific, identifiable resource for each authorization event. This is why ZTNA so effectively isolates and cushions breaches which do occur, but it also means that a given user will only ever be allocated the computing resources necessary to do their work.

Looked at another way, the traditional security model forces organizations into a situation a little like powering an entire office building for an employee who only needs to use a single room. Once they tap in through a security gate, the building has no way of knowing what they will need, so everything must be lit up and ready. Because ZTNA reauthorizes the user along every step of that journey, parts of the "building" not being accessed can happily remain dormant.

Business leaders know that, in economic headwinds, every option for getting safely through the storm must be considered. No matter what, though, it seems almost certain that technology usage, and the costs associated with it, will only grow as enterprises try to stay competitive. Whether it is for resilience during cybersecurity incidents or for efficiency the rest of the time, there has never been a better moment to explore the potential of zero trust. helpnetsecurity.com


UAE, US Partner to Bolster Financial Services Cybersecurity

Zero-Day Alert: 10K Cisco IOS XE Systems Now Compromised

Lake Worth, TX: Police searching for Walgreens robbers; ties to ORC
Lake Worth police are searching for multiple robbers after thousands of dollars were stolen from a Walgreens. It happened just after 3:30 a.m. at Walgreens Pharmacy located at 6244 Lake Worth Blvd. Police say one of the robbers was armed with a rod-style taser and the other had a handgun. The robber with the handgun went to the pharmacy where he placed the gun to the pharmacists' head, forcing her to remove controlled substances from the secure storage area. He then took the pharmacist by the hair and forced her at gunpoint to walk to the back office. While that was happening, the robber with the taser grabbed the front desk clerk, forced her to the ground and shocked her with the taser. The clerk was dragged to the back office, where she was held to the ground with a gun at the back of her head. While both employees were in the back office, the robbers forced the pharmacist to open the safe and proceeded to take about $5,000 in cash before fleeing in a black Chevrolet Impala. Police say the clerk was taken to an area hospital in serious condition, has gone under surgery and is recovering. The pharmacist was uninjured. The robbers allegedly surveilled the pharmacy for about 15 minutes before the crime took place.  cbsnews.com


Fond Du Lac, WI: 3 Michigan men arrested after Fond du Lac Walmart robbery where associate was held down
Three Michigan men - ages 24, 24 and 22 - were arrested on suspicion of robbing the Walmart Supercenter at 377 N. Rolling Meadows Drive Sunday evening. Fond du Lac police said officers responded to the store at around 7:45 p.m. Sunday for the report of a robbery that had happened about 20 minutes earlier. Police learned three suspects entered the store and made their way to the electronics department. One suspect requested to see an iPad and when the Walmart associate opened the locked door, another suspect in the group grabbed the associate and held them down while the two others grabbed nearly $3,600 worth of Apple watches. Officers began to review video, and Walmart sent out an alert to other Walmart locations in the state. Fond du Lac police then learned the suspects were observed at the Watertown Walmart but fled. Later, police received a call that the Whitewater Police Department intercepted the vehicle in the parking lot of the Walmart there. Fond du Lac police then responded to the Whitewater Walmart and took all three suspects into custody. They also recovered all of the stolen Apple watches. Police said all three men are convicted felons with extensive criminal histories that include convictions in Michigan, Indiana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. They were arrested and transported to Fond du Lac County Jail on suspicion of robbery, felony retail theft, disorderly conduct and battery.  fdlreporter.com


San Francisco, CA: 5 accused of SF Walgreens wagon heist plead not guilty
Five people are charged with participating in an organized crime ring after they allegedly rushed into a San Francisco Walgreens store with a wagon, and filled it up with stolen merchandise. On Monday, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said the defendants have been charged with numerous felonies in connection to the October 11 burglary. According to San Francisco police, officers saw a group of eight people rush into the Walgreens at 965 Geneva Avenue. The group was wearing masks, carrying empty bags, and pulling a wagon cart, police said. The group began quickly filling their bags and the wagon with store merchandise.  kron4.com


Viral video shows moment cop punches alleged shoplifter driving with $2K in stolen goods
A California cop punched a female suspected shoplifter in the head while arresting her for allegedly stealing $2,000 worth of goods from a mall, according to a now-viral video. The 50-second video, which has more than 780,000 views on TikTok, opens with the end of a car chase in Vallejo on Friday, when officers were attempting to cuff the suspect, who allegedly shoplifted with an accomplice from the Gateway Plaza shopping mall. The officer walks up to the driver, who had not been identified, and pulls her out of the car as she resists him. The officer then slams her against the car before grabbing her by her hair and tossing her to the ground. As the woman appears to resist while lying on the ground, the arresting officer can be seen punching her in the head, with police saying it was necessary to get her to comply.  nypost.com


Martin County, FL: Traveling thief meets his downfall in Martin County, ignores warning sign
A man from Broward County is the latest arrested in Martin County's mission to stop traveling thieves. The Martin County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) said on Monday, 43-year-old Fabio Joseph Fonseca of Deerfield Beach drove into county lines and stole $300 of merchandise from local retail stores. Photos taken by the sheriff's office show Fonseca's haul. Deputies say inside Fonseca's vehicle were stolen items such as beauty products, toys, suitcases and other merchandise. The sheriff's office also said drugs were found in Fonseca's possession. Fonseca was arrested and charged with retail theft and felony drug charges. CBS12 News spoke to law enforcement agencies across the Treasure Coast on Monday after a sign on I-95 North entering Martin County reads 'traveling criminals no bond!!'  cbs12.com


York County, PA: Eight charged with stealing $19,000 in merchandise from York-area Walmart
 

NRF has declared Oct. 26 as Fight Retail Crime Day

 A day of action to unite the retail community to advocate
for solutions in combating organized retail crime.