New Anti-Theft Rollout at Apple Stores
Apple Stores Reportedly Rolling Out New Anti-Theft System for iPhones
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today reported that Apple is facing a growing problem where some people will buy iPhones or other products and either remove accessories from the box, open up the device and remove components, and/or remove the entire device, and then attempt to return the box hoping that the employee will not notice.

When a customer seeks to return an iPhone, he said that Apple's retail employees have ordinarily been instructed to open the box and verify the contents, but Apple has since come up with a solution that will cut down on wasted inventory.

In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said Apple has started providing retail employees with a device that can "scan an in-box iPhone and run diagnostics on it to make sure the phone is fully intact, leaving the box sealed and able to be put back into inventory." Apple began rolling out this device to stores earlier this month, he said.

These are the same devices that Apple's retail employees have been using to install iOS updates on iPhones without taking them out of the box. More recently, the devices can add a personalized greeting to the iPhone Duo's setup screen. macrumors.com


Businesses Worldwide Battle Employee Theft
How employee theft is hurting small businesses in Africa
Employee theft is a huge problem for many small businesses owners in Africa, where a handful of employees may control payments, stock and supplier transactions, often with limited oversight.

A 2022 survey by PwC, one of the world's biggest consultancy firms, found that 63% of respondents in East Africa said their organisations had experienced economic crime, compared to a global figure of 46%.

The risks are not confined to small businesses. Some of East Africa's biggest supermarkets have also reported significant losses linked to employee fraud and stock theft. Tuskys and Nakumatt have both collapsed this decade amid wider financial and operational problems partly attributed to employee theft.

At its peak, Tuskys had more than 6,000 employees and over 60 branches across Kenya and Uganda. In 2015, the retailer hired loss-prevention firm Hipora Business Solutions East Africa to help tackle fraud. An audit found that Tuskys was losing more than 100m Kenya shillings (£581,000; $770,000) a month to employee theft, Business Daily reported. The alleged schemes included cashiers pocketing money, manipulating till transactions, and colluding with suppliers over goods received.

Hipora, which works with businesses across East and Southern Africa, says employee theft is a huge problem, estimating that it accounts for more than 60% of losses recorded by small businesses. bbc.com


Lawmaker resigns after Walmart shoplifting allegations — blames ‘cognitive’ decline
State Sen. Ron Alting, an Indiana Republican, was reportedly caught pocketing items at Walmarts in Lafayette and Monticello, and even took his brazen exploits to Naples, Florida, according to the Journal & Courier.

One Checkout Trick Fell Apart When A Store Worker Grabbed The Merchandise And Called Out A Customer For Repeatedly Manipulating The Purchase

Why Do We Steal Things From Restaurants?
 

Retail Loss Goes Beyond Shoplifting
Beyond Shrink: Why 2% of Revenue Is the Number That Actually Stops Retail Loss

By Tony D'Onofrio - President, Sensormatic

Most retail loss conversation seem to start in the same place: a shoplifter walking out the front door. The new IHL Group and Sensormatic study, “Beyond Shrink: 2026 Global Total Retail Loss,” surveyed 1,421 retailers across twelve countries to show just how incomplete that picture has become. External theft, including organized retail crime, is real and rising, but it accounts for only 25 percent of what retailers actually lose. The other 75 percent is where this report breaks new ground, and where most of the real surprises live.

That other 75 percent breaks down across supplier fraud, employee theft, warehouse and receiving discrepancies, return fraud, administrative errors, and e-commerce fulfillment loss. Sixty four percent of total retail loss never involves a shoplifter at all. This percentage was surprising.

The study’s timing matters as much as its scope. IHL and Sensormatic found that theft had actually begun improving earlier in 2025, until the war in Iran pushed fuel prices up and reversed the trend almost everywhere at once. Across all six loss categories tracked, 54 to 69 percent of retailers now report increases year over year. The economy turns out to be the real variable moving these numbers, well ahead of store design or staffing levels.

My favorite surprise in the whole study is what happens to the ranking once you isolate urban retailers. Globally, external theft leads at 25 percent, well ahead of anything else. But among retailers with at least 70 percent of stores in cities, supplier fraud and goods-receipt discrepancies take the top spot at 19 percent, edging out external theft at 18. Retailers have spent a decade hardening the front door. The back door and the loading dock, it turns out, are often the easier target, and almost nobody was watching.

A close second surprise sits in the cost data. An administrative process error costs retailers 103 dollars and 40 cents per incident, nearly matching the 107 dollars lost to a single employee theft incident. Fixing paperwork errors can deliver financial benefits comparable to stopping a shoplifter, a case almost never made in a loss prevention budget meeting.

   Click here to read Tony's full article


Using AI to Manage Seasonal Hiring
Gap Inc. Gets an AI Assist for Seasonal Hiring

The fashion retailer says it’s piloting Bridgette, an AI-enabled virtual career guide, to make hiring "faster, simpler, more engaging, and more human where it counts."

Gap Inc. has found a solution for better managing the complicated and busy process of hiring seasonal workers for the holiday period — artificial intelligence.

In June, Gap Inc. launched Bridgette, an AI-enabled virtual career guide to help job seekers connect with seasonal opportunities at the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta brands.

According to Gap officials, Bridgette makes the hiring journey “faster, simpler, more engaging and more human where it counts.”

The San Francisco-based fashion retailer indicated that nearly 45,000 job candidates have engaged with Bridgette in a pilot program spanning over 100 stores and six of Gap Inc.’s regional distribution centers. Now, Bridgette is being scaled across open roles in Gap Inc.’s stores and distribution centers.

“For store leaders, the technology has scheduled over 7,000 interviews, reducing time spent on administrative tasks and giving managers more time for the work that matters most in stores — leading teams, coaching associates, running the business and serving customers,” Gap said in a statement to WWD. wwd.com

 
AI Compliance Shortcuts Increase Regulatory Risks
Skipping AI Review of Compliance Results in Higher Fines

40% of compliance teams act on AI-generated regulatory guidance without expert review, says study from Enhensa.

AI adoption in compliance has become nearly universal as regulatory complexity rises. While the technology offers many benefits, it must be reviewed for errors. However, many companies seem to be skipping this step.

A new survey, The state of AI in regulatory compliance: 2026 benchmark report, from Enhesa found that 40% of compliance teams act on AI-generated regulatory guidance always or often without expert review.

The consequences of this could prove costly since teams that skip verification entirely are nearly three times as likely to report a regulatory fine (37%) against those that don’t (13%).

Enhesa tracked more than 22,000 major regulatory changes in 2025, along with over 15,000 major changes in 2026 through August, and the study is based on responses from 273 senior compliance, risk, EHS, legal and sustainability decision makers at multinational companies with 5,000 or more employees.

To manage regulatory pressure, 76% of teams now run AI across the entire compliance function or fully autonomously on at least one core compliance task. Fifty-six percent (56%) have already faced a negative outcome tied to unverified or incorrect AI output. ehstoday.com

 
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