Podcast: Attacking the ORC Escalation
Tony D'Onofrio on the State of Loss Prevention

Pleasure to speak with Jeff Roster, Advisory Council Member at George Mason University for Retail Transformation and formerly a lead retail analyst at Gartner, on the state of loss prevention including the recent flash robs in California and other states. Topics discussed included an analysis of the problem and its correlation to the growth of Organized Retail Crime (ORC); What caused the escalation; What's the solution; How can tech be part of the solution; What's the state of the art in loss prevention; What do you think 2022 will look like?

The latest technologies including GPS Tracking, RFID, new more aggressive EAS products, and computer vision are discussed as potential solutions. The need for greater cooperation between law enforcement and retailers is emphasized plus the need for federal legislation to control this across state lines problem.

As reported by NRF in their latest retail security survey, about 69% of retailers said they had seen an increase in ORC activity over the past year. The research cited reasons such as COVID-19, policing, changes to sentencing guidelines and the growth of online marketplaces for the increase in ORC activity.

Most alarming: Retailers report these gangs are more aggressive and violent than in years past. Some 65% of respondents noted the increase in violence, while 37% said ORC gangs were much more aggressive than in the past. For comparison, in 2019, only 57% said ORC gangs were more aggressive with 31% saying they were much more aggressive.

Listen and join the conversation on how we attack the problem of ORC and its recent flash rob escalations in California and other states.

Click here to listen


Industry 1st: Senator Requests DHS & DOJ Strategy & Response to ORC Epidemic
Grassley demands briefing from DHS, DOJ on strategy to combat spike in smash-and-grab attacks across US

Smash-and-grab looters have been targeting stores across the nation in recent weeks

FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is demanding the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explain its strategy to address the spike in organized retail theft and "smash-and-grab" attacks on businesses across the nation.

Smash-and-grab looters have been targeting stores across the nation in recent weeks, robbing retailers of thousands of dollars in merchandise in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, New York and Minneapolis.

Grassley, R-Iowa, requested a briefing from DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the status of organized retail crime across the United States, as well as the steps federal law enforcement are currently taking against this type of crime.

"While ordinary retail theft is a matter best handled by local law enforcement, the recent spate of flash-mob attacks appear to rely on organized criminal rings and internet communication, both for coordinating attacks as well as for the resale of stolen goods, which invoke the jurisdiction of federal law enforcement," Grassley wrote in separate letters to Mayorkas and Garland, obtained exclusively by Fox News.

"It is particularly troublesome if the Department of Justice takes an interest in working to prevent an alleged 'spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence' against local school administrators, act that are often minor violations of local law, or even noncriminal, but is not able to devote sufficient resources to combating organized criminal rings operating in cities across the country and the interstate transportation of stolen goods," Grassley wrote.

"I would like to know how the agencies under your authority are working on this important issue, what they are finding in terms of trends, which sections of the criminal code provide the best tools for enforcement, what initiatives they are undertaking on this issue, what additional legislative tools might be necessary in that regard, and what further steps can be taken to combat organized retail crime," Grassley wrote.

Grassley asked that staff for both Mayorkas and Garland contact his office to set up a briefing.

Meanwhile, the White House said earlier this month that the root cause of the spike in organized retail crime is the COVID-19 pandemic, while stressing that administration officials are working with a number of communities across the nation to "crack down" on crime in those neighborhoods. foxnews.com

Incoming NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell vows to tackle gun crime
Incoming NYPD top cop Keechant Sewell vowed on Wednesday to be "laser-focused" on gun crime and take violent criminals off the streets as she was named the first female police commissioner of the country's biggest police department.

Sewell, the current Nassau County chief of detectives, was officially named NYPD commissioner on Wednesday by Mayor-elect Eric Adams.

Asked about the state's soft-on-crime bail reform law, which has led to numerous repeat offenders being cut loose, Sewell was on the same page as the mayor-elect.

"I think judges have to have the discretion to keep dangerous people off the street," she said. "It's really about balance."

She added, "We will be laser-focused on violent crime with an emphasis on guns. We will arrest violent criminals, take guns off the streets and build the cases to help keep them off."

Last week, Adams slammed bail reform for not giving judge's enough power when it comes to violent crimes.

The mayor-elect reaffirmed the need to bring back plainclothes officers to crack down on gun violence in the city.

"Within one year, you're going to see real change in how we handle crime," Adams said, adding that his approach would include partnerships with district attorneys, judges and crisis management teams to prevent crime in the first place. nypost.com

C-Store Crime in UK Continues to Grow
UK Retail Forecourt crime continues to grow

New figures have shown that forecourt fuel crime is continuing to grow, albeit at a slower pace.

Data from the British Oil Security Syndicate's latest Forecourt Crime Index has revealed that the volume of forecourt fuel crime reported during the third quarter of 2021 increased by 9%.

In the three months to 30 September, the BOSS Forecourt Crime Index climbed to 185 from 170 in the previous quarter. The 9% quarterly increase was down on the prior quarter's 20% growth due to drive-of incident reports rising at a slower rate in the period.

The index has also revealed that the average number of incidents per site increased to 18.7 from a previous 17.1. However, the average litres of fuel taken per incident rose by 20.5% to 56.3 litres.

"Motorists claiming to have No Means of Payment is the biggest challenge facing forecourt operators and accounts for more than two thirds of all forecourt fuel crime by value. Fuel crime can cost an average forecourt outlet more than £10,000 in lost revenue every year. theretailbulletin.com

The Workplace was Safer in 2020

Workplace fatalities for 2020 decreased by 10.7% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On Dec. 16 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released an annual report on workplace fatalities for 2020 and it showed that workplace fatalities for 2020 decreased by 10.7% in 2020 compared to 2019.

The total of 4,764 workplace injuries represented the lowest annual number of workplace injury deaths since 2013.

While the report does not include COVID-19 illness deaths, the decrease in hours worked, resulting from the economic disruption triggered by the pandemic, likely played a substantial role in the decline.

Looking at the fatality rate, it also dropped from 3.5 to 3.4 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. This means that in 2020 a worker died every 111 minutes from a work-related injury.

Some of the key takeaways from the report, as shared from the National Safety Council are:

- Hours worked decreased 9% in 2020, from 296.6 billion hours to 269.9 billion

- Transportation incidents remained the most frequent type of fatal event with 1,778 fatal injuries, accounting for 37.3% of all work-related fatalities

-Although the overall fatality rate decreased, the fatality rate among Hispanic or Latino workers increased, from 4.2 to 4.5 deaths per 100,000 workers

-Unintentional overdose from nonmedical use of drugs increased 24% and accounted for 388 deaths, compared to 313 in 2019

-Suicides decreased 15.6%, from 307 in 2019 to 259 in 2020, representing the lowest count for occupational suicides since 2015 ehstoday.com

Former Netflix VP IT Orchestrated Over a Dozen Kick-Back Schemes
This guy was out of control - No wonder he was caught.

Former Netflix Executive Sentenced To 30 Months For Bribes And Kickbacks From Netflix Vendors

Jury Earlier Returned 28 Guilty Verdicts Convicting Michael Kail of Fraud and Money Laundering for Pay-To-Play Payments from Tech Startups Seeking Netflix Contracts

-Michael Kail, the former Vice President of IT Operations at Netflix, was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for his convictions for honest services wire, mail fraud, and money laundering, Kail was also ordered to forfeit $700,000, pay a $50,000 fine, and serve a three year term of supervision upon release from prison.

On April 30, 2021, after a three-week trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts on 28 of the 29 counts charged. The jury also made findings to support the forfeiture of property Kail had purchased with the proceeds of his fraud.

Kail, 52, of Los Gatos, was employed at Netflix as the Vice President in charge of IT Operations from 2011 until July 2014. Kail, as Netflix's Vice President of IT Operations, approved the contracts to purchase IT products and services from smaller outside vendor companies and authorized payments to them. Evidence produced at trial proved that Kail solicited and received bribes and 'kickbacks' from nine tech companies providing products or services to Netflix. In exchange, Kail approved millions of dollars in contracts for goods and services provided by them to Netflix. Kail received over $500,000 and stock options from the outside companies. He used his kickback payments in multiple ways, including to pay his personal expenses and to buy a home in Los Gatos, California.

Continue Reading on Page 2

Family Dollar Complaints Secret Until Now
The cost of Family Dollar's low prices: Its workers describe 80-hour weeks, sleeping in chairs, and snakes in the stockroom
Insider spoke with more than 30 former employees at Family Dollar, including some who said they were forced to work 80-hour weeks in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Some said they were held up at gunpoint. Some said that their bodies broke down during the work and that they needed surgeries after to fix medical problems. Some even slept at work.

The former employees, who were largely managers, said they were generally paid less than $50,000 a year, with no overtime, even though they regularly worked long hours. Under US labor laws, employers generally don't need to pay managers overtime.

But conversations with the former Family Dollar managers suggested that they were managers in name only and that the company may have called them that in order to avoid paying them overtime.

Insider obtained the names of nearly 1,000 Family Dollar workers from a public court filing in a lawsuit Family Dollar filed to try to avoid paying its arbitration bill. Insider reporters had substantive conversations with 32 of the former workers, most of whom said they received a cash settlement in arbitration.

Their complaints have been kept secret until now. businessinsider.com

CA AG Says Walmart Dumped 80 Tons of HW
California sues Walmart over hazardous waste disposal
California officials on Monday sued Walmart Inc, accusing the retail giant of illegally dumping pesticides, lithium batteries and other hazardous materials in landfills across the state that are not equipped for such waste.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and others alleged in a lawsuit filed in Alameda County state court that Walmart unlawfully disposes of more than a million items a year containing substances dangerous to the environment, in violation of state laws.

California investigators also made about 60 visits to inspect trash compactors at Walmart stores across 13 counties, the complaint says.

The plaintiffs, which include 12 district attorneys and California's Department of Toxic Substances Control, described Walmart in a press release as a "repeat offender" when it comes to waste disposal. reuters.com

Starbucks Union Fever Spreads to DC
Capitol Hill Starbucks employees start push to unionize
A Capitol Hill Starbucks is aiming to be the second store in the U.S. to unionize.

A Buffalo store unionized earlier this month, making it the first in the country. The Seattle-based coffee company has actively fought against unionization for decades. komonews.com

Security Industry Association
SIA Grants Training Course

NEW! Learn How to Navigate and Leverage Federal Grants for Security Projects - Including Commercial and Non-Federal Projects!

SIA's Grants Training Course is the first assessment-based training program designed to help security integrators and manufacturers advise their customers about how to effectively identify federal grant funding opportunities that could be used for critical security investments and projects - including commercial and non-federal projects.

This self-paced, on-demand e-learning course is comprised of three modules (12 lessons) that cover essential aspects of the federal grants life cycle and specific security-related grant programs. Each interactive module also includes a participant workbook with templates, outlines and exercises to reinforce key learning objectives and aid in on-the-job planning for grant applications.

Each participant must successfully complete the knowledge check for each module to earn a Certificate of Completion. securityindustry.org

Inside the city's Wild West of package deliveries
The soaring number of residential deliveries is altering how the city uses its industrial space, streets, sidewalks and sanitation services and giving rise to the question: Who does the city belong to, the people or their packages?

● New York City residents receive an average of 2.3 million packages per day. That's according to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Freight Systems. The daily figure is up from 1.8 million pre-pandemic. Household deliveries now outpace those to businesses, according to the center's director, José Holguín-Veras.

● Online shopping has exploded. In the third quarter of the year, Americans allocated 13% of their total retail spending to e-commerce goods-a total of $214.6 billion. A decade ago, less than 5% of goods were purchased online.

● Shippers are fighting for warehouse space. Nearly two-thirds of industrial leasing activity in New York's outer boroughs is for e-commerce fulfillment centers, according to commercial real estate firm JLL.

● The pandemic is accelerating freight growth. A recent report from the city Department of Transportation found that freight crossing the Hudson River jumped 50% from January 2020 to September 2021.

● Cardboard recycling volume is up. Collection of paper garbage, which includes the cardboard detritus of many packages, was 279,417 tons through November this year, a 3.6% increase over the same period last year.

The City Council has passed relevant bills that are working their way toward implementation: requiring more dedicated loading zones and a bidding process for new microdistribution centers. The council also is considering charging delivery companies several cents per minute for the time they spend at the curb. crainsnewyork.com

New Digital Store Concept
Chipotle doesn't want you to order at its newest restaurant
Chipotle is soon opening a new location in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio that eliminates the dining room and in-person ordering, forcing customers to only order ahead through its app or website. The restaurant will also have a drive-thru - which the company calls a Chipotlane - as well as a walk-up window for order pickups and a small patio section where customers can eat their meals.

Around 10% of Chipotle's roughly 3,000 US locations currently have a drive-thru, which have become increasingly important during the pandemic with basically all the major fast food brands building more of them.

The company said that locations featuring a Chipotlane have "approximately 15 percent higher sales compared to non-Chipotlanes opened during the same period." Chipotle (CMG) has reconfigured 12 existing restaurants to add a drive-thru, and the company revealed that those locations are experiencing an increase in sales. cnn.com

OSHA Compliance Safety & Health Officer & Brother Plead Guilty of Extorting Contractors in NJ

Rite Aid to close 63 Stores


Quarterly Results

Nike Q2 North America revenue up 12%, DTC up 9%, revenue up 1%

Rite Aid Q2 retail pharmacy comp's up 4.4%, front-end up 0.4%, pharmacy up 5.9%, total revenue up 7.9%
 

Q3 Ransomware - The Players & Activity
As Ransomware Variants Shift, Incidents 'Still on the Rise'

LockBit 2.0, Conti and BlackMatter Dominated Attacks in Q3, Researchers Find

For anyone hoping to celebrate the decline and fall of ransomware by year's end, think again. Security researchers say that the ransomware soap opera remains alive and well: Some ransomware groups have exited, others have simply rebranded, the influx of new players remains constant, and highly skilled affiliates as well as initial access brokers continue to ply their trade.

Many ransomware groups continue to employ a ransomware-as-a-service model. In this model, the RaaS developer or administrator typically maintains the ransomware and a payment portal for victims and may run some attacks themselves. But typically, they'll rely on business partners - aka affiliates - who receive a customized version of the ransomware and use it to infect victims. For every victim who pays, the affiliate receives a cut.

Providers of RaaS services continue to change. Affiliates, meanwhile, may also change who they're working with, and sometimes work with more than one group at a time. All of this can make it difficult to predict what groups might target which types of victims, based on their sector, geography or size, some experts say.

4 Groups Dominate

Which ransomware operations are most active? From July through September, threat intelligence firm Intel 471 says it tracked 612 attacks tied to 35 different ransomware variants. But just four variants together accounted for the majority of attacks it tracked:

● LockBit 2.0: 33%
● Conti: 15.2%
● BlackMatter: 6.9%
● Hive: 6%

What's notable is that three of those four groups were relative newcomers.

"Due to law enforcement, infighting among groups or people abandoning variants altogether, the RaaS groups dominating the ecosystem at this point in time are completely different than just a few months ago," Intel 471 says. "Yet, even with the shift in the variants, ransomware incidents as a whole are still on the rise." govinfosecurity.com

The 7 CIS controls you should implement first
The CIS Critical Security Controls list (formerly the SANS Top 20 controls) has been the gold standard for security defense advice. These are the tasks you should do first.
Implementing security controls has long been used to mitigate risk? However not all security controls are created equal. To help prioritize the most critical security controls, sources have emerged. Easily the most notable are the 18 Critical Security Controls from CIS, which formerly was the SANS Top 20. While all 18 of the listed CIS critical controls are indeed just that, organizations realistically operate with limited time, resources and attention. For that reason, here are the seven CIS Critical Controls you should implement first.

CIS Controls 1 & 2: Inventory and Control of Enterprise and Software Assets
Yes, we cheated a bit by merging two controls, but they are closely related and highly relevant. CIS Control 1 is Inventory and Control of Enterprise Assets and CIS Control 2 is Inventory and Control of Software Assets. While on the surface these two seem the most straightforward, asset inventory has remained among the top-ranked critical controls for years due to the reality that it is not always easy yet absolutely critical. csoonline.com

6 top cybersecurity trends from 2021 and their impact on 2022
2021 has been a wild year in the cybersecurity space. From supply chain attacks like the SolarWinds hack to the NSO Group's spyware scandal to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, organizations are facing new (and repackaged) attacks daily. In fact, according to the Identify Theft Resource Center, the total number of data breaches through September 2021 has already exceeded 2020 numbers by 17%.

But beyond specific attacks, a variety of trends emerged and continued to gain strength in 2021. In this article, we look at six of them and examine how they might evolve in 2022. It's also worth noting that each of these trends depends on and affects the other (and this list is just the tip of the iceberg), and it's often at their intersection points that the biggest risk and threats exist. helpnetsecurity.com

Scammers grabbed $7.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2021, say researchers

"The most important takeaway is to avoid new tokens that haven't undergone a code audit"

Cryptocurrency-based scammers and cyber criminals netted a whopping $7.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency from victims in 2021, marking an 81% rise in losses compared to 2020, according to blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis.

Some $1.1 billion of the $7.7 billion in losses were attributed to a single scheme which allegedly targeted Russia and Ukraine, it said.

"As the largest form of cryptocurrency-based crime and one uniquely targeted toward new users, scamming poses one of the biggest threats to cryptocurrency's continued adoption," said Chainalysis.

A major source of rising cryptocurrency losses in 2021 were so-called "rug pulls", where the developers of a new cryptocurrency vanish and take supporters' funds with them. Rug pulls accounted for 37% of all cryptocurrency scam revenue in 2021, totaling $2.8 billion - up from just 1% in 2020.

"Rug pulls are prevalent in DeFi because with the right technical know-how, it's cheap and easy to create new tokens on the Ethereum blockchain or others and get them listed on decentralized exchanges (DEXes) without a code audit," it warned.

The characteristics of the investment scam networks are changing. Chainaylsis found that the number of active financial scams rose from 2,052 in 2020 to 3,300, while their individual lifespan has decreased from over 500 days in 2016 to 291 days in 2020 and just 70 days in 2021. zdnet.com
 

Unauthorized Sellers Flooding Internet with COVID Tests
COVID-19 rapid test frenzy: Demand soars across Canada, prices surge for kit that are often unreliable
Rapid antigen tests are proving to be in such high demand across the country, people are lining up for hours, or resorting to unauthorized online sellers to get their hands on them.

On sites like Craigslist and Twitter, the tests are being sold for upwards of $350 for a box of 25. In cities like Toronto and Montreal, people are bearing the frigid weather in long queues in an attempt to snap up a box of the coveted tests.

Matthew S. Miller, associate professor in the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University says the rapid tests are a useful tool to decrease the risk of transmitting the virus, but like all interventions, they are imperfect.

That's why rapid tests, which are meant for people not experiencing any symptoms, are most useful when combined with other interventions that are known to be effective in reducing risk of transmission, like getting vaccinated, masking up, and good ventilation in indoor spaces. Miller says the tests alone should not be interpreted as "carte blanche" to engage in activities that present a high possibility of transmitting the COVID-19 virus - especially to those who are vulnerable.

Naheed Dosani, health equity lead at Kensington Health in Toronto, says it's heartbreaking to see tests that are meant to be distributed throughout the community being re-sold online and blames the government for their inadequate response.

He adds that the rapid tests were prioritized for businesses and are also being used on people who refused to be vaccinated. yahoo.com

Business Shut Down as COVID Cases Soar
Quebec shuts down schools, bars, gyms and more as COVID-19 case counts soar

Quebec reported a record 4,571 new cases in 24 hours Monday, with hospitalizations rising by 21

Quebec is closing schools, bars, gyms and movie theatres as public health officials race to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said in the face of the variant, which appears to be doubling its spread every couple days, the government had to take action to prevent the health-care system from being overwhelmed.

"The epidemiological situation is critical. The community spread is astounding," said Dubé during the Monday news conference, appearing from home alongside public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda and Daniel Paré, who is in charge of Quebec's vaccination campaign.

"Our health system is already in crisis ... and things aren't getting better. Hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions are on the rise." cbc.ca

Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit
A new COVID benefit is now in effect, but no one can access it

Critics say the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit is too restrictive to be an effective financial support

The federal government has established a new COVID-19 support benefit, but it can't be accessed because no one in the country meets its eligibility criteria, prompting criticism of the support.

The Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit (CWLB) officially came into existence last Friday. Like its predecessors, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), it's designed to provide temporary income support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike those programs, it's only available to workers who cannot work due to a local lockdown designation, but no region is officially under lockdown.

"The CWLB is only available when a COVID-19 lockdown order is designated for your region. Your region may be designated if the lockdown lasts for 14 days or more," a government web page explaining the program said.

Under a heading titled "When you can apply," the page said applications will only open "if a COVID-19 lockdown region is designated." cbc.ca

COVID testing requirements reinstated at Canadian border: Here's what to know
All Canadians returning from short trips must take a molecular pre-entry test starting Dec. 21, 2021
 

Criminals Off-Loading Stolen Goods Online
How to Spot Stolen Merchandise in Online Stores
Online shopping boomed during the pandemic, with more and more people willing to hunt on Facebook Marketplace, Amazon and eBay rather than step into a store. But some people are unwittingly falling into thieves' hands and helping them make money off their crimes.

The National Retail Federation calls it "organized retail crime." They say it costs businesses around $700,000 for every $1 billion in sales. There is an effort underway to curb that number, but online store platforms say it's at least partly on users to flag items they think might be stolen.

Retired Beverly Hills Assistant Police Chief Marc Coopwood translated his experience from nearly three decades of law enforcement into a career tracking down and exposing cyber criminals. He says petty thieves can push their stolen products easily behind a computer screen.

Social media sites work to protect user privacy - and he says that makes it hard for police departments to track down offenders. Amazon has a team of 10,000 workers whose sole job is to track down bad actors on the platform. The company spent more than $700 million toward fraud mitigation strategies in 2020.

"The online marketplace is the new pawn shop, and unfortunately, our laws have not been updated that you can rather quickly and anonymously sell stolen goods online." said Jason Brewer, executive vice president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

Businesses like Best Buy, Nordstrom and Home Depot, which are all victims of organized retail crime, recently sent a letter to Congress asking for help. It says they're "forced to compete against unscrupulous sellers" and that these criminals are exposing consumers to "unsafe and dangerous counterfeit products." newsnationnow.com

Amazon's Ties to China
Special Report: Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm
Amazon.com Inc was marketing a collection of President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website about two years ago, when Beijing delivered an edict, according to two people familiar with the incident. The American e-commerce giant must stop allowing any customer ratings and reviews in China.

A negative review of Xi's book prompted the demand, one of the people said. "I think the issue was anything under five stars," the highest rating in Amazon's five-point system, said the other person.

Ratings and reviews are a crucial part of Amazon's e-commerce business, a major way of engaging shoppers. But Amazon complied, the two people said. Currently, on its Chinese site Amazon.cn, the government-published book has no customer reviews or any ratings. And the comments section is disabled.

Amazon's compliance with the Chinese government edict, which has not been reported before, is part of a deeper, decade-long effort by the company to win favor in Beijing to protect and grow its business in one of the world's largest marketplaces.

An internal 2018 Amazon briefing document that describes the company's China business lays out a number of "Core Issues" the Seattle-based giant has faced in the country. Among them: "Ideological control and propaganda is the core of the toolkit for the communist party to achieve and maintain its success," the document notes. "We are not making judgement on whether it is right or wrong."

That briefing document, and interviews with more than two dozen people who have been involved in Amazon's China operation, reveal how the company has survived and thrived in China by helping to further the ruling Communist Party's global economic and political agenda, while at times pushing back on some government demands. reuters.com

Man Pleads Guilty to a $300k Return Fraud Scheme Victimizing Amazon.com
A Manassas man pleaded guilty today to defrauding the online retailer, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), of over $300,000 by operating a mail fraud scheme to buy high-end products, claim a refund, then return a similar item of significantly lesser value.

According to court documents, from 2017 through 2020, Farhaad Riyaz, 34, would open multiple Amazon accounts, purchase high-end items online and have them shipped to his residence. Riyaz would then claim the item had arrived too late or was not as described online, thereby initiating a return. He would send back to Amazon, via United Parcel Service, an item of materially lesser value but Amazon would refund him the full purchase price.

Riyaz is scheduled to be sentenced on March 22, 2022. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. justice.gov

Amazon Web Services Suffers Third Outage This Month
The disruption comes after Amazon suffered an hourslong outage earlier this month that took many businesses and services offline. The cloud-computing unit suffered a second outage last week, but it was much shorter in duration.

Amazon Web Services said it began investigating connectivity issues at about 7:35 a.m. ET for some servers in its US-East-1 region-which is hosted in Northern Virginia and covers cities including Boston, Houston and Chicago.

Within about an hour, AWS said on its status dashboard that it began making progress in restoring power. wsj.com

'Keep Driving': Amazon Dispatcher Texts Show Chaos Amid Twisters

Scottsdale, AZ: Thieves pepper spray employees at Scottsdale boutique, steal $25k worth of designer handbags
A brazen robbery at a Scottsdale upscale resale store was caught on camera. The suspects can be seen stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of designer handbags and pepper-spraying two employees in the process. It happened on Sunday at Urban Exchange near Scottsdale and Bell roads. The owner of the store, Robi Eldred, was there when it happened and said the attack seemed targeted and the suspects knew where to go. "They seemed to have gone right to the shelf. He knew to go behind the counter and go to that shelf. That was where all the Gucci bags were," Eldred said.

The stunning attack marked the third time Urban Exchange was hit in less than a week. The first incident happened last Monday. Two men are seen on camera taking $8,000 worth of handbags. It happened again two days later. "Three men came in. They were only able to get three bags that day," Eldred said. "I never thought it would happen here." After all three incidents, $25,000 worth of merchandise was taken. It has forced Eldred to take matters into her own hands. She's adopted a new policy and keeps her door locked. Customers are asked to call from the front of the store to be let inside to shop. 12news.com

Austin, TX: APD says 3 suspects involved in Barton Creek mall smash and grab
The Austin Police Department said three suspects were involved in the Helzberg diamond jewelry robbery at the Barton Creek Square Mall. The incident happened Saturday evening. "Our food had just been delivered when all of a sudden we just saw people running," said Kelli Eyres who was inside the mall during the incident. She was at a birthday dinner inside the mall when she heard a stampede of people. "We were just trying to see what we could. We saw more people running, and we were just thinking something was happening." According to the Austin Police Department, three suspects robbed the Helzberg diamond jewelry located in the mall. Initial calls to 911 reported shots fired however police believe this sound was actually from the thieves smashing the glass cases in the store. "After clearing the mall no victims have been located and found no additional evidence of a gun were found in the mall," said officer Michael Bullock with the Austin Police Department. Eyres said they were in lockdown for about 40 minutes until police said it was OK to leave.  fox7austin.com

Las Vegas Man Sentenced To 111 Months Prison For $2.28M Credit Card Fraud Scheme
A Las Vegas man was sentenced yesterday to 111 months in prison for using skimming devices to steal victims' identities and credit card account information to buy luxury merchandise - including Rolex watches and high-end purses - and to obtain cash advances at various properties on The Strip.

According to court documents, from about January 1, 2013, to January 3, 2017, Fausto Teixeira Martins Neto (41) and co-conspirators placed skimming devices on ATMs and cash-out transaction ticket dispensing terminals, such as Global Cash Advance machines, in order to steal credit card account information. Martins Neto and others would then encode the stolen account information onto forged credit cards. They used the counterfeit cards to purchase high-end retail items, such as Rolex watches and luxury designer purses, and to withdraw money from hotel-casino cash advance machines and ATMs. In total, Martins Neto and co-conspirators stole over $2.28 million through their fraud scheme. justice.gov

Sacramento, CA: Police Investigate Burglaries Targeting Cannabis Distributors
Sacramento police are investigating a series of burglaries targeting local cannabis distributors. Sacramento police say there's been more than 50 marijuana business break-ins since August, including at least six in just the last week. Surveillance video from the most recent crime shows a crew of at least seven people, in two cars, breaking into a warehouse run by Sovereign, a delivery-only dispensary. The city requires all cannabis production facilities to have cameras, alarms, and other security in place, but police are urging owners to take even more measures to protect their pot.  gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com

Dublin, CA: $4K Theft, Hundreds Of Illicit Pills Recovered
Dublin Police Services said it arrested four people in connection with an organized retail theft targeting a local business. Police did not give names of the arrestees but said on Twitter that they were booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. More than $4,000 in merchandise was stolen, police said. Police also said they confiscated 25 Xanax, 31 amphetamine, 12 Norco and several hundred ecstasy pills from one woman who was arrested. The drugs were in her bra, police said. patch.com

Stearns County, MN: Man Charged After Allegedly Stealing Credit Cards and Ringing Up over $2,000 in Fraudulent Transactions