Retail Crime Analysis
From the FBI's 2017 NIBRS Crime Index

2017 NIBRS Crime Data Released
Key Retail-Related Data from the FBI's Latest NIBRS Report
In 2017, 6,998 law enforcement agencies reported data to NIBRS. About 42 percent of law enforcement agencies who participate in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program are now submitting their crime data to NIBRS, with the goal of completing the transition to NIBRS by 2021.

Only 39 states are represented in this report. Many of the highest crime states - California, Florida, New York, New Jersey and most of Texas - did not participate.

According to the report, larceny-theft accounted for 71.7 percent of all property crimes in 2017. The FBI defines larceny as the following: Pocket-picking, Purse-snatching, Shoplifting, Theft From Building, Theft From Coin-Operated Machine or Device, Theft From Motor Vehicle, Theft of Motor Vehicle Parts or Accessories Property.

The graphs below show increases in burglaries, robberies and larceny at many retail locations over the past year. They also lay out the top states and times during which the incidents occur. 

Click here to see the full 2017 NIBRS Report
 

Burglary by Location
Increases in 6 out of 9 categories


 

Robbery by Location
Increases in 8 out of 9 categories

The fact that C-stores see the most robberies is no surprise. As the Daily reported in its 2017 Robbery Report, C-stores make up nearly 50 percent of robbery incidents.
 

Larceny by Location
Increases in 8 out of 9 categories

Brian King named Director of Asset Protection for Whole Foods Market Brian was the Director of Global Security (CSO) for YFAI for over three years before taking this new position. Prior, he was also a Global Director, Security (CSO) for Visteon Corporation for 12 years and a Divisional Vice President of Loss Prevention for Kmart for 11 years. Congratulations Brian!

Doug Ramey named Senior Group Manager - Field Investigations for JCPenney Prior, Doug was the Senior Director, Investigations for Target for over two years before he retired. While at Target for over thirty years, he held positions as an Investigations GAPTL and Senior GAPTL. Doug was also a Regional Loss Prevention Director for Cook United Incorporated. He earned his Bachelors degree in Business Administration and Management from California Coast University. Congratulations, Doug!

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ALL-TAG's Q-Tag® Recognized with Most Innovative In-Store Solution Award for 2018

ALL-TAG, a manufacturer of U.S. made RF EAS Labels, and a leading supplier of AM and RF Anti-theft Security Tags, Security Labels, and other loss prevention products, was recently awarded "Most Innovative In-Store Solution" of the year for the Q-Tag, at the 2018 Fraud Awards.

The UK Retail Risk Conference hosted the 2018 Fraud Awards. The event recognized the technological advancements and innovative approach that ALL-TAG's Q-Tag brings to the market.

To qualify for the "Most Innovative In-Store Solution," the judges looked for innovative approaches to an existing, tried and tested solution or genre. The solution had to be from either a vendor or be an in-house retailer solution.

"It's a great honor to receive this recognition for the Q-Tag," commented ALL-TAG Europe's General Manager, Tim Moore. "We faced some stiff competition, and this award is a testament to the innovation delivered by the Q-Tag in a very mature market where genuinely new ideas are rare."

"The global response to our launch of the Q-Tag has been amazing," commented ALL-TAG's Vice President of Sales, Andy Gilbert. "It is very challenging to create a revolutionary EAS hard tag these days, but the Q-Tag truly has tackled this objective."

For additional information about products mentioned in this release, or to learn more about ALL-TAG, please visit https://all-tag.com.

Why an RFID Strategy Is Important for Retailers
Radio-frequency identification has helped companies like Macy's virtually eliminate errors and claims costs in the supply chain

While a report published by IDC earlier this year notes that nearly 8 in 10 retailers have set aside funds to spend on visibility platforms, including radio-frequency identification, research out of Auburn University's RFID lab indicates that such technology could potentially remove claims costs in the supply chain.

The study, which reviewed the flow of product information of eight retail brand owners and five retailers from June 2017 through July 2018, found that order accuracy for brands using RFID tags to capture information and reconcile shipments exceeded 99.9 percent.

"In an era of omni-channel retail - which demands high inventory accuracy - the errors created in the supply chain propagate downstream and ultimately impact a retailer's ability to meet customer demand in a timely manner," the study's authors write. "As our results suggest, several of these errors found at the store or in direct shipments to the consumer via a retailer's fulfillment center are caused by the upstream disparity between the information flow and the physical product flow amongst brands and retailers. RFID technology eliminates the errors commonly found in the process, ensuring the accurate flow of information and products."

Despite the already widespread use of RFID in the industry, analysts from Frost & Sullivan say that retailers need to adopt the technology, along with videos, cameras and data analytics, to keep track of inventory and improve customer experience management.

Ram Ravi, the firm's industry analyst for industrials, states that such tools will strengthen investments in handheld readers and smart point-of-sale solutions. "RFID sales will get a further boost from the intensifying focus on loss prevention, inventory management and customer behavior analysis," he says.

Macy's is one retailer that has notably benefited from deployment of RFID. In 2016, it announced a plan to expand use of the technology to track 100 percent of items in all stores by the end of 2017, according to RFID Journal. According to an article in Supply Chain Dive, Macy's is tagging individual apparel items for 900 locations with an accuracy rate of 97 percent. biztechmagazine.com

Bug Hunting Is Cybersecurity's Skill of the Future
The vast majority of white hat hackers who reported that they were looking for jobs in cybersecurity said that their bug hunting experience helped them land a job, according to Bugcrowd's 2018 Inside the Mind of a Hacker report.

The report looked at the community of white hat hackers to better understand the skill sets and career aspirations of more than 750 security researchers and found that 41% of white hat hackers are self-taught. In addition, 80% of bug hunters said that their experience in bug hunting has helped them get a job in cybersecurity. infosecurity-magazine.com

Deception: Honey vs. Real Environments
A primer on choosing deception technology that will provide maximum efficacy without over-committing money, time and resources.

Deception technology is offering defenders the ability to finally gain a rare advantage over adversaries by doing something that other forms of defense can't: provide early and accurate detection by planting a minefield of attractive decoys to trip up attackers. We've seen examples of this type of defense used by the FBI and other top law enforcement to catch criminals such as child pornographers and, more recently, egregious financial theft.

Decoys are designed to catch early-stage activity as the adversary looks to understand the network and how to find its target. I call this early stage of an attack "casing the joint," and my research has shown that interrupting this stage - ultimately, reducing the dwell time of a potential attack - is crucial to protecting data. Defenders can watch what is happening, learn more about the nature of the attack, and better understand the way that the attacker is moving through a network or even a cloud-based file share.

More organizations are starting to look at deception as a way to plug the gaps of existing deployed security solutions such as data loss prevention, encryption, access management, and user behavior analytics. But how can security teams determine which form of deception is the right one for their organizations? It's up to each organization to determine which deception approach makes the most sense for them. darkreading.com

Business E-Mail Compromise Scheme Targeted Thousands of Sr.-Level Exec's
Nigerian National Sentenced to 45 Months in Federal Prison
ADEYEMI ODUFUYE, also known as "Micky," "Micky Bricks," "Yemi," "GMB," "Bawz," and "Jefe," 32, a citizen of Nigeria, was sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 45 months of imprisonment for his supervisory role in a business e-mail compromise scheme.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Odufuye and others, including Olumuyiwa Yahtrip Adejumo, operated a business compromise scheme that targeted hundreds, if not thousands, of CEOs, CFOs, controllers and others at businesses, nonprofit organizations, and schools in Connecticut and across the United States. As part of the scheme, Odufuye and others sent e-mails addressed to executives that were made to appear to be sent from the legitimate e-mail address of the CEO or other executive from the business. The emails were sent with the intent of having the recipients send or wire money to bank accounts used by members of the conspiracy. justice.gov

New Android Malware Can Steal Money From PayPal
An Android Trojan virus has been discovered that has the ability to steal money from PayPal. According to We Live Security, the malware, which is hiding as a battery optimization tool distributed via third-party app stores, "combines the capabilities of a remotely controlled banking Trojan with a novel misuse of Android Accessibility services to target users of the official PayPal app." pymnts.com

49% of Cloud Databases Left Unencrypted
About half of all databases are left unencrypted - one of several security practices researchers say businesses overlook when protecting information stored in the cloud. Businesses also leave information vulnerable in the cloud by failing to implement MFA and configure Kubernetes settings, new research reveals. darkreading.com

63% of UK retailers plan to beef up cyber security during holiday season

Payments provider ACI Worldwide partners with BioCatch to reduce online and mobile banking fraud with behavioral biometrics

'Live in NYC' 2018 at the NRF Big Show
#2 Most Watched

Technology: Redefining Loss Prevention

The Future of LP/AP

Mike Lamb, VP of AP, Kroger
Mark Stinde, VP of AP, 7-Eleven
Kevin Colman, Group VP of AP, Macy's

With retail rolling out a multitude of new technologies faster than ever before, how are the core LP/AP executives in the store and at corporate being impacted? How involved are we in these rollouts on the front end? And on the back end, does it change the essence of LP's training, awareness, and investigative abilities?

With e-commerce fraud growing and a number of LP/AP executives now managing those processes, we now have a slight, invisible merging of IT Security and Loss Prevention that is being talked about. How far will this evolve?

In this roundtable discussion, three industry leaders share their perspectives on how technology is impacting LP's role now and in the future.

Episode Sponsored By

Watch the full 'Live in NYC' 2018 video series here.

Sting uses fake Amazon boxes, GPS to catch would-be thieves
The explosion in online shopping has led to porch pirates and stoop surfers swiping holiday packages from unsuspecting residents. The cops in one New Jersey city are trying to catch the thieves with some trickery of their own.

Police in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from New York, are teaming up with Amazon to install doorbell cameras and plant dummy boxes with GPS tracking devices at homes around the city. They didn't have to wait long Tuesday for someone to take the bait.

"We had a box out on the street for three minutes before it was taken," said police Capt. James Crecco, who is overseeing the mission. "We thought it was a mistake at first." The suspect was caught, Crecco added.

Exact figures on porch thefts are hard to come by. A company commissioned by comparison-shopping service insuranceQuotes.com surveyed 1,000 people and extrapolated that 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen from their home. That would be nearly one in 12 Americans.

Amazon - which is providing equipment free for the Jersey City program - declined to provide figures on how many packages are reported stolen or missing, as did UPS and FedEx.

Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly told The Associated Press that the locations for cameras and boxes were selected using the city's own crime statistics and mapping of theft locations provided by Amazon.

"Most of the package thefts we've made arrests on revolve around (closed-circuit TV) or private surveillance cameras that give us a still image," Kelly said. "With the bait packages, some will be under video surveillance, and some will have GPS."

Kelly said the program has undergone a legal review and has been approved by a municipal prosecutor. He said the city is hoping to expand the program with assistance from Amazon, the nation's largest online retailer. abcnews.go.com

Friendly Fraud - The Headache That Arrives After Holiday Cheer Ends
Black Friday and Cyber Monday can undoubtedly do wonders for revenue, but many merchants forget that the holiday season also brings about increased headaches and costs associated with friendly fraud. Much like a New Year's hangover, the real pain of this headache isn't usually felt until right after the holidays are over.

Often resulting in chargebacks, friendly fraud occurs when consumers receive their credit card statements and the reality of their expenditure triggers buyer's remorse. As a result, the consumer contacts their card issuing bank to dispute or reverse the charges. Fearful of losing valued customers, and often without detailed transaction information, issuers tend to offer refunds or initiate chargebacks.

To prevent severe losses, merchants and issuers must collaborate and share transaction information to resolve issues at the earliest possible stage. With rising sales ringing through the registers on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire holiday season, merchants need to ensure they deliver the best customer experience while arming themselves against chargebacks at an already frantic time of year. "The Chargeback Triangle" study found that collaboration between issuing banks, merchants, and consumers can significantly mitigate fraud and chargebacks. paymentweek.com

How top online merchants' conversion rates fared in the Cyber 5

80% of younger shoppers make impulse purchases online-here's how sites trick you into spending

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