New York Gov Faces Backlash After Vetoing Retail Crime Task Force
NY governor slammed for rejecting retail crime task force while store owners lose billions to theft
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is under fire for vetoing a retail crime task force as retailers in the state report a loss of billions of dollars to shoplifting.

The bill, which received bipartisan support, would have created a panel of experts to outline ways to respond to retail theft in New York State. Hochul rejected the bill last week, sparking outrage from retailers and lawmakers statewide.

"Retailers throughout the state are extremely disappointed to learn that Governor Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have established the New York State Organized Retail Crime Task Force," Melissa O'Connor, the president and CEO of the Retail Council of New York State, wrote in a statement. "I spoke with Governor Hochul at length to discuss the need for immediate action and an effective, collaborative response to this problem. She made it abundantly clear that retail theft prevention will be a priority for her administration, and we look forward to working with her to achieve results."

O'Connor's organization highlighted state retailers' self-reported loss of $4.4 billion to shoplifting in 2022 as reason to form the task force.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers also condemned Hochul for the move, arguing that passing the bill would have brought "relief" to store owners.

"I am disappointed the governor did not sign this legislation," Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, said. "It is important to support our hardworking local businesses and this task force would review solutions to creating a safer environment for business owners as well as customers."

Retailers and law enforcement from the Capital Region have stressed the need for a statewide response to theft, noting that it is having a "devastating effect" on communities.  wpde.com

   RELATED: NY Legislature sends clear signal to shoplifting thugs: Go for it!


Walmart's Old-School Approach to Theft
Here's how Walmart fights retail theft and shoplifting
Retailers have taken some big steps to cut that down including Walmart allowing workers to shut off self-checkout lanes so managers can check for theft, closing select locations, and adding a police station to an Atlanta store. But, the core of Walmart's loss-prevention efforts remains fairly old-school.

Walmart Uses Classic Anti-Theft Measures

While it has tried some newer tactics, Walmart also uses a tried-and-true system to prevent shoplifting, according to Attorney911.com, a Texas law firm that defends people who get arrested on shoplifting charges.

"Walmart has loss prevention officers at every store that watch for shoplifters. They are on the floor and in the back watching everyone on camera," the company shared.

Loss prevention personnel are also watching the self-checkout lanes.

If Walmart catches someone stealing, in most cases, the police are called.

"Although anti-theft practices and policies can vary between stores, Walmart will often call the cops for shoplifting offenses. If you are caught shoplifting from a Walmart, a loss prevention officer may reasonably detain you at the store until the police arrive," the site noted.

Walmart does not share its specific theft protection programs, according to a statement sent to TheStreet.

"We have asset protection policies but don't publicly talk about security measures in our stores. However, we're always looking for ways to protect our associates, customers and merchandise," a spokesperson shared. charlotteobserver.com  thestreet.com


Building Customer Trust - Finding the Balance
Forbes: Locked Cases Aren't The Answer To Retail Theft And Shoplifting
Inevitably, anything that adds friction to the buying process, i.e., making the customer experience more difficult or more effortful, will reduce sales. The negative impact may be as high as 15 to 25%, according to Joe Budano, CEO of Indyme, a San Diego-based company that makes retail security devices.

Some sales may be pushed to other channels, like curbside pickup or home delivery. In the most optimistic case, these online sales still accrue to Target. Undoubtedly a portion of those online sales will go to other sellers, including Amazon.

If a customer always buys the same product, locked cases are merely an inconvenience. If a customer wants to compare brands, read labels, etc. locked cases are an insurmountable barrier. Customers who want to get the full product experience will gravitate to venues where that's easy to do.

Intellectually, customers may know that locked cases are there to prevent criminals and organized theft rings from stealing merchandise. But, at an emotional level, they also say, "This store doesn't trust its customers." A low-trust customer experience is never a good thing.

Trust is reciprocal. When someone trusts you, you are more likely to trust them. If they distrust you, you will distrust them. Retailers show they trust their customers with liberal return policies, instant refunds when a return is shipped, and an absence of security friction. forbes.com


Sen. Taylor "My City is Under Siege & Citizens in Terror"
Gov. Lee sends more THP troopers to Memphis - again
Gov. Bill Lee on Monday, Nov. 20, announced that more than 50 Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers would contribute to an ongoing "surge" over the next few weeks.

According to a press release, Lee sent "approximately" 40 troopers to Shelby County on Monday to contribute to the preexisting "Operation Grizzly."

On Nov. 27, another 15-20 troopers will join the effort "for the foreseeable future."

"Tennessee is implementing proven crime prevention methods to keep our communities safe," Lee said in a statement. "I commend our THP troopers for stepping up to enhance the law enforcement presence in Shelby County and help deter criminal activity in the area."

"At the same time, local officials must carry out their responsibility to uphold the law and hold criminals accountable, without resorting to soft on crime plea deals that have serious consequences and too-often result in more crime and more victims."

Lee's announcement follows a Nov. 15 letter from state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Eads, who pleaded for more help fighting crime in Memphis, including more state troopers.

"My city is under siege," Taylor wrote in the letter. He wrote that crime has left citizens "in terror."  dailymemphian.com


Memphis Q3 YTD Crime Stats

Memphis Shelby Crime Commission released its third-quarter data last week, indicating major violent crimes are up 6.4% in the city and 5% in the county through the first three quarters of this year compared to the same period in 2022.

Violent crime increases were largely driven by the number of murders and robberies. The former was up 45.2% in the city and 42.4% in the county, and the latter was up 19.7% in the city and 18.9% in the county.

Major property crimes were up 27.8% in Memphis and 26% in Shelby County in the first three quarters of the year, largely due to a 78.9% increase in auto thefts in the city and a 77.7% increase in the county.


Department of Justice deploying more resources to Memphis to combat crime announced Tuesday Nov. 28.
United States Attorney Kevin Ritz, who leads the office, made the announcement alongside several others including acting Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nicole Argentieri.

"Memphis like many places in our country is reeling from violent crime," Ritz said.

The new initiative, formally called the Violent Crime Initiative (VCI) will see the addition of federal prosecutors in Memphis, as well as investigations into organized crime. The initiative will also include a community engagement portion around crime.

Seven prosecutors from the DOJ's Criminal Division will be brought into the city, including senior members of its Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, who specialize in prosecuting organized crime, Argentieri said.

Argentieri said that data-driven investigations into organized crime will drive the enhanced prosecution work "We know that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem," she said.

The following day, MPD chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis told Memphis City Council members on that the department will start compiling data on alleged repeat offenders and become more "aggressive" in discussions about who should be kept in pretrial detention.

Memphis is the second city for the VCI to be implemented, Argentieri said Tuesday.

The first city was Houston, Texas in September 2022. In that case, the initiative targeted specific neighborhoods where gang violence was occurring, she said.

Since then, over 50 gang members have been prosecuted. dailymemphian.com


Just a Once in a Generation Interesting Crime Story
Biggest Mafia Trail in Italy in 30 Yrs. Sends Hundreds to Prison

Court Held in a Specifically Built High Security "Aula Bunker"

With over 300 defendants in the dock and lasting almost three years, the biggest mafia trial in Italy for 30 years has finally drawn to a close with the convictions of a former senator, two police officers and 200 mobsters.

A court in Calabria, in Italy's far south, convicted Giancarlo Pittelli, a former senator with Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, and two police officers on accusations of complicity with the local 'Ndrangheta mafia.

The crime bosses Saverio Razionale and Domenico Bonavota were handed 30-year sentences, with 29 others receiving sentences of more than 20 years, part of a total of 2,200 years of prison time handed down by the court.

The court heard thousands of hours of testimony, including from more than 50 former mafia operatives turned state witnesses.

The trial, which involved a total of 338 defendants, focused on the crime family of Luigi Mancuso, who previously served 19 years in an Italian prison for leading one of the most powerful crime families within the 'Ndrangheta, now the richest and most powerful of Italy's crime organizations that dominate the European cocaine trade. thetimes.co.uk


House ORC Bill Gets More Cosponsors
H.R.895 - Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2023
Four new co-sponsors signed onto the legislation (3 Republicans, 1 Democrat), bringing the total to 91 cosponsors (46 Republicans, 45 Democrats). It's picking up activity.


Leaked video from Dick's Sporting Goods shows just how brazen retail theft has become

4 Steps Retailers Can Take to Reduce Organized Retail Crime

Best Retail News in Three Years
NRF: Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Sees Record Number of Shoppers
A record 200.4 million consumers shopped over the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, surpassing last year's record of 196.7 million, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The figures surpassed NRF's initial expectations of 182 million shoppers by more than 18 million.

Consumers utilized both online and in-store channels throughout the weekend, with 121.4 million people visiting physical retail locations to browse items and make in-store purchases. This figure is consistent with 122.7 million in 2022. Online shoppers totaled 134.2 million, up from 130.2 million last year.

Continuing the trend that started in 2019, Black Friday was also the most popular day for online shopping. Roughly 90.6 million consumers shopped online on Black Friday, up from 87.2 million in 2022. By comparison, approximately 73 million consumers shopped online on Cyber Monday, down slightly from 77 million last year. nrf.com


Black Friday is Back & Cyber Monday Biggest Ever - Great News - Let's hope it continues through the Holidays!
Mall of America had more Black Friday Weekend traffic than 2019 - Up 4% - 515,000 people.
Americans spent a record $12.4 million on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Inc., which compiles the data.

On top of a great weekend for retailers, business research firm the Conference Board said consumer confidence ticked up in November after three straight months of decline.

Compared with daily visitor averages during the first three quarters of this year, top-tier indoor malls across the country saw a traffic jump of almost 300% on Black Friday, according to foot traffic tracking firm Placer.ai. Target stores saw close to 160% more visitors, and Best Buy more than 700%.

"This behavior deepens the thought that Black Friday remains the most significant retail day for most retail categories and retailers, but also that the value orientation of the day was even more of a draw considering the wider economic context that has dominated headlines in recent months."

But the traffic on Friday left retailers optimistic that people will come out for bargains.

The survey also showed that Americans' expectations of a recession in the next 12 months declined to the lowest level so far this year.

The Cyber Monday spending, according to Adobe, increased 9.6% from a year ago, making it the biggest online shopping day ever.

Buy-now-pay-later usage also hit a record high on Cyber Monday, Adobe said, contributing $940 million in online spending, up 42.5% over the previous year. startribune.com


More Positive Retail Data
U.S. Retail Traffic Remained Strong Throughout Extended Black Friday Weekend, According to Sensormatic Solutions Data

After a positive showing on Black Friday, in-store shopper traffic remained elevated throughout the weekend, up 3.5% year over year

NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland--Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, today shared its insights on in-store shopper traffic over the extended Black Friday weekend in the United States. The brand's analytics showed that shopper visits to brick-and-mortar stores and shopping centers from Nov. 24 through 26 increased 3.5% from 2022. Overall, year-over-year (YOY) shopper traffic has been relatively flat in 2023, down an average of just 2.4% throughout the year to date.

In further detail, Sensormatic Solutions traffic data showed:

• Traffic on Black Friday (Nov. 24) was up 4.6% from 2022 and seven percentage points compared to 2023's year-to-date average. This is the most significant YOY increase the industry has seen in recent memory (outside of pandemic years).

• YOY traffic on Saturday (Nov. 25) and Sunday (Nov. 26) was elevated, which is a departure from last year's trend. In 2022, shopper traffic dipped following Black Friday's modest gains, but foot traffic on Nov. 25 and 26, 2023, increased 2.8% and 1% YOY, respectively.

• Traffic over the extended Black Friday weekend was up 3.5% from 2022. As in years past, the peak shopping time across all three days was 2-3 p.m. businesswire.com


Dollar General Stores Overcharging Customers
157 Dollar General locations in Wisconsin allegedly overcharged customers, documents show

Dollar General has agreed to pay more than $850,000 for alleged violations of overcharging customers. Unfortunately, customers are out of luck. None of that money will go to customers.

We now know the locations of Dollar General stores in our area accused of overcharging its customers. TMJ4 first told you about these state violations last week, and now we're learning which stores state investigators said customers paid more than they should have.

According to state investigators, Dollar General overcharged customers a higher price at the register than what was posted on the shelf. Investigators said it happened in early 2023.

Documents obtained by TMJ4 show more than a dozen Dollar General locations in southeast Wisconsin overcharged customers for some items. Statewide, that number has grown to more than 150 locations.

Unfortunately, customers are out of luck. Documents show Dollar General didn't admit to any wrongdoing, but paid the state more than $850,000 in fines. However, none of that will go to customers.

A statement released from Dollar General reads in part: "Dollar General is committed to providing customers with accurate prices and we are disappointed any time we fail to deliver on this commitment."  tmj4.com


Here's who's moving in to empty Bed Bath & Beyond stores

Shoppers looking for experiences to fill empty storefronts left by box stores

Ex-Uber CISO Breaks Silence After Data Breach Conviction
"I went to my sentencing hearing fully prepared to go to jail"

Former Uber CISO Speaks Out, After 6 Years, on Data Breach, SolarWinds

Joe Sullivan, spared prison time, weighs in on the lessons learned from the 2016 Uber breach and the import of the SolarWinds CISO case.

A federal jury convicted the former Uber CISO months earlier on two charges of fraud for failing to alert regulators of a 2016 cybersecurity breach, but Sullivan was spared having to serve any prison time.

Judge William Orrick of the US District Court for the Northern District of California sentenced Joe Sullivan to three years of probation, 200 hours of community service, and a $50,000 fine. Prosecutors were seeking 15 months of prison time for the charges alleged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that Sullivan failed to report the breach that affected more than 50 million records for customers and Uber drivers.

Joe Sullivan, Post-Uber Breach

Now that the matter has been decided, Sullivan is free to speak out, and he plans to share his story in a keynote address at Black Hat Europe 2023 on Dec. 7. Sullivan says biting his tongue for over six years wasn't easy. "My lawyers wouldn't let me say a word," Sullivan laments.

In getting the minimum sentence, Sullivan says he was vindicated. "The judge said we did an amazing job on the investigation," he says. "We followed our playbook. What people don't understand is the company had D&O [directors and officers] insurance policies. We had a data-breach response policy that designated a specific lawyer we were supposed to call. The team called in that lawyer and called in PR. I looped in the CEO and kept him up-to-date."

Transparency Is the Most Significant Lesson

Sullivan says the key mistake he made was not bringing in third-party investigators and counsel to review how his team handled the breach. "The thing we didn't do was insist that we bring in a third party to validate all of the decisions that were made," he says. "I hate to say it, but it's more CYA."

Now, Sullivan advises other CISOs and companies about navigating their responsibilities in disclosing breaches, especially as the new Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) incident reporting requirements are set to take effect. Sullivan says he welcomes the new regulations. "I think anything that pushes towards more transparency is a good thing," he says.  darkreading.com


Target Cyber Fraud Leader Shares Scam-Busting Tips
8 Scam-busting Holiday Tips from a Top Retail Cybersecurity Expert at Target

Erin B., who leads Target's cyber fraud team, weighed in with her top tips for safe holiday shopping.

1 - Slow down and be on the lookout for red flags in every email and text

Before opening links or providing information, ask yourself: Am I expecting this email or text? Do I recognize the sender's email address and is it spelled correctly? If this email or text references a company I shop with, does it come from the company itself?

2 - Get in the habit of using different, strong usernames or passwords for all accounts

Another piece of advice? Keep track of all the sites that require you to use your email address as the User ID at login. And make sure that email account has very strong security and recovery information that's hard to guess and unique from all your other accounts. Consider using a password manager that will help you create unique and hard-to-guess passwords for all of your accounts.

3 - Or consider switching from passwords to passphrases and Multi-Factor Authentication

Another favorite way to come up with a memorable, ironclad password is to use a passphrase - a series of numbers, letters and symbols that stand for an easy-to-remember line or phrase. We also offer guests the option to opt-in and sign up for an added layer of security called Multi-Factor Authentication/One Time Passwords (MFA/OTP).

4 - If someone calls asking for gift cards as payment

We're seeing fraudsters contact people saying one of their loved ones is in trouble, and they ask you to provide gift card numbers to help them. If this ever happens, hang up and contact your loved one directly.

5 - Don't just click on a hyperlink - test it first

6 - Double-check gift cards before you buy

7 - Treat your own gift cards like cash

8 - If you think you've been scammed, report the incident ASAP corporate.target.com


AI: Dream or Nightmare?
Will the Profit Motive Fail Us on AI Safety?

The speed at which this technology is developing means that it could be a dream or a nightmare.

The mission of a for-profit company is, well, profit, the greatest return for investors. That's the profound ethical crisis at the heart of artificial general intelligence development ("Capitalism Works, Says ChatGPT" by Holman Jenkins, Jr., Business World, Nov. 22).

Open AI's nonprofit mission has been to guard humanity against the possible (and seemingly ever more probable) danger of unleashing artificial general intelligence on the world. I respect Mr. Jenkins's business and political insights, but it can sound naive to say that AI "won't soon replace the human knack for synthesizing the most valuable insight from a welter of facts." This seems to be exactly the goal of many transhumanists and the global elite. The speed at which this technology is developing means that it could be a dream or a nightmare in five years. If the controlling factor is mere profit, look for the nightmare. wsj.com


Design flaw leaves Google Workspace vulnerable for takeover
A design flaw in Google Workspace's domain-wide delegation feature, discovered by Hunters' Team Axon, can allow attackers to misuse existing delegations, enabling privilege escalation and unauthorized access to Workspace APIs without Super Admin privileges. Such exploitation could result in the theft of emails from Gmail, data exfiltration from Google Drive, or other unauthorized actions within Google Workspace APIs on all the identities in the target domain. helpnetsecurity.com


SMBs face surge in "malware free" attacks

Egyptian E-Payment Vendor Recovering From LockBit Ransomware Attack