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12/18/20

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Kristine Luansing-Lopez, MSCS named Corporate Asset Protection Supervisor for Ascena Retail Group
Before joining Ascena Retail Group as Corporate Asset Protection Supervisor, Kristine served as Corporate Loss Prevention Field Analyst for Bowlero Corporation. Prior to that, she spent more than four years with Barneys New York as Internal Investigations Manager and Internal Investigations Analyst. Earlier in her career, she held roles with Century 21 Dept. Stores, BJ's Wholesale Club, Kmart, and New York & Company. Congratulations, Kristine!

See All the Executives 'Moving Up' Here

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position

PPS Congratulates North & South Carolina’s
Law Enforcement Officers of the Year

Carolinas ORC Alliance Recognizes Law Enforcement Partnerships With Retail LP

The relationship between law enforcement officers and the LP community is a valuable one. By working together, the two groups can identify retail offenders and organized retail crime (ORC) groups sooner, helping to reduce the number of crimes committed. Product Protection Solutions (PPS) is a strong supporter of the Carolinas Organized Retail Crime Alliance. CORCA’s mission is to help form partnerships between North Carolina and South Carolina’s law enforcement and retail loss prevention officers.

The PPS team knows the value and importance those relationships can have on the retail industry. We are honored to have a part in helping to grow and strengthen those relationships by supporting the Second Annual CORCA Law Enforcement Officer of the Year for North and South Carolina.

The 2020 North Carolina Law Enforcement Officer of the Year is Deputy Sheriff William Wiker of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Wiker assisted in a multi-million-dollar ORC fencing operation. He aided prosecutors, police agencies, and retail investigators facilitated meetings among the different groups and sought legal advice throughout the investigation.

The 2020 South Carolina Law Enforcement Officer of the Year is Master Deputy Randy Morgan of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. During his seventeen years of working with the retail community, Master Deputy Morgan formed an ORC Task Force to help combat ORC investigations. Throughout his years of service, he has developed partnerships with retailers to help solve crimes and keep communities safe.

Congratulations Deputy Sheriff William Wiker and Master Deputy Randy Morgan, for your outstanding achievements and well-deserved recognition!

7-Eleven Asset Protection, Legal & Corp. Communication Departments Give Back During the Holidays

7-Eleven built record-breaking 600 Thanksgiving meal boxes at Minnie's Food Pantry

As we all continue to fight our way through this pandemic, the need for help in our local communities is more critical than ever before. One of the most urgent concerns – and a key focus of 7-Eleven’s sustainability efforts – is addressing food insecurity. We believe no one should go hungry, ever, and that is especially true at the holidays.

That’s why I was honored to mask up and help Minnie’s Food Pantry, an organization close to my heart, prepare for their largest food distribution day of the year. One of our key principles at 7-Eleven is to lead through service, and I’m so proud of the work we’ve been able to do with Dr. Cheryl Action and Minnie’s over the past couple of years. Thanks to my amazing colleagues from 7-Eleven who joined me! #leadingthroughservice #7ElevenCares #onlyat7eleven linkedin.com

- Rankin Gasaway, Senior VP, General Counsel & Secretary at 7-Eleven, Inc.

EAS Tag Recirculation: Apparel Source Tagging for Today’s Retailers

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Source Tagging and EAS Tag Recirculation are playing a large role in the evolution of retail logistics and loss prevention. Retailers realize that in-store tagging is very expensive, time consuming, and highly inefficient, and they are looking toward solutions that move EAS tagging to the most economical place in the logistics chain – out of the store, and back toward where the merchandise is manufactured.

Enterprising early adopters, such as Kohl’s, Gap, Inc., Zara and bebe have proven that EAS Tag Recirculation provides important benefits. Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight below.

Protests & Violence

America's Other Epidemic
U.S. Gun Violence Deaths Hit Record High: 41,500+ in 2020
As the nation mourns the more than 300,000 people killed by COVID-19, Americans are also remembering the more than 41,500 people who died by gun violence this year nationwide, which is a record, according to the independent data collection and research group Gun Violence Archive. That included more than 23,000 people who died by suicide.

Annual firearm deaths have never exceeded 40,000 since at least 1981, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has not yet reported numbers in 2019 or 2020, but provisional 2019 data suggests firearm deaths may have approached but did not exceed 40,000.

With regard to gun homicides, specifically, the U.S. has historically reported a rate about 25 times higher than other wealthy nations.

Cities across the nation – including Milwaukee; Indianapolis; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Greensboro, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and Trenton, New Jersey – have already surpassed their all-time records for homicides this year. Others, such as Philadelphia and Fort Worth, Texas, are seeing their highest numbers in decades.

A rise in shootings accounts for the surge in many of the cities. Shootings are up 95% from the same time last year in New York, up 67% in Philadelphia and up 34% in Atlanta, according to local police departments. In Chicago, where homicides are up 56%, shootings also increased by 54%, resembling numbers not seen since 2016. usatoday.com

Pandemic Contributing to Violence Increase?
Wash Post Editorial: D.C.’s epidemic of gun violence is a public health emergency
Shootings in the District are up 34 percent this year, homicides are up 21 percent, and the city seems tragically to be on its way to closing out the year with more than 200 homicides. “Epidemic” is the word that is commonly used by D.C. officials when they talk about gun violence, but sadly — for the 883 gunshot victims, for 15-month-old Carmelo Duncan and the other 193 people slain so far this year, and for the families of all those killed and wounded — action has failed to match rhetoric. The alarming spike in shootings and killings — even as overall crime is down — is a public health emergency that needs to be treated as such, with urgency, resources and data-driven strategies.

D.C. officials, like their counterparts across the country, have been consumed with dealing with another epidemic, the unprecedented health crisis posed by covid-19, but that cannot be an excuse for inattention to or inaction on gun violence. Indeed, it should be an added spur since there is increasing evidence that the pandemic itself has helped spark the rise in violence. Criminologists studying the increasing rate of homicides in cities across the country cite the stress of the virus and lost jobs and being confined at home, the impact of social distancing on policing with officers unable to perform community outreach, loss of supervision for youths shut out of school, and more people getting and owning guns. usatoday.com

As shootings soar, Philly Police and DA pledge a new collaboration on gun crimes
The Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney’s Office have launched a new initiative to more closely examine weekly arrests in gun-related crimes, a step both said is a bid to work more closely together to combat a historic surge in gun violence. The goal of the effort, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw told City Council members during a hearing Monday, is to be more proactive in identifying possible issues with recent arrests — such as what additional evidence might bolster a prosecution — and to spur more collaborative discussions.

The number of shootings citywide has soared to more than 2,100 already this year, a 53% increase over last year’s total and on pace to nearly double the tally from 2015. And much of the violence has remained unsolved: The Inquirer reported last week that just 21% of the nearly 8,500 shootings since 2015 had led to an arrest, and a smaller share — around 9% — had reached a conviction. inquirer.com

LA County's New District Attorney Says No Exceptions
For His Reduced Punishment Rules
LA County District Attorney George Gascon said Tuesday no exceptions would be made to his new rule that bans prosecutors from filing sentencing enhancements in criminal cases, no matter how terrible the crime. “I do believe that enhancements have driven mass incarceration in this country and I do believe that they’re racist,” he told reporters in a remote video news conference.

Gascon said people will still be prosecuted for the underlying crimes, but those convicted would likely serve far less time in prison once the enhancements that can add years for things like prior convictions, hate motivation, gang involvement, or the use of guns, are dismissed. nbclosangeles.com

NYPD tactics during George Floyd protests ‘heightened tensions’, NYC's Department of Investigation finds
The NYPD’s tactics during the George Floyd protests earlier this year “heightened tensions” between cops and protesters — and “inconsistent” enforcement of the curfew by cops led to unnecessary use of force, a new report says.

“NYPD use of force and crowd control tactics often failed to discriminate between lawful, peaceful protesters and unlawful actors, and contributed to the perception that officers were exercising force in some cases beyond what was necessary under the circumstances,” the city’s Department of Investigation found.

The long-awaited 100-page report, which was released Friday morning, doesn’t address individual officer allegations but the systemic issues in the department during the mostly peaceful demonstrations.

“NYPD’s use of force on protesters — encirclement (commonly called “kettling”), mass arrests, baton and pepper spray use, and other tactics — reflected a failure to calibrate an appropriate balance between valid public safety or officer safety interests and the rights of protesters to assemble and express their views,” according to the report.

One of the most notable instances of “kettling” came on June 4 when cops corralled and trapped protesters in Mott Haven until they were out past the 8 p.m. curfew — and then violently arrested more than 300 people. A Human Rights Watch report described it as a violation of “international human rights.” nypost.com

COVID Update

US: Over 17.6M Cases - 318K Dead - 10.2M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 75.6M Cases - 1.6M Dead - 53M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 247
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 164
*Red indicates change in total deaths

2nd Vaccine in U.S. Approved
F.D.A. Panel Endorses Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine
The coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna moved closer to authorization on Thursday, a significant step that would expand the reach of the nation’s vaccination campaign to rural areas and many more hospitals.

As the nation buckled from uncontrolled spread of the disease, with 3,611 deaths on Wednesday setting yet another horrific record, a panel of independent experts recommended, by a vote of 20 in favor and one abstention, that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the Moderna vaccine for emergency use. The formal decision, expected on Friday, would clear the way for some 5.9 million doses to be shipped around the country starting this weekend.

Moderna would be the second company allowed to begin inoculating the public, giving millions more Americans access to desperately needed vaccine. The first, made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, received authorization last week.

NRF Encourages Retail Workforce Be Included in Early Vaccine Recipient Groups
The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from President and CEO Matthew Shay advocating for the retail workforce to be included among the early recipient groups for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Retailers have been on the front lines throughout the pandemic protecting associates, serving customers and keeping the communities in which they live and work safe and healthy. The industry invested billions of dollars to provide protective gear and trainings for their associates and to make the necessary changes to achieve and exceed health and safety recommendations made in municipal, state and federal guidelines. Today, NRF submitted a letter to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC in favor of including the retail workforce among those with access to the COVID-19 vaccines during the early stages of its distribution." nrf.com

Flash Report: Lawsuit filed to Nullify Cal/OSHA Emergency COVID Rule
NRF & coalition of employers and associations has sued Cal/OSHA
A coalition of employers and associations has sued Cal/OSHA and Chief Douglas Parker to invalidate the recently enacted COVID emergency temporary standard (ETS) and enjoin the Division of Occupational Safety and Health from enforcing it. “They are acting to defend California business from an overbearing illegal government action,” said someone well known who asked to remain unidentified for fear of retribution from Cal/OSHA.

The lawsuit comes against the expected backdrop of two coronavirus vaccines developed under and now being distributed at “warp speed” by the Trump Administration.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) filed the lawsuit along with the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), Abate-A-Weed of Bakersfield, Mayfield Equipment Co. of Ukiah, and Relles Florist of Sacramento was filed in San Francisco Superior Court.

The Plaintiffs contend that DOSH and the Standards Board relied on “unsupported speculation there is a nexus between reopening workplaces and the increase in COVID-19 cases. The agencies waited several months before promulgating the standard, demonstrates a lack of a need for an emergency standard, and the board should have engaged in regular rulemaking.

What’s more, the plaintiffs assert that enforcement of several ETS provisions, including the COVID testing and paid “exclusion” for exposed workers, could spell disaster for employers.

A copy of the lawsuit can be found in our resources section by clicking here. cal-osha.com

Leading Through Grief
How to Lead When an Employee Dies
Experts agree that no one is more important than the person at the top in helping staff regroup after a co-worker's death. "The leader must acknowledge the pain, understand it and personalize it," said Joe Spratt, a communications expert at McKinsey & Co. in Chicago who has written about leadership challenges during the pandemic. "The role of leadership is to help people make sense of the unknown or tragic."

The two biggest mistakes Spratt sees employers make after a workplace death are minimizing the event and pivoting away from it too soon. The impact of grief will linger much longer if people don't pause and reflect before trying to move on, he said.

Some leaders fear showing too much emotion, but they must be visible, set the tone and model how to grieve, "even if they don't have the perfect words," advised Dr. Joshua Morganstein, assistant director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md. CSTS has produced a guide on grief leadership.

The initial message shouldn't be "Let's get past this," Morganstein said. "You need to be able to be sad with one another. Encourage employees to take a moment, decompress together, share, vent." Genuine expressions from a leader will provide relief and comfort that employees are not on their own, he said.

Talking It Out - Grieving Remotely shrm.org

ICU availability in Southern California at 0%, and it’s going to get worse,
officials warn
The availability of intensive care unit beds throughout Southern California hit 0% Thursday, and officials warned that conditions in hospitals are expected to erode further if the coronavirus continues to spread unchecked.

About 600 new patients with COVID-19 are now being admitted to hospitals daily in L.A. County, and officials say that could rise to 750 to 1,350 a day by New Year’s Eve.

California is now opening temporary field hospitals to help with overflow patients. The field hospitals will care for non-ICU patients in places such as Porterville, Sacramento, Imperial and Orange County; other facilities are on standby status in Riverside, Richmond, Fresno, San Diego and San Francisco.

The number of people hospitalized in California for COVID-19 has broken records for 19 consecutive days. On Wednesday, the most recent data available, 15,431 people across the state were in hospitals with coronavirus infections — more than six times more than the number on Halloween. latimes.com

COVID Impact on Holiday Travel
AAA expects 30% fewer holiday travelers between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3
It looks like many Americans may be heeding the CDC's advice not to travel over the holidays. But some are still determined to see family and friends.

AAA says it expects about 34 million fewer U.S. residents to travel over the Christmas and New Year's holidays (Dec. 23-Jan 3.) than last year. That's a drop of nearly 30%.

AAA's forecast estimates 2.9 million Americans will travel by plane, down 59% from last year's 7.3 million.

And it predicts the vast majority of holiday travelers – about 81 million in total – to go by car. But that's still a nearly 25% drop from 108 million in 2019.

However, while Thanksgiving travel was down considerably from 2019, Transportation Security Administration checkpoints still set pandemic records for passenger screenings, passing the 1-million mark for the first time since this spring. usatoday.com

Will business travel return to normal with Covid vaccine? Top executives are split
Large corporations are building 2021 strategic plans around vaccine optimism, but there is a split among executives over a business travel rebound. Top technology executives surveyed by CNBC think a significant portion of corporate travel will return, though it may take years, but many CFOs who control company budgets don’t see business travel ever returning to the pre-pandemic level.

Bill Gates recently said he thinks 50% of business travel will disappear. cnbc.com

Christmas travel: These states require a COVID-19 test before entering

'I didn't feel a thing.' Vice President Mike Pence gets COVID-19 vaccine on camera

Bringing in Independent Investigators - The Big Guns
Tyson Fires 7 Plant Managers Over Betting Ring On Workers Getting COVID-19
Tyson Foods has fired seven managers at an Iowa pork plant after investigating allegations they bet on how many workers there would get sick from the coronavirus.

The company, one of the country's largest meat suppliers, launched an independent investigation into the complaints last month, suspending without pay the managers allegedly involved. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and his team led the investigation.

"The behaviors exhibited by these individuals do not represent the Tyson core values, which is why we took immediate and appropriate action to get to the truth," Tyson Foods President and CEO Dean Banks said in a statement Wednesday. "Now that the investigation has concluded, we are taking action based on the findings." npr.org

No More Rookie Moves Folks
Seven Rules of Zoom Meeting Etiquette From the Pros

No more dogs, chips or ‘lurkers’—as video-conferencing becomes a fixture in working life, it’s time to shed the rookie moves

Zoom saw daily meeting participants soar to a peak of 300 million in the latest quarter, up from 10 million before the pandemic. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. workers who have been working from home would prefer to continue working remotely as much as possible when pandemic restrictions lift, according to a recent Gallup poll.

So it’s time to get serious about video meetings. No more dogs and cats; no more avatar stand-ins. It’s time to enter a remote meeting as if it were a conference room. Here are a few rules from the pros. wsj.com

Package deliveries are out of control
As the pandemic pushes even more consumers online for holiday shopping, firms are grappling with a "historic crush of e-commerce packages." Postal employees are meanwhile working overtime and reporting backlogs, and bracing for even more mail and packages.

FedEx and United Parcel Service have seen a record number of packages since Thanksgiving, leading them to limit the daily number of packages they'll pick up and cut off delivery for some retailers. linkedin.com

CVS Health is giving $250 pandemic bonuses to nearly 200,000 of its workers
This is the second time CVS has paid bonuses during the pandemic. CVS offered bonuses ranging from $100 to $500 in March. businessinsider.com

At Home May Triple Store Count From 219 to 600

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EAS Tag Recirculation: Apparel Source Tagging
for Today’s Retailers

Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) Source Tagging and EAS Tag Recirculation are playing a large role in the evolution of retail logistics and loss prevention. Retailers realize that in-store tagging is very expensive, time consuming, and highly inefficient, and they are looking toward solutions that move EAS tagging to the most economical place in the logistics chain – out of the store, and back toward where the merchandise is manufactured.

Enterprising early adopters, such as Kohl’s, Gap, Inc., Zara and bebe have proven that EAS Tag Recirculation provides important benefits, including:

● Predictable cost of operating an EAS program.
● No capital requirements for additional EAS tags.
● Merchandise arrives at stores source tagged, secure and floor ready.
● More tagging consistency, less apparel damage.
● Maximum tagging protection during peak inventory periods.
● No customer issues with tag pollution, when un-deactivated EAS sewn-in labels set off alarms.
● No environmental issues caused by the non-degradable components of disposable labels.
● More security and better shortage reduction results than with sewn-in or disposable EAS.
● Cash rebates for the return of tags and pins.

By implementing EAS Tag Recirculation, retailers achieve higher levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction through this sustainable, innovative growth program spearheaded by their loss prevention department.

What the Gov't is Saying About SolarWinds Attack
Lawmakers ask whether massive hack amounted to act of war
Lawmakers are raising questions about whether the attack on the federal government widely attributed to Russia constitutes an act of war.

The hacking may represent the biggest cyberattack in U.S history, and officials are scrambling to respond.

The response is further complicated by the presidential transition — President Trump has yet to comment publicly on the attack — and the fact that the U.S. has no clear cyber warfare strategy.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Thursday compared the incident to Russian bombers "flying undetected over the entire country," and harshly criticized Trump for not doing enough to counter the attack.

Hackers believed to be part of a nation state have had access to federal networks since March after exploiting a vulnerability in updates to IT group SolarWinds’s Orion software. The hack has compromised the Treasury, State and Homeland Security departments and branches of the Pentagon, though it is expected to get worse. SolarWinds counts many more federal agencies as customers, along with the majority of U.S. Fortune 500 companies. thehill.com

Microsoft says it identified 40+ victims of the SolarWinds hack, most in US

Microsoft confirms it was also breached in recent SolarWinds supply chain hack

Technology Sector's Steepest Decline in Trust Than Any Other Sector
New report helps enterprises move beyond compliance
The World Economic Forum today launched a new report that outlines how organizational leaders can influence their companies and encourage the responsible use of technology and build ethical capacity. “Ethics by Design” – An Organizational Approach to Responsible Use of Technology integrates psychology and behavioral economics findings from interviews and surveys with international business leaders. It aims to shape decisions to prompt better and more ethical behaviors. The report promotes an approach that focuses less on individual “bad apples” and more on the “barrel”, the environments that can lead people to engage in behaviors contrary to their moral compass. The report outlines steps and makes recommendations that have proven more effective than conventional incentives such as compliance training, financial compensation or penalties.

The implementation of technology can be complex when all aspects of its potential effects are considered. The report aims to guide the conversation and implementation of technology for positive impacts on society. Over the past eight years, the technology sector has experienced a steeper decline in trust compared to any other sector. Technology development cannot be done in a vacuum; its social impact has to be taken into consideration.

“Ethics will be crucial to the success of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The ethical challenges will only continue to grow and become more prevalent as machines advance. Organizations across industries – both private and public – will need to integrate these approaches.” said Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum. securitymagazine.com

World Economic Forum
In collaboration with Deloitte and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University
Ethics by Design: An organizational approach to responsible use of technology
White Paper, December 2020

How Five Leaders Coped & What about 2021?
Rising to the Challenge: Perspectives from Security Leaders on 2020 and Beyond
For those who work in the security industry 2020 has been a particularly challenging year. Chris Price talks to five industry leaders from different perspectives in the sector about how they coped with COVID and asks them to look forward to 2021. darkreading.com

● Jamie Allam, CEO of installation and integration firm Amthal Fire & Security
● James Morris, Head of Security Services, EMEA, Aon
● Chris Middleton, Security Director, ABM UK
● Sarb Sembhi, CISM, CTO & CISO, Virtually Informed
● Mike Reddington, Chief Executive of the British Security Industry Association (BSIA)

Cybersecurity Insights Blog: Year-In-Review 2020
Faced with unanticipated challenges, new concerns, and constant adjustments forced by the global pandemic, we were compelled to rethink the ways in which we work, study, and socialize. This meant transferring day-to-day activities to an online environment, which pushed organizations of every kind to re-examine their approaches to cybersecurity. These changes presented a prime opportunity to highlight the criticality of cybersecurity and promote increased awareness and best practices.

NIST’s cybersecurity experts redoubled their efforts in this area, and our Cybersecurity Insights Blog chronicled many of the highlights along the way. Before closing the door on 2020, we wanted to take a look back at the Top Five posts of the year.

1. Preventing Eavesdropping and Protecting Privacy on Virtual Meetings

2. Telework Security Basics

3. The Next Generation Security and Privacy Controls— Protecting the Nation’s Critical Assets

4. Threat Models for Differential Privacy

5. Differential Privacy for Privacy-Preserving Data Analysis: An Introduction to our Blog Series nist.gov

Retail cybersecurity considerations for improving the digital customer experience

Hotels Remain a Prime Target for Hackers

Online Gift Card Scams Surged in November
Gift card fraud is rising, and Target is a favorite of scammers

The holiday season has led to increased gift card fraud, and scammers see Target's online success as a gold mine

According to online fraud prevention firm Bolster, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of gift card scams affecting shoppers. One of the most popular brands involved is retail chain Target.

The research team at Bolster noted a recent gift card fraud website that impersonates Target's gift card balance checking page. The layout, text, and colors are identical to the authentic Target gift card balance checking site, so unsuspecting users can easily be tricked to enter their gift card numbers.

Once the victim enters the gift card numbers on the fake site, it displays a never-ending "checking balance" status or some sort of error that makes users think the site is malfunctioning. "In reality, the valid gift card numbers are harvested by the criminals and monetized by either reselling them on other sites or using them to make purchases," said researchers.

Researchers added that Target experienced a dramatic increase in e-commerce sales during the pandemic. In August, the company announced its digital sales tripled with online purchases and curbside pickup jumping by over 700%.

Researchers said November saw the highest rate of new gift card scams with 6,881 total new scam sites, over 229 new sites per day, and nearly 10 times more new gift card scam sites created than in January.
itpro.com

Cyber Monday Wins
Total Online Spending Up 25% on Big 3 Days
Total online spending across Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday grew 25% compared to 2019

Of the 'Big 3' shopping days, Cyber Monday saw the highest spend. In 2020, consumers spent $9.81 billion, an increase of 24% compared to 2019. Thanksgiving and Black Friday spend reached $4.94 billion and $7.34 billion, respectively.

While Cyber Monday was the clear winner in total dollars spent by day, both Black Friday and Thanksgiving grew at faster rates year-over-year, indicating some spending may have shifted earlier in the season. Thanksgiving spend grew the most, up 28% from 2019, with Black Friday following close behind with a 26% year-over-year increase. Cyber Monday's growth was down slightly from the 31% year-over-year increase from 2018 to 2019. prnewswire.com

Amazon extends return deadline and adds Whole Foods as drop-off location

Snapshots from NRF's 2020 ORC Report

Retailers Need More Support to Fight ORC

See full report here

Polk County, FL: 8 people charged in Statewide Organized Retail Theft, illegal re-sale scheme
Eight people have been charged in a statewide investigation into high-dollar stolen goods that were illegally re-sold in Florida, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Friday. The sheriff's office says this investigation started in Aug. 2019. And, items stolen include baby formula, diapers and energy drinks. Charges for these crimes include grand theft and racketeering, detectives say. According to the sheriff's office, Florida retailers lost $84,669, of which $10,520 worth happened in Polk County. Publix, Winn Dixie, and Walmart stores in 18 different counties were affected in this scheme, detectives say.

"This is the second group of retail thieves brought to justice by Sheriff Judd's Deputies and my Statewide Prosecutors this month. Criminals be warned: We will not allow rampant retail theft to harm Florida businesses and force consumers to pay inflated prices to cover the costs of your indolent, unscrupulous crime sprees," Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement. Detectives say five of the eight people charged were arrested in Hillsborough County on Dec. 16. Another suspect was arrested in Orlando. And, on Thursday, one person turned herself into the Polk County Sheriff's Office. One person charged has not been found and there is a warrant for her arrest in Polk County. facebook.com

Spoofing 28.8 Million Household IP's
Oracle Exposes Largest CTV Ad Fraud Operation Ever
Oracle today announced the discovery of “StreamScam,” the largest known connected television (CTV) ad fraud operation exposed ever. The StreamScam operation exploited flaws in CTV ad serving technology to fool advertisers into paying for ads that were never delivered to households. The operation spoofed more than 28.8 million U.S. valid household IP addresses, including approximately 3,600 apps and 3,400 unique CTV device models. The usage of valid household IP addresses demonstrates the sophistication of StreamScam compared to previous CTV ad fraud operations. By comparison, the largest prior CTV ad fraud operation had been ICEBUCKET, which involved two million spoofed household IP addresses, 300 app IDs, and 1,000 CTV device IDs.

StreamScam perpetrators capitalized on vulnerabilities in the technology used to improve the video viewing experience in CTV. Known as Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI), the technology combines content and ads into a single video stream that can play seamlessly with no delays on end-user devices, such as Roku, AppleTV, and FireTV.

Oracle Moat tallies the number of ad impressions that are inserted into video streams by SSAI servers as well as the number of ad impressions that actually play on end-user devices. Using Moat technology, Oracle discovered that the StreamScam perpetrators built a network of servers that sent ad impression events to Moat and advertisers without actually sending ad and video content to users. They forged household IP addresses, app IDs, and device IDs in the measurement events to make it appear that ads had played in those environments when in fact they did not. moat.com

New York, NY: Bandits Make Off With $100,000 in Brazen NYC Jewelry Heist
Police are searching for two armed men who robbed a New York City jewelry store of merchandise worth more than $100,000. The heist occurred Wednesday afternoon in the Bronx, the NYPD said Thursday. Surveillance video released by police shows the two suspects walking around the store wearing face masks. At one point, one of the men goes behind the counter and grabs seven pieces of jewelry from a wall display as a store employee is seen with his hands up. The other suspect then pistol-whips that 58-year-old employee in the head, according to police and security footage. The two suspects then ran off. nbcnewyork.com

Newark, NJ: $250,000 In Mailed NJ Checks, Money Orders Stolen, Cashed By NYC Crew
More than $250,000 worth of checks and money orders were stolen from post office mailboxes in North Jersey by a group of thieves from the Bronx who quickly converted them to cash, federal authorities said. Crew members operated for nearly 14 months, stealing checks and money orders from the mail, altering them, depositing them into bank accounts and withdrawing the proceeds before the victims discovered the fraud. U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Jose Lopez Blanco, 22, got them access to the mailboxes with a U.S. Postal Service master key, Carpenito said. Law enforcement officers watched as Blanco used the key to steal mail from a collection box in Newark, the U.S. attorney said. dailyvoice.com

Visalia, CA: UPS employee arrested after stealing over $10,000 worth of medication, Police say
Detectives responded to the UPS located at 3200 block of N. Plaza and arrested Farrel Dewayne Ward, 41, as a result of a month-long investigation into the theft of prescription medication. During the investigation, police found that Ward had stolen over $10,000 worth of prescription medication being shipped by CVS. A search warrant was conducted at his home immediately after the arrest. During the search, over $8,000 worth of stolen medication was recovered, along with cocaine, evidence of narcotic sales and 16 firearms were seized. yourcentralvalley.com

St Lucie County, FL: Four women in shower caps accused of stealing about $1,803 in beauty supplies and other items
Four women in shower caps were accused of stealing about $1,803 in beauty supplies and other products from four stores on Wednesday, according to a media release. An aunt and her niece and two others were arrested on two charges each of retail theft and grand theft. Port St. Lucie police received a call about the four women taking $753.62 worth of products from Walgreens on U.S. 1, police said. Officers said the group stole anti-aging cream, exfoliation cream shampoo and body wash. It was later discovered the women also had stolen about $1,050 in merchandise from three other Walgreens. tcpalm.com

Brookfield, WI: Two Suspects steal over $1,600 worth of merchandise from Kohl's

Masked burglars steal over $1,000 worth of cigarettes from 7-Eleven

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Shootings & Deaths

Knoxville, TN: Suspect killed in shooting after Armed Robbery outside TJ Maxx in Sevierville
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported that agents are investigating an officer-involved shooting. Sevierville police responded to reports of an armed robbery in the parking lot of the TJ Maxx. When officers arrived on the scene, they spotted an SUV with the robbery suspects inside. A chase began after the suspects refused to stop for Sevierville police, according to TBI. Officials said the chase ended near Bluegrass Road after the suspect’s vehicle became disabled. According to reports, as the officers were attempting to get the suspects out of the vehicle, an incident occurred that caused officers to fire shots. wvlt.tv

Concord, NC: Police officer dead, another wounded after confronting carjacking suspect outside a restaurant
One Concord police officer was killed and a second officer was wounded when they confronted a carjacking suspect in a restaurant parking lot late Wednesday, according to the Concord Police Department. The shootings occurred just before 11 p.m. in the parking lot of the Sonic Drive-In on Gateway Lane. The suspect was later shot and killed by officers, the department said. Concord officials identified the fatally shot officer as Jason Shuping, 25, who had been with the department since 2019. The wounded officer was identified as Kaleb Robinson, 23. He suffered minor injuries, officials said. charlotteobserver.com

Waukena, CA: Update: Tulare County Deputies arrest teen in connection with C-store clerk's killing
A 16-year-old was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the shooting death of a clerk at the market in Waukena Monday night. The Tulare County Sheriff's Office says the store clerk had a gun and pulled it out when the suspect drew his. The clerk tried to stall but the suspect shot the clerk twice in the chest. While interviewing the teen, detectives learned he was also involved in robberies in Bakersfield, Porterville, and Alpaugh. kmph.com

Bismarck, ND: Lowe’s Associate accused of shooting at truck driven by Shoplifting suspect; warrant issued
An arrest warrant has been issued for a Buxton man accused of firing shots toward a truck driven by a shoplifting suspect in Bismarck. Police responded to the parking lot of Lowe’s last Sunday afternoon. Police say the shoplifting suspect ran and got into his truck when an employee asked for a receipt as the man was leaving the store. They say 50-year-old Kevin Bailly fired shots at the tires of the truck. Bailly is facing a charge of reckless endangerment. Police say firing shots in such a case is not something they would advise. kfgo.com

Raleigh, NC: Police gather outside Crabtree Valley Mall after reports of shots fired
A large police presence and ambulances gathered outside Raleigh’s Crabtree Valley Mall on Thursday night after reports of shots being fired. Raleigh Police said no injuries were reported. The shooting occurred before 9 p.m. on the first floor near an exit, according to officials. No one was shot. Police said they believe the two people involved in the shooting know each other but have not taken anyone into custody. wral.com

Robberies, Incidents & Thefts

Multiple Amazon delivery trucks stolen in Cleveland area
Cleveland and Cleveland Heights police now report a total of five Amazon delivery trucks have been stolen in northeast Ohio since Nov. 25. News 5 contacted Amazon headquarters about the truck heists, and asked if these cases have the company considering delivery protocol changes, or adding truck surveillance cameras to assist police make arrests. The company responded quickly, and said the issues are extremely important to their organization, and once they speak with police the company will issue a statement. news5cleveland.com

Beaverton, OR: Man sprayed lighter fluid on himself, customers at Fred Meyer
A man sprayed lighter fluid on himself and customers at a Fred Meyer store in Beaverton, after putting random items from the store into a large bottle of anti-freeze, according to police. Officers responded to the store on Southwest Beaverton Hillsdale Highway on Tuesday. Witnesses said William David Alexander, 42, appeared to be attempting to steal merchandise from the store by removing anti-theft devices and packaging. is “odd behavior” drew the attention of nearby customers, according to police. Witnesses told officers that Alexander had a large bottle of anti-freeze from the store, and he put various items into the bottle, including tinfoil, roofing nails and lead fishing weights. Two customers confronted Alexander over his “concoction,” according to police, and Alexander responded by spraying himself, the customers and the floor around them with lighter fluid. Additional customers and Fred Meyer staff became involved and tackled Alexander, detaining him until officers arrived. kptv.com

Livonia, MI: Karmic injury befalls thief throwing brick at Gun store window
At 5 a.m. Thursday, thieves tried to break into a Livonia gun store - they didn't get inside, but they did get away - likely with a little pain for their effort. One of the criminals was hit by a brick he threw at the shop's door window after it ricocheted. At the same time, it triggered the store alarm which woke up Joel Swisher, the owner of Uncoiled Firearms and Gun Range on Schoolcraft near Middlebelt. "It was kind of funny the guy got what he deserved, it hit him pretty good," Swisher said, after looking at the video. FOX 2: "Do you think he's hurt?" "He could be, I mean, you saw the video," said Capt. Ron Taig of Livonia Police. fox2detroit.com

Pensacola, FL: 21-year-old arrested for pulling gun on man outside Cordova Mall; no shots fired

Sherman, TX: Man pleads guilty to C-Store robbery, sentenced to 25 years; 15 years of Police records

Newark, NJ: Wheelman Cops Plea In 7-County Armed Robbery Spree; 20 hold-up in 2017

Danville, IL: Man to serve 5 years for Home Furnishing store Burglary

Cargo Theft

Winter holiday cargo theft trends infographic and security tips in 2020
CargoNet is calling for caution ahead of the holiday season. “Extended closures during the upcoming holidays will bring extended opportunities for cargo thieves to strike,” the freight tracking and recovery company warned Thursday. CargoNet said it examined theft data for the Dec. 23 to Jan. 2 holiday period from 2015 to 2019 to help businesses mitigate increased theft risks. “There were 177 thefts that occurred in the analysis period. Dec. 27 and Jan. 1 were the most common days for thefts, with 24 and 23 reported thefts respectively,” it said. There was an average of 35 thefts per season, and both 2016 and 2019 recorded above-average levels of theft. The average value of each event was estimated to be $152,653, CargoNet said. Thefts were reported in 25 states and Canadian provinces, but nearly 39% of all thefts in the analysis occurred in Texas or California, it added. Twenty-seven percent of all cargo thefts recorded involved theft of food and beverage freight while 18% was theft of a household commodity. trucknews.com

Los Angeles, CA: $32 million worth of fake Viagra pills, footwear, goods seized at L.A., Long Beach ports
More than one million fake erectile dysfunction pills, counterfeit footwear, belts, purses and headphones were seized at the Los Angeles and Long Beach seaports, authorities said Thursday. The seized counterfeit products were found in three containerized cargo shipments from China, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release. If the products were genuine, officials said the goods would have had an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $32,161,194.00. Counterfeit erectile dysfunction pills seized at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. (Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection) “Criminals are exploiting e-commerce platforms to sell counterfeit and often dangerous goods to unwitting holiday shoppers,” said Carlos C. Martel, CBP’s director of field operations in Los Angeles. cbp.gov

Toronto, Canada: More than $600,000 in stolen chocolate, nuts recovered in Toronto and Vaughan
Police in York Region have seized more than $600,000 in stolen chocolate and nuts following an ongoing cargo theft investigation. The investigation started last month after investigators say they identified a group involved in stealing loads of cargo. Investigators said they located a stolen tractor trailer loaded with 55 skids of chocolates in Toronto, valued at $360,000. On Sunday, police said they located a second stolen tractor trailer in Vaughan loaded with 22 skids of pecans, valued at $270,000. Investigators said they were later able to identify a crime group involved in stealing loads of cargo which resulted in multiple arrests. toronto.ctvnews.ca

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