In Business to Sell Shoplifted Items

Shoplifting along with employee theft has become big business. In a number of cases, storefronts have been set up for the sole purpose of reselling shoplifted items for huge profits. In other cases shoplifters as well as grocery store employees have made arrangements with unscrupulous restaurants to supply them with stolen merchandise, primarily meat products for a cut rate price. Meanwhile other shoplifters have gone into business for themselves selling a variety of shoplifted items on one of the many online auction and classified sites.



Recently I ran across a story where a business located in southern California was busted for selling stolen goods. This is not something really new as there are countless unscrupulous businesses that purchase goods for resale. What is unique about this case is the business which specialized in women’s apparel is believed to have been set up for the sole purpose of selling shoplifted items. This highly organized business would have members go from shop to shop; from city to city lifting items from various clothing stores all for the purpose of stocking up there own business. This operation ran successfully, with relatively few incidences for more than four years and was estimated in making more than two millions of dollars in profits. When local authorities finally discovered the illegal business it wasn’t because one of the members got caught shoplifting and confessed, but rather it came from an anonyms tip. For several months authorities staked out the business before they were able to close in and make several arrests. With the widespread use of various criminal organizations in shoplifting this certainly is by no means and isolated case. It can be difficult to track and to prosecute especially if items do not have a serial number.

This certainly got me thinking of how many other businesses purchase stolen goods for the purpose of resale. Although it is very difficult to get an accurate statistic, some of the shoplifters that I had interviewed were involved in selling stolen goods to other businesses. During the research stage of the Shoplift Prevention Training Program I had interviewed almost 300 anonym’s shoplifters in order to get a thief’s perspective and learn more about their trade. This proved valuable in learning how to better prevent shoplifting as well as internal theft. What I learned in my interviews is that although some businesses were willing to buy virtually any merchandise, as long as it did not have a serial number stamped on it, a few of the shoplifters focused on stealing items, which they supplied to restaurants. In most cases, meat appeared to be the highest item in demand. One of the shoplifters I spoke with made a very comfortable living by supplying a local restaurant with an assortment of meat products, including crab, beef, lobster, and fish. Over a period of time the thief was able to recognize the easy grocery store targets and perfected his shoplifting methods. Although at times the owner of the restaurant would make special requests, generally he would base his daily menu on the stolen items available. The restaurant owner was able to maximize his profits because in most cases he paid about 1/3 of the store price for the illegal food stuff. In more than 2 ½ years the shoplifter I interviewed had only gotten caught once but was able to talk the manager out of calling the police. He claims that the grocery stores are one of the easiest and low risk businesses to steal from because the level of security is relatively low. He also pointed out that some grocery stores are much easier to lift items then others.

In another case an employee of a grocery store, was closely working with another restaurant by supplying them with cases of stolen meat. Every day or two the employee worked out a system where he would sneak out a case of frozen meat and then would supply a small restaurant with the goods. For more than a year the employee thief had been successful without raising too much suspicion  making more money from reselling the stolen meat than his regular pay.

Of course not all thieves steal to supply other businesses; some steal and run their own business. This is often accomplished by selling stolen goods on one of the many online auction and classified ad sites. In the past shoplifted items would be sold from the back of ones car, or at flee markets, but now with the growing number of online auction houses it is becoming an easy, hard to track method of making money. Too often law enforcement simply do not have the resources to follow the trail of stolen goods on auction sites / classified ads and in most cases buyers are not too concerned about where the items came from as long as they got a good deal. With tougher economic times and an increase in unemployment, it is predicted that shoplifting as well as employee theft for the purpose of resale is expected to continue to increase. For the first time you may be see individuals who in the past never would have considered theft now crossing the line and shoplifting for the purpose of making money in an attempt to maintain their lifestyle.


Biography

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 of Retail Loss Prevention professionals Group, Security and Loss Prevention for Retail Industry and the UK Loss Prevention Group.

For more information go to http://www.shopliftprevention.com

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