Using AI in the Fight Against ORC
Organized Retail Crime is on the Rise, but AI Can Stop This Troublesome Trend
The best way for retailers to avoid becoming a victim of organized retail crime is by relying on data and AI-driven fraud detection that can intelligently review every transaction for potential ORC activity. This may be accomplished by linking every transaction to as much identifiable information as possible, like a shopper's name, delivery address, billing address, purchasing method, receipt number, loyalty card and more. All this data is encrypted, ensuring safety for buyers while still providing retailers with the tools they need to mitigate ORC.

Then, if the retailer is experiencing a rise in crime, AI can analyze recent purchases for any patterns or commonalities that might suggest the presence of an ORC ring. Once identified as ORC, AI can recommend a way to break the ring, like blocking returns from a particular address or revoking loyalty program benefits from a particular user.

In addition, sometimes employees are involved in enabling ORC. This could take the form of an employee who is allowing outsiders to enter warehouses or a cashier that knowingly accepting returns without a receipt. AI-driven fraud detection can monitor which employees are connected to potentially fraudulent transactions, giving retailers the chance to intervene as soon as possible.

Finally, AI can predict future risks of ORC by noticing troublesome patterns early on while the professional fraudsters are still testing the waters.

Early and efficient detection of problematic patterns related to ORC, made possible by AI, can save retailers thousands of dollars every year. For example, in one case AI was able to link together store credits, gift cards and credit cards that were part of an ORC ring that was attempting to return $224,000 of merchandise for income across 215 stores nationwide.

Early detection of ORC rings can also help the business establish a reputation for being vigilant against crime, which will decrease the likelihood of these incidents over time. For retailers, protecting oneself from ORC is worth the investment in the short- and long-term. retailtouchpoints.com


Theft is Turning the Brick-and-Mortar Model Upside Down
But technology can reverse the tide

Rising retail theft seen threatening brick-and-mortar model
The dramatic rise in retail thefts at brick-and-mortar stores, well documented by the media, could be having a serious impact on the viability of physical stores in the future.

The current situation is likely already leading to less traffic in stores. A recent GlobalData U.S. consumer survey found that older Americans shopping online more frequently has more than doubled from 19% to 42% between 2022 and 2023.

While many older shoppers are skittish about shopping in person due to COVID concerns, "an increasing wave of violent retail crimes will encourage many older shoppers to choose other retailing options such as online shopping a channel they are already increasing their use of," said GlobalData Retail Consultant Consumer Custom Solutions Anoop Kumar.

The consulting and analytics firm noted that many retailers are increasingly turning to technology as a way to mitigate theft. This includes AI-powered analytics and radio frequency identification (RFID) inventory tracking. Some are using overhead cameras, trolley locks, smart gates, and fog machines.

Also, BJ's Wholesale Club, Lowe's, and IKEA are using autonomous robots and drones to track inventory and patrol parking lots to improve store safety and protect customers and workers.

But GlobalData points out there are downsides to taking these measures. This includes negatively impacting customer service and an atmosphere of distrust. seekingalpha.com


Moving From Passive LP to Active Loss & Fraud Detection
Retail & Hospitality: Combating retail theft & fraud
Speaking at a retail industry event recently, I quipped that I need to stop referring to Loss Prevention, because it really doesn't prevent anything. Instead, we should refer to the traditional approach as Loss Recording, which evoked chuckles in the room.

Today, Loss teams may invest tens of hours reviewing video in an attempt to confirm a suspicion that something nefarious may have happened - it is costly and time consuming, and it has very little effect on the problem. Less than 1% of all video recordings are even reviewed, so retailers are paying to store all that content too. Loss teams are not immune to the labor challenges either - loss is tracking exponential growth and the staff to investigate is reducing, creating an ever-widening gap.

Active loss & fraud detection

So how do we move from passive loss & fraud recording to active loss & fraud detection? While we will never eradicate loss, we can take a bite out of certain types of loss - Integrating SmartCameras running video analytics with the Point of Sale allows us to use AI to review higher risk transactions, such as returns, voids, refunds, and gift card activations, amongst others, and "look for" suspicious behaviors at the time and location of the transaction.

While most retailers will not interfere when the theft is being perpetrated by a consumer, for obvious safety reasons, the intelligence it provides may allow the retailer to take mitigating actions, such as limiting self-check use during periods of the day or week, which have shown to have a higher loss rate, forcing consumers to use a staffed lane.

While this will not prevent all theft and fraud, we can start to lessen the impact in some key areas and ensure staff is being effectively leveraged - any measurable reduction in what is a $100Bn problem, could significantly move the needle on this problem. blogs.cisco.com


Keys to Fighting Theft: ID'ing Shoplifters, Focusing on Customers & Using Tech
Three Design Tips for Fighting Shrink
Good store designers know to put themselves in their customer's shoes. Now that American retailers are shuttering stores and losing billions of dollars because of shrink, it is time for a sharper focus on the "journey" of another group entirely - retail criminals.

Sadly, in addition to imagining how people will shop the store, designers need to think harder about how they might steal from it, too.

1. Identify your 'core shoplifters.'

Today's retailers have impressive expertise in customer research. Those same research chops could be used to better understand who is pilfering merchandise, how they are pulling it off and where it is occurring. Internal investigations, third-party studies by loss-prevention experts and deep dives into security footage could provide useful data, including greater clarity into a retailer's "core shoplifters," store by store.

2. Be tough - but preserve the customer experience.

Given the severity of retail crime today, designers working on new or redesigned stores should be part of the loss prevention conversation much earlier. This could help them harmonize twin goals - deterring crooks and preserving the customer experience. The two are not always in conflict. Open, light-filled, high-visibility store environments are harder to steal from without being seen, and they also happen to be more pleasing to shop.

3. Incorporate new tech.

Store designers also could collaborate with tech vendors to better safeguard the customer experience and the merchandise. For example, could motion sensors in front of those lockboxes ping store associates each time a person stands in front of them for more than five seconds? retailtouchpoints.com


U.S. Police Street Crime Units Face Backlash
Street crime units face challenges following high-profile controversies

Street crime units have found themselves at the forefront of controversy and many have come under scrutiny following allegations of abuse and misconduct.

Units under scrutiny

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the local police department's street crime unit was accused in September of abusing their authority and injuring members of the public in a series of lawsuits alleging civil rights violations at the hands of police.

In Memphis, Tennessee, the local police department's SCORPION unit, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods, was disbanded following a January incident involving 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who was the victim of a brutal beating by members of the SCORPION unit.

The NYPD disbanded the anti-crime unit in August 2020 in the wake of social justice protests following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, and was resurrected in 2022 by Mayor Eric Adams. The department continues to operate under a court-appointed watchdog.

"Anti-crime units are often given broad discretion and encouraged to be overly inclusive in stops in an effort to combat crime, but in reality these actions lead to unconstitutional behavior, including racial profiling," Samah Mcgona Sisay is a Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told ABC News. abcnews.go.com


SF Mayor Breed Kicks Off Safe Shopper Initiative for the Holiday Season in Union Square

The public safety initiative will focus on Union Square and other key shopping areas to support the City's economic recovery, building on the recent expansion of organized retail theft efforts.

San Francisco, CA - Today Mayor London N. Breed joined Police Chief Bill Scott, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and business and community leaders to kick off the 2023 Safe Shopper initiative in and around Union Square for the holiday season. The City will again deploy additional police and community ambassadors to the area to enhance public safety and maintain a safe shopping experience for visitors, workers, and residents.

Year to date larceny cases have dropped 10% citywide since last year, which is why the Mayor has asked SFPD and other City departments to sustain prioritization of organized retail theft disruption, focusing on key tourist areas.

This past September, Mayor Breed announced that San Francisco received $17 million in a state grant to combat organized retail theft. This includes $15 million in funding to support SFPD's work to combat organized retail crime, which has helped to pay for overtime for SFPD officers to run targeted retail theft operations. Just yesterday, SFPD announced the arrest of four prolific organized retail theft suspects that have hit multiple locations throughout the City. sf.gov


Three Bay Area Lucky supermarkets just closed in one day
Following the news that Lucky supermarkets would close two Bay Area stores on Nov. 3, the grocery chain has now announced a third.

The Lucky store at 40055 Mission Blvd. in Fremont closed on Friday, along with the Dublin store at the Fallon Gateway shopping center and the Millbrae store at 45 Murchison Drive. SFGATE reported the impending Dublin and Millbrae store closures last month.

"Due to the underperformance of this store location, it is beneficial to the overall company health to close this store," read a statement about the Fremont location provided to SFGATE by Lucky parent company The Save Mart Companies. sfgate.com


Walmart has a shady way to prevent theft that Kroger, Target don't use

Despite Red Flags, Alerts, and Reporting, U.S. Mass Shooters Evade Early Intervention
At least seven out of 2023's 10 deadliest mass killings in the United States were carried out by attackers who exhibited some form of concerning behavior in the months or years prior to their attacks, according to analysis by The Washington Post. This includes a variety of warnings about the gunman who attacked a bowling alley and restaurant in Maine, where he killed 18 people.

Mass shooting perpetrators had made previous threats, been violent, alarmed family members, or signaled their intentions online, and in two attacks, there had been previous criminal charges or allegations of abuse, the Post reported.

"Very rarely do we see someone commit a mass shooting where there were no warning signs," Lisa Geller, a senior adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, told the Post.

In a session on behavioral threat assessment at GSX 2023, Joshua Shelton, CPP, a senior security specialist at FedEx, shared how an organization can generate a new focus on prevention in the hope of diminishing-if not eliminating-the chances of an attack. This plan of action included monitoring for eight key red flags or proximal warning behaviors, including the pathway to violence, fixation, identification, novel aggression, energy burst, leakage, last resort, and direct threat. The ones that pose the greatest level of risk, though, are the pathway, identification, and last resort. asisonline.org


Drako: AI could be the death of VMS
The dawn of artificial intelligence in the physical security industry could mean that days are numbered for video management software, Eagle Eye Networks CEO Dean Drako says.

AUSTIN, TEXAS - The dawn of artificial intelligence in the physical security industry could mean that days are numbered for video management software, Eagle Eye Networks CEO Dean Drako says.

AI will require security integrators and executives to become more engaged with the industry end-users operated in, focusing on designing solutions to their and challenges, he says. The ability of cameras to transmit and connect over cellular lines and connect to the cloud, making video available from anywhere without bridges or other hardware, is key.

"What happens is the VMS goes away," Drako told integrators during the Cloud Security Summit hosted by Eagle Eye Networks and Brivo. "No customer wants a video management system. If you go to a customer and say, 'What do you want your video system to do?' they don't say, 'I really want to manage my video. I really want to record video.'

"They have to manage their business. We're not going to be selling VMS to customers any longer with AI. We'll be able to watch the cameras, send alerts, notify them that something needs attention, and the business owner or security practitioner can take action." securityinfowatch.com


Digital Signage, Analytics Solutions Help Walmart Capture Shopper Information
An integrated Navori Labs QL digital signage and Aquaji AI- analytics solution powers 350 Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club locations in Mexico.

Navori Labs has deployed a unified digital signage software and AI-based camera analytics solution for Walmart Connect, the omnichannel retail media business of Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica. The solution is now live across all 173 Walmart Supercenters in Mexico and 180 of 200 in-country Sam's Club locations, with the remaining 20 stores to follow.

The integrated Navori Labs QL digital signage and Aquaji analytics solution allows Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica to gather customer engagement metrics and offer valuable analytics, including shopper demographics, to DOOH advertising partners that advertise their brands across their in-store digital media networks. Navori Labs is the only digital signage supplier to also offer an in-house-developed marketing analytics solution, ensuring seamless interoperability with QL's digital signage content management and playout workflow. avnetwork.com


OSHA and NLRB Collaborate on Enforcement
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently agreed to expand their partnership on legal enforcement.

In a memorandum of understanding that took effect Oct. 31, the two agencies pledged to coordinate on investigations, more broadly share information, conduct cross-training for staff at each agency and step up enforcement of anti-retaliation provisions of federal laws.

The two agencies will exchange information from complaint or investigative files when it's relevant to the other agency's enforcement area.

The information sharing between the federal agencies means employers could risk being investigated by more than one at the same time.

The new agreement continues a trend in the Biden administration to focus more on workers' rights across all federal agencies. In recent months, the Department of Labor has signed similar memorandums of understanding with the NLRB, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to coordinate more closely with each one on legal enforcement. shrm.org


Employee Disengagement Could Impact Workplace Safety
Just 31% of Employees Find Their Work Engaging

Gartner survey reveals engaged employees are more likely to stay at their organization and contribute more.

Less than one-third of employees report they are engaged, enthusiastic and energized by their work, according to Gartner, Inc. And this be a big problem since companies need employees to be engaged in their safety programs.

"Despite organizations making investments in engaging their employees, our research shows that almost 70% don't feel as engaged as they should be and aren't feeling a meaningful connection to their job," said Keyia Burton, senior principal, advisory in the Gartner HR practice, in a statement. "Figuring out how to actually impact employee engagement is a huge priority because it has a significant impact on several key business outcomes."

A June 2023 Gartner survey of nearly 3,500 employees found that those who report being energized and excited about their work are 31% more likely to stay at their organization, 31% more likely to go above and beyond (discretionary effort), and they contribute 15% more. ehstoday.com


Vendors Will Love This
Retailers Plan to Up Use of Instant B2B Payments
In an environment with high interest rates and the expansion of instant payment systems, retailers are shifting their payment preferences by leaving traditional methods and replacing them with faster and lower-cost systems such as real-time payments and instant ACH. Forty-two percent of retail firms in the U.S. predict they will rely less on checks for making B2B payments, paralleled by a similar decline in debit cards, at 42%, and cash at 20%. On the other side of the balance, they foresee increasing usage of real-time payments and same-day ACH by 54% and 40% respectively.

These are some of the key results drawn from the study "Corporate Changes in Payment Practices: A Deep Dive Into the Retail Industry," a survey of 125 U.S. payment executives at enterprise retailers conducted by PYMNTS Intelligence in collaboration with The Clearing House in June. pymnts.com


Starbucks Union Excluded From Planned Pay Increase
Starbucks has announced plans for global expansion and increased wages for its workers. However, some of the new perks will only be available to baristas who have not joined a union. This move comes despite a previous ruling by a National Labor Relations Board judge who found that Starbucks had violated federal labor law with similar measures. retailwire.com


'Don't go': People warned to avoid downtown SF during APEC

Over 80% of Americans worry about hacked retailers in 2023 Holiday Survey

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents expressed concerns about their personal and financial data being at risk during the holiday shopping season.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2023 -- Iris Powered by Generali ("Iris"), provider of a proprietary identity and cyber protection platform, today released the findings of its seventh annual Holiday Shopping ID Theft survey, an annual survey that polls consumers on their holiday shopping habits as well as key cybersecurity and identity theft concerns they have related to their holiday shopping plans.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents expressed concerns about their personal and financial data being at risk during the holiday shopping season. The number of respondents has continued to trend higher each year over the past five years - 2019 (67%), 2020 (66%), 2021 (67%), and 2022 (71%).

Most Americans (84%) say that past data breaches have impacted their willingness to shop with a specific retailer.

Close to three in five adults (58%) surveyed would be more likely to do business with a retailer, consumer brand, bank, or credit card provider if they were offered identity protection services. securityinfowatch.com


Security Leaders Underestimating Risks of the Cloud?
Most cloud moves found rushed as adopters underrate associated risks: Report

More than half of security leaders surveyed didn't understand the security risks associated with shifting to the cloud.

The respondents in the study revealed they are rapidly shifting to the cloud to do away with the lengthy application development and release cycles as they can't afford to wait around for critical new features. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents said they have moved their legacy applications to the cloud.

There is a major gap in understanding the security implications of this transition with more than half (59%) of the respondents saying they did not understand the security risks that accompanied shifting legacy applications to the cloud. Another 53% admitted to having just lifted and shifted to the cloud with most of the application code remaining the same.

Another drawback of blindly moving things to the cloud was found to be the cost associated with the move. "Fifty-two percent have suffered from cloud sprawl and bill shock since moving legacy applications to the cloud," said the report. "Seventy-seven percent of those impacted by cloud sprawl and bill shock have reconsidered moving applications to the cloud." csoonline.com


NSA Report Focuses on How to Protect Against Evolving Phishing Attacks
The National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. partners have released a new report describing the latest techniques in phishing attacks and the defenses organizations can deploy against them.

The Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) "Phishing Guidance: Stopping the Attack Cycle at Phase One" outlines tailored cybersecurity controls for Information Technology (IT) departments to reduce phishing attacks, also known as electronically delivered social engineering. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) co-authored the CSI.

Read the full report here.


FEMA, CISA Release Guidance on Planning Considerations for Cyber Incidents
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released the joint guide Planning Considerations for Cyber Incidents: Guidance for Emergency Managers to provide state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) emergency managers with foundational knowledge of cyber incidents to increase cyber preparedness efforts in their jurisdictions.

Emergency managers should be able to understand and prepare for the potential impacts of cyber incidents on their communities and emergency operations. FEMA and CISA encourage emergency managers to review this guide for recommendations on how to plan for and respond to cyber incidents.

For continued updates on efforts related to the guide, including webinars, please visit FEMA's webpage.


DOJ: Moldovan Charged, Arrested, And Extradited For Administration Of Site Involved In The Illicit Sale Of Compromised Computer Credentials
The FBI - Tampa Division, announces today the extradition and removal from the United Kingdom of Sandu Diaconu (31, Moldova) for crimes related to his administration of the E-Root Marketplace, a website that operated for years and was used to sell access to more than 350,000 compromised computers worldwide, including servers belonging to companies and individuals in the United States. justice.gov


The perils of over-reliance on single cloud providers

Microsoft introduces new access policies in Entra to boost MFA usage