INFORM Act Vote Could Come Tomorrow - It's Not Too Late to Show Your Support

U.S. House Preparing to Vote on INFORM Consumers Act
Cracking down on the online sale of stolen & fake goods that fuel ORC

RILA: Protecting Consumers Must be Priority for Congress

Lawmakers should seize end-of-the-year opportunity

Washington, DC - The U.S. House of Representatives will hold a suspension vote on the INFORM Consumers Act, bipartisan legislation to protect consumers from counterfeit and stolen goods being sold online. Retailers are urging Congress to get this crucial legislation over the finish line before year's end.

"Retailers continue to be harmed by organized retail crime at record levels. These are not petty thefts, and they are not victimless crimes; they hurt retail employees, customers, families and their communities," said RILA Senior Executive Vice President, Public Affairs Michael Hanson.

"We applaud and thank Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) for their tireless fight to get the INFORM Consumers Act enacted into law. Today's suspension vote will reaffirm support and cement the need for Congress to take quick and decisive action to enact this vital piece of legislation this year. The INFORM Consumers Act is supported by retailers, marketplaces, consumer groups, manufacturers, law enforcement and community groups.

"We appreciate all the support for INFORM and it is our hope this critical legislation will be enacted by the end of the year. Headlines from around the country, in cities large and small, illustrate the rapid growth of this problem, its impact on communities, and the urgency with which this legislation must become law. The failure to enact this vital piece of legislation would be a travesty for American consumers and all of those in the fight against organized retail crime." rila.org

California Doubling Down on ORC Efforts Over the Holidays
California Increases Efforts to Combat Organized Retail Theft Ahead of Busy Holiday Shopping Season

California Highway Patrol to saturate patrols at shopping centers throughout the state

Governor Gavin Newsom has increased efforts statewide to tackle organized retail theft ahead of the holiday shopping season. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF) is increasing their presence at shopping centers throughout the state and working with local law enforcement agencies to make arrests and heighten visibility.

"Californians deserve to feel safe especially as they head to stores this holiday season," said Governor Newsom. "We've doubled down on our efforts to combat crime with millions of dollars to deter, arrest and successfully prosecute criminals involved in organized retail theft. This year, shopping centers across California will see saturated patrols as CHP regional teams work with local law enforcement agencies to help make arrests and recover stolen merchandise."

Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 331 to extend and expand the CHP's Organized Retail Crime Task Force (ORCTF). The CHP's ORCTF regional teams collaborate with local law enforcement agencies and retailers to proactively address organized retail theft. Since the inception of the task force, the CHP has been involved in 1,296 investigations, the arrest of 645 suspects, and the recovery of 271,697 items of stolen retail merchandise valued at nearly $26 million.

Governor Gavin Newsom prioritized combating organized retail theft:

• Signed AB 331, extending the ORCTF sunset provision and investing $6 million annually in 2022-23 through 2024-25 and ongoing resources to provide a total of $15 million annually to expand and make permanent this task force.

• Investing $255 million in grants for local law enforcement over the next three years to combat retail theft.

• Providing $30 million over the next three years to support District Attorneys, effectively prosecuting theft-related crimes.

• Funding the creation of a new unit, in the Attorney General's office, with specialized investigators and prosecutors focused specifically on organized theft rings. gov.ca.gov

Crime-Fighting Facial Recognition
Facial recognition in surveillance keeps growing, but so do doubts

Biometric systems scrutinized in India, UK, US, Iran

Several deployments of new face biometrics for surveillance reportedly have failed to deliver on crime-fighting promises. According to a new report by United Kingdom-based non-profit No Tech For Tyrant (NT4T), police are using public facial recognition to prevent and solve crimes, "building on the myth that more police equals more safety."

Instead, the report says biometric surveillance is amplifying historical discrimination perpetuated by law enforcement in the area. Additionally, laws and legal institutions are not adequately protecting citizens against alleged surveillance abuses.

UK's face surveillance numbers under scrutiny

The Metropolitan Police scanned the faces of roughly 125,000 people in London between February 27, 2020, and July 16, 2022, but made only nine arrests.

The same document also suggests the number of cameras in the UK has increased 15 percent, from 79,022 to 91,081 over the last three years.

NYPD deploys Ring Neighbors

The New York Police Department announced plans last week to deploy Amazon's Ring Neighbors app, enabling police to access Ring camera video data posted by users and to request specific videos. According to Audacy, the police are rolling out the technology this week.

Officials told Audacy the technology would greatly help them tackle crime in the city.

Published Thursday, the report suggests several cities across the United States, including liberal bastions like San Francisco, are "turning to authoritarian tech to appear tough on crime," particularly to secure elections, but also for violent crime. biometricupdate.com

Election Results Showed that Voters Care About Crime
Op-Ed: With midterms over, The NY Times suddenly notices crime in the city
Remember, Gov. Kathy Hochul had claimed New York's crime surge was just a conspiracy theory spread by "media manipulators." The rape story (along with countless other terrifying incidents) might shatter that claim.

Even after the election, left-leaning outlets suggested that stories in The Post led to an unusually high turnout for Hochul's opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin, who'd made crime a central focus of his campaign, and for other GOPers. "Blood-and-guts headlines propelled Republicans in New York," Politico screamed, as if it were the headlines and stories - not the nightmare reality they depicted - that motivated voters.

That's totally backward: Fact is, New Yorkers (even many Democrats) do care about crime. They do want to know about horrific attacks, especially in their neighborhoods.

Readers didn't dismiss our coverage or pooh-pooh it but voted based on it - because it mattered to them: Zeldin got 30% of the vote in the city, though just 10% of voters here are Republicans.

Even Politico admitted crime was an "urgent" issue for New Yorkers, per polls. On Long Island, Siena found a whopping 90% of voters ranked crime as a very or somewhat serious problem.

That other outlets tried to downplay the surge and failed to report major stories was, frankly, nothing less than journalistic malpractice. Crime, particularly in the city, has surged since 2019, the year disastrous bail "reforms" were passed. Felonies citywide are now up 32%, murders 26%. Subway killings hit a 25-year high, including four in a three-week stretch.

New York's election results didn't prove readers don't want to know about crime; they proved the opposite. Papers like the Times simply care more about their agenda than about what their readers want to know. nypost.com

Despite Crime Crisis, Progressive DAs Win at the Ballot Box
All progressive DAs backed by billionaire George Soros win midterm races
Some district attorneys who have been labeled as "soft on crime" performed better than expected this past Tuesday. "There were candidates re-elected in places like Dallas, Houston. Progressive prosecutors were re-elected there despite projections that they might not be," explained Parker Thayer, an investigative researcher with the Capital Research Center.

Progressive DAs appeared to be on the chopping block as violence rose across the country over the past two years. Many voters ranked crime a top issue for the midterms. Another ominous sign for those on the far left, the recall of San Francisco's soft-on-crime DA Chesa Boudin earlier this year. But many of these far-left candidates won easily.

The triumphs were fueled by money from a single man, according to Thayer: George Soros. "These candidates, when they don't have the money of billionaires like George Soros, they really don't perform very well at all," said Thayer.

Soros pumped $128.5 million into the 2022 midterms, nearly twice as much as any other person. Much of his capital focused on district attorney races that are often poorly funded and overlooked by national interest. cbsaustin.com

Chicago Boosting Police Presence in Business District
Chicago police to increase presence on CTA during holiday shopping season
Ahead of a busy holiday season, the Chicago Police Department is making their presence known on the CTA. Commander Joe Bird of CPD's Public Transportation Section was at the Clark & Lake station Tuesday morning warning riders to stay safe this shopping season.

Chicago police say they'll have more officers in the downtown central business district, including on the CTA, as stores open earlier and stay open later during the holidays. With the addition of canine units, Bird said crime is down 17% this month on the CTA, compared to this time last year. He said it's the third consecutive month crime has declined. abc7chicago.com

PA House committee votes to impeach Philly DA Krasner, sending articles to the floor

UVA marks 599th mass shooting this year in America

US: 99.9M Cases - 1.1M Dead - 97.5M Recovered
Worldwide: 641.1M Cases - 6.6M Dead - 620.8M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 362   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 813

How Technology Helped Businesses Survive the Pandemic
Covid Positive: The Technological Upside To The Pandemic

The pace of technology accelerates

As horrific as the toll on life has been from Covid-19, the toll on business would have been much worse if not for the internet and the digital technologies that leverage it. Discussions around the importance of "digital transformation" have been going on for decades, but the Covid-19 pandemic has massively accelerated the pace at which companies are developing digital products and services. A McKinsey & Company report found "...a seven-year increase, on average, in the rate at which companies are developing these products and services."

As impressive as that is, the time it took for many companies to react directly to Covid-19 is even more impressive. The same McKinsey report found that survey respondents' companies moved 40 times faster than they would have expected when it came to implementing remote work. People estimated that "it would have taken more than a year to implement the level of remote working that took place during the crisis. In actuality, it took an average of 11 days."

Reliance on technology increases

Covid-19 also changed the way we live and work as millions of consumers rushed online as the pandemic unfolded. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that internet services saw usage increases from 40% to 100%, while video call services like Zoom saw a tenfold increase in usage.

As business executives, however, our reality is that we will remain more reliant on technology than ever. Our choice is to invest in keeping up with technology or be left behind. forbes.com

Good Sign Ahead of the Winter Season
Covid deaths and hospitalizations are falling in the U.S.
As the flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) have spread rapidly this fall - inundating and overwhelming hospitals and their staff across the country - Covid has not.

In fact, Covid-related deaths and hospitalizations have fallen in recent months, despite the emergence of new omicron subvariants that evade immunity from previous infections and vaccination.

According to NBC News data, Covid deaths have fallen consistently since Aug. 31, when the seven-day average of daily Covid deaths was at 571. A month later, on Sept. 30, the number fell to 475. By Halloween, 365 were dying per day, on average, from Covid. nbcnews.com

Younger generation experienced most workplace stress during pandemic

Residents 'revolt' over oppressive Covid lockdowns in China's Guangzhou

"62,000 New Security Officers Needed to Meet Demand"
UK: BSIA launches campaign to drive recruitment in professional security industry

The UK's private security industry needs 62,000 new security officers over the next 12 months to keep up with demand

Research was conducted among BSIA members, who are said to provide over 70% of private security services in the UK. Findings revealed that the private security sector needs to boost the number of licensed security officers by 62,000 to more than 450,000 over the next 12 months to meet growing demand.

The industry anticipates losing almost 20,000 officers from its workforce through factors such as retirement, Brexit and COVID-19.

To meet demand the BSIA has launched a major national initiative, 'People, Property, Places: Professionally Protected', to increase awareness of the crucial work that security officers carry out 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It also highlights that a career in professional security offers a wide range of benefits and opportunities that are open to anyone, from any background, ethnicity, sexuality and age group.

BSIA members also cite rising criminality, the ongoing 'substantial' terror threat level and more incidents involving members of the public with mental-health issues as factors driving increased demand for their services.

"As a sector we are moving quickly to attract more security officers into the industry, letting people know security can be a career of choice for team players who care about providing a professional service to protect people, property and places and who will commit to the training. Failure to achieve this could compromise public safety and some big events may not be able to happen as planned." ifsecglobal.com

Apple Stores: The Front Line of the Retail Union Effort?
How Apple Stores Went From Geek Paradise to Union Front Line

Store employees helped create some of the most valuable square footage in the US. Now they feel more like regular salespeople-so they're unionizing.

Behind the scenes, though, things have changed, as interviews with dozens of Apple Store employees across nine cities make clear. Apple Inc.'s retail jobs have started to feel a lot more like, well, retail jobs.

Workers say that whereas the focus of an Apple Genius used to be to impress customers with a high level of service, they and other employees are now increasingly pressured to upsell. They're pushed to prioritize "ownership opportunities," the company's euphemism for persuading people to buy new gadgets instead of repairing their old ones. They're also evaluated based on how many customers pay for an extended warranty through the AppleCare program and how many people they deal with per hour. Some stores email workers' stats to colleagues or post them on the wall in employee-only areas, with those of lower sellers highlighted in red.

Apple Store workers say the jobs were plum by retail standards until this transition, and for many they were dream jobs. Now, employees say, the sales pressure, exacerbated by understaffing, has made the jobs feel less Ted Lasso and more Severance.

Increasingly, workers have concluded that the only way to regain the Apple experience they signed up for, and hold the company to the values it preaches, is to unionize. After the Towson store did so a few months ago, management stopped using the sales tree. bloomberg.com

Store Closures Down Substantially in 2022
Store openings running ahead of a strong 2021

Consumers remain resilient, return to stores

Turning to off-price retail, industry leader TJX announced plans to open 150 new stores this year across its concepts on a base of nearly 4,700 total stores. Burlington plans to open 90 net new stores on a base of about 840 stores, and Ross Stores recently completed its 2021 store growth plans with the opening of 40 new stores in September-October, which took total openings for the year to 99 and the total store count to 2,019, including 1,696 Ross stores and 323 dd's DISCOUNTS.

Store closing announcements were down substantially in the first nine months of 2022 when compared with the same period last year. Among retailers announcing closings, Foot Locker is the leader, with plans to close 190 of its 2,800-plus stores. Foot Locker is also planning to open 100 new stores this year, however, so the net planned reduction is 90 stores.

Other retailers closing large numbers of stores include Bed Bath & Beyond, which recently said it will close 150 of roughly 770 namesake stores. Sears Hometown planned to close about half of its roughly 200 remaining stores, and Rite Aid said in April it plans to close 145 of its 2,400-plus stores, including 63 closings that were announced in late 2021. nrf.com

Holiday Hiring Down 37%
Retailers have scaled way back on seasonal help for Christmas
Amid a continued tight labor market, holiday help appears to be less in demand this year due to the souring economy. Retailers added 162,000 workers in October, down 28 percent from October 2021, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Challenger further found that, as of the first week of November, companies had announced plans for 592,400 hires for the holiday season, a 37 percent decrease versus last year.

"Companies may be reluctant to announce their seasonal hiring plans, even if they do intend to hire, due to economic uncertainty," said Andrew Challenger, SVP of Challenger, in a statement. "Some may not want or need to make a hiring push right now."

Target last year reduced seasonal hires but gave more hours to current staff over the season. Walmart and Kohl's are both planning similar tactics this year. Macy's also plans to hire less holiday help. retailwire.com

Retail Sales Up 1.3% in October
U.S. retail sales increase solidly in October
U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in October as households stepped up purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, suggesting consumer spending picked up early in the fourth quarter, which could help to support the economy.

The solid retail sales reported by the Commerce Department on Wednesday and signs of a slowdown in inflation raised cautious optimism the economy could avoid an anticipated recession next year or just experience a mild downturn.

"We might be in for a soft landing after all," said Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

Retail sales rose 1.3% last month after being unchanged in September. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales rising 1.0%. Retail sales are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation. They increased 8.3% year-on-year in October. reuters.com

Sally Beauty closing 350 stores during December

Dutch Bros. Coffee Stores Opening 150 New Stores for 2023


Quarterly Results

Walmart Q3 U.S. comp's up 8.2%, e-commerce up 16%, sales up 8.7%

Home Depot Q3 U.S. comp's up 4.5%, total comp's up 4.3%, sales up 5.6%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Director, Security Executive Protection (Special Services) job posted for Walmart in Bentonville, AR
The Director, Executive Protection (Special Services) manages a comprehensive, risk-based, safety and security program to support our executive leadership team. Safety and security are primary elements of the program, but members of this team also function as a medical first responder, protocol officer, and as an administrative aide. The position is based on site in Bentonville, AR. walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
 

Fraudster Stole Tens of Millions from Businesses
Top Zeus Botnet Suspect "Tank" Arrested in Geneva
Vyacheslav "Tank" Penchukov, the accused 40-year-old Ukrainian leader of a prolific cybercriminal group that stole tens of millions of dollars from small to mid-sized businesses in the United States and Europe, has been arrested in Switzerland, according to multiple sources.

Penchukov was named in a 2014 indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice as a top figure in the JabberZeus Crew, a small but potent cybercriminal collective from Ukraine and Russia that attacked victim companies with a powerful, custom-made version of the Zeus banking trojan.

Once inside a victim company's bank accounts, the crooks would modify the firm's payroll to add dozens of "money mules," people recruited through work-at-home schemes to handle bank transfers. The mules in turn would forward any stolen payroll deposits - minus their commissions - via wire transfer overseas.

The JabberZeus malware was custom-made for the crime group by the alleged author of the Zeus trojan - Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev, a top Russian cybercriminal with a $3 million bounty on his head from the FBI. Bogachev is accused of running the Gameover Zeus botnet, a massive crime machine of 500,000 to 1 million infected PCs that was used for large DDoS attacks and for spreading Cryptolocker - a peer-to-peer ransomware threat that was years ahead of its time.

Ultimately, Penchukov's political connections helped him evade prosecution by Ukrainian cybercrime investigators for many years. The late son of former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych (Victor Yanukovych Jr.) would serve as godfather to Tank's daughter Miloslava. Through his connections to the Yanukovych family, Tank was able to establish contact with key insiders in top tiers of the Ukrainian government, including law enforcement.

Sources briefed on the investigation into Penchukov said that in 2010 - at a time when the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was preparing to serve search warrants on Tank and his crew - Tank received a tip that the SBU was coming to raid his home. That warning gave Tank ample time to destroy important evidence against the group, and to avoid being home when the raids happened. Those sources also said Tank used his contacts to have the investigation into his crew moved to a different unit that was headed by his corrupt SBU contact.  krebsonsecurity.com

China Weaponizing TikTok Data?
FBI director says he's 'concerned' about China's ability to weaponize TikTok
FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on Tuesday he is "extremely concerned" that Beijing could weaponize data collected through TikTok, the wildly popular app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

Wray said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on worldwide threats that application programming interfaces, or APIs, that ByteDance embeds in TikTok are a national security concern since Beijing could use them to "control data collection of millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which can be used for influence operations."

In his opening remarks, Wray noted that while America faces cyberthreats from a variety of nations, "China's fast hacking program is the world's largest, and they have stolen more of Americans' personal and business data than every other nation combined."

Wray said the FBI has seen a surge in cybersecurity cases and as the numbers have increased so too has the complexity of the investigations. "We're investigating over 100 different ransomware variants and each one of those with scores of victims as well as a whole host of other novel threats posed by both cyber criminals and nation states alike."

He said that APIs in TikTok could be harnessed by China to control software on millions of devices, meaning the Chinese government could conceivably technically compromise Americans' personal devices.

Because Chinese companies are forced to "basically do whatever the Chinese government wants to do in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government ... that's plenty of reason by itself to be extremely concerned" about TikTok and the larger threat posed by Chinese cyber aggression, he said.  cyberscoop.com

Misconfigurations, Vulnerabilities Found in 95% of Applications
Weak configurations for encryption and missing security headers topped the list of software issues found during a variety of penetration and application security tests.

Google Forks Over $391.5M in Record-Setting US Consumer Privacy Settlement

Creating a holistic ransomware strategy

Nashville, TN: Months Long Investigation into Music City Pawn Locations Allegedly Dealing in Stolen Merchandise
A 10-month investigation by Fraud Unit detectives into four Music City Pawn locations, three in Nashville and one in Franklin, knowingly buying/selling stolen merchandise resulted in today's arrests of owner/operator Damon Holland, 52, and John Barker, 38. The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests/charges are anticipated.

The investigation began after Home Depot loss prevention personnel notified the Police Department Pawn Unit that Music City Pawn shops were selling a high volume of merchandise on their eBay store. Many of the items were new, in-box tools. Holland purchased such items from Barker, a known, habitual shoplifter. "Prices today are high enough without Nashvillians having to pay more because of stealing from retailers," Chief John Drake said. "Today's investigation, which involves the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise, is attempting to greatly reduce the market for stolen goods."

Officers this morning simultaneously entered all three Nashville Music City Pawn locations at 2638 Nolensville Pike, 3041 Dickerson Pike, and 3930 Lebanon Pike, and are in the process of seizing merchandise that appears to be new/stolen. Holland conducted business from the Franklin location. Franklin Police Department officers assisted in the investigation. Holland is charged with three counts of money laundering in Williamson County and one count of organized retail crime in Davidson County. At this time, Barker is charged with three counts of theft in Davidson County. Retailers Walmart, Target, Kroger, Publix, Lowes, Home Depot, CVS and Walgreens partnered with the Police during the investigation and in today's operation. nashville.gov

Yadkinville, NC: Yadkinville Gun store broken into second time, suspects came through ceiling
A gun shop that was broken into on Halloween has been robbed again. Employees say that just before 3 a.m. people broke into the shop and took over two dozen guns. They were broken into on Halloween when suspects rammed a car into the front of the store and took several weapons. The ATF is offering a reward for information about the break-in and a break-in at a gun store in Pilot Mountain. Police stated 27 Firearms were stolen.  myfox8.com

Collier County, FL: Woman arrested for attempting to steal thousands in merchandise from multiple Walmarts
A woman from Charlotte County was arrested after attempting to steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from multiple Walmarts in Collier County. Emily Sturgis, 46, drove from Port Charlotte with a partner to go shopping at Walmart in Collier County, according to the Collier County Sheriff's Office According to the report, the duo first went to a Walmart located at Davis and Collier boulevards. The pair attempted to steal a shopping cart with $2,500 worth of merchandise packed inside of it. They failed, and Walmart loss prevention sent an alert to other stores in the area, according to CCSO. Sturgis and her partner, who was not identified in the report, then went to a Walmart on Juliet Boulevard. CCSO said they then loaded $1,500 worth of items into a shopping cart. Sturgis then pushed the cart out of the store while her partner went to purchase sodas at a register. CCSO arrested Sturgis because she was in possession of the shopping cart. Sturgis was charged with grand theft, according to CCSO. nbc-2.com

Columbus, OH: 5 sought in theft from northwest Columbus store
Columbus police are looking for five suspects they said robbed a store in northwest Columbus last week. Police said that on Nov. 8 at approximately 2 p.m., the suspects entered the store on the 1500 block of Bethel Road and walked around the shop for several minutes. Two of the suspects distracted the store's employees as two others acted as lookouts. The fifth suspect then went behind the counter and took money from a deposit bag. When the employees realized what was happening, the suspects ran from the store and into a waiting vehicle. nbc4i.com