Although there are different types of shoplifters and their motives may be different, one thing for sure, shoplifting has skyrocketed and can cost a retailer dearly in lost profits.
In order to better prevent shoplifting, for the last 15 years I have interviewed more than 300 shoplifters attempting to learn more about their tactics and how theft has changed through the years. Lately it has become obvious that shoplifters have become more sophisticated than ever before. Q. Thank you for talking to me. Let me ask you how long have you been shoplifting?
A. Just over 4 years.
Q. Why did you decide to start stealing?
A. Part of it was necessity. I became unemployed during the 2008 recession and after more than six months of searching for a new job I became frustrated. The bills were still coming in but not the paycheck.
Q. Can I ask you what was your occupation prior to 2008?
A. I worked in the corporate world as director of marketing.
Q. Are you serious?
A. Yep, I have a degree in marketing and worked for the company for nearly 10 years.
Q. Why shoplifting? What made you to choose that path?
A. I think it was a matter of desperation. I had a good lifestyle prior to being unemployed and did not want to lose that. So one day when I was surfing on the internet and stumbled on a site that talked about how easy it was to make some big money boosting (shoplifting) items. It explained how most retailers were not well setup to prevent it from happening. So I researched it for a few weeks and then started.
Q. The internet was your source of training?
A. Yeah, pretty much. It’s all out there. Where to steal, how to steal, what to do if you get caught, how to fence (sell) merchandise. There are sites, forums, even videos that teach you all kinds of valuable stuff. There are many experienced people out there who are more than happy to share their knowledge.
Q. What was the first store that you stole an item from?
A. It was a Dollar Store not far from where I live.
Q. Why would you ever shoplift from a Dollar Store, not much of value there?
A I followed the suggestion of the experienced people on the internet site, to start with a business that had virtually no security. The idea was to become comfortable with pocketing items. This is even where alot of newbie's in organized crime gangs begin. After a few weeks as I become more comfortable, I moved onto something a bit more challenging. I think it was a super market, again a place with very little security.
Q. Do you ever feel guilty?
A. Maybe a little bit at first, now I do not really think about it that much.
Q. What kind of merchandise do you steal?
A. At first, it was pretty much everything. Then for a while I stole meat from a couple grocery stores and super markets. I had made a deal with a couple restaurants in my area; they would purchase all the meat I could provide them. In fact their daily specials revolved around what I could supply them. So for a couple years I focused on grocery stores and super markets. Now it’s a bit different, I focus more on higher end, easily resold items.
Q. So you no longer steal from Super Markets?
A. No I didn't say that. I still regularly lift from Super Markets. You have got to realize that most Super Markets sell pretty much everything and in most cases their security is really quite lax.
Q. Where do you sell your merchandise?
A. Mostly online. There are lots of places online.
Q. I hear that some shoplifters take special orders of what to steal?
A. Yeah some shoplifters do. But I find it’s a bit risky. If a client gets caught there maybe a chance they will “rat” on you. I really do not like to take too many unnecessary chances.
Q. How do you decide who to target?
A. After a while you just get to know who is an easy target and who is not. The word gets out pretty quick who is considered an easy mark and who is a tough target. Alot of times this kind of information is posted online through the forums I belong to. I also notice that alot of retailers and their employees just don’t seem to care if they are getting ripped off.
Q. Ok, what determines an easy target verses a tough target?
A. I generally look at the staff. If the staff is not alert or doesn’t seem to care then 99 out of a 100 times this will be an fairly easy target, this is especially true if there is no LPO (Loss Prevention Officer) present. Mind you after awhile you get to know who the LPO's are and you come back at a different time when they are not around. Then finally I look at the security systems that a store may have.
Q. Do you consider a businesses with various anti-theft security devices, such as CCTV (closed circuit television), or EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) systems a tough target?
A. Yes and No, it all depends. Some businesses have security systems but they are poorly maintained. Others depend only on … lets say an EAS system and nothing else. These sometimes can be the easiest targets cause nobody is watching; they figure that the security system will take care of all theft, they almost get a false sense of security that this will stop me from stealing. But in many cases I can easily outsmarted alot of the systems that are out there.
Q. So how do you steal things from these types of retailers? Lets say a retailer with an EAS system?
A. Well I have all kinds of different things that work for me. I have made some of my own booster equipment that will prevent alarms from going off when I walk through the security gates. I also just recently started using a small detacher that I bring into a store that will remove the security tags, this way I could walk out the door with the stuff and the alarm will not go off, I don’t even need the booster equipment in this case.
(Special note: generally booster equipment is a bag or a box that is lined with multiple layers special material that will prevent the EAS security alarm from sounding)
Q. Where did you get this tag detacher?
A. Online of course?
Q. Do you target the big box stores?
A. I stay away from the big box stores, not all but most of them are very serious about loss prevention. I perfer to boost the small to medium sized businesses. Less risky
Q. Couple more questions. Do you target the same retail outlet repeatedly or do you move around?
A. It all depends. There is one store I have been boosting (shoplifting) for the last 3 years, at least once or twice every week. It’s just easy and safe. But in other cases if I sense that I may be under any suspicion, I will move on. There are plenty of easy targets out there so there is no need to take unnecessary risks.
Q. Have you been caught before?
A. I’ve been caught twice but fortunately never arrested.
Q. How did you manage that?
A. The first time I gave a real sad sob story and was let go with a warning and a ban. The next time I ended up paying off the manager. I handed him a wad of cash, maybe seven or eight hundred dollars and he let me go.
Q. You bribed the manager?
A. Hey it worked. Lets call it part of doing business.
Q. So do you work weekends? Just kidding you don’t need to answer that question.
A. That’s fine. The answer is Yes, I often work on weekends because it is easier and less risky. Many stores use younger less experienced employees on weekends which usually are not trained in how to spot a shoplifter.
Q. Last question. How much do you make boosting merchandise and have you ever considered getting back into marketing?
A. Its difficult to even consider getting back into marketing. Right now what I do is way too lucrative.
Q. Can you give me an idea of how lucrative it is?
A. Last year I made a little over 250,000 dollars, most of it was tax free.
Q. Did you say 250 grand and you work alone?
A. Yeah is somewhere near that amount..
Q. Thanks for your time.
A. You bet.
I hope this gives you a better insight into the mind of a shoplifter and may assist you in developing better loss prevention strategies for your business.
After losing a business to shoplifting and two years later being a victim to a shoplifting assault FJ Tarasoff made a commitment that he would help retailers protect their assets as well as the safety of all staff members. Twenty years later, Tarasoff is a leading authority in retail loss prevention, he conducts training workshops on various loss prevention techniques, including shoplifting and intenal theft and is the developer of “The Shoplifting Prevention Program” an affordable online training program. He has also been interviewed by numerous media outlets including, The CBC, The Globe and Mail, Small Business report, Hardware Magazine, Grocer Magazine, GlobeandMail.Com, Canadian Retailer and is a member Loss Prevention for Retail Industry and the UK Loss Prevention Group.
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