Research for many years now, have found that the best way to prevent shoplifting is through customer service. If people are greeted by the store personnel as they enter the store, they are less likely to shoplift. The retail industry’s billions of dollars lost every year due to shoplifting and employee theft, are a social problem that they have no answer to, and regardless of how much they invest in technology, the problem seems to be getting worse not better.
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Bamboozled: The job that could get you arrested
Mystery shopping gigs are real, but they’re also a common job title you’ll see when a scammer is looking for a victim.
And now, fraudsters are giving this job scam a new twist. One that could land you in jail.
But first, the real thing.
Retailers will hire “mystery shoppers” to visit their businesses — unbeknownst to the employees — for an objective look at the shopping experience. The mystery shopper will be instructed to look at specific things about a business, and then go back to the company to report his or her experiences.
Mystery shoppers are typically paid a fee for their time, and they’re also reimbursed for items that are purchased during a store visit. These amounts are often pre-approved by the company that hires the shopper.
The fakes work differently.
Crimes at Jacksonville’s big box stores last year cost taxpayers $75K
Most calls at Walmart deal with shoplifting.
ACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Police officers in Jacksonville spent 3,533 hours — the equivalent of 147 days – responding to petty crimes at Walmart stores in Jacksonville last year, I-TEAM research found.
Officers spent another 667 hours working shoplifting and other minor calls at Target stores in the city.
An analysis of data from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office found 5,298 police calls to the 15 Walmart stores in Jacksonville in 2015 – five times the number of calls to the eight Target stores in the city.
The Walmart on Normandy Boulevard had the most calls: 864. Shoplifting made up half of those calls, followed by thefts, then disputes.
Police Cars Parked Along Admiral Wilson Boulevard In Effort To Prevent Crime
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) — For weeks, marked police cars have been stationed at businesses
along Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden.
Two police cars have been parked around the clock at gas stations along Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Generally, there are no officers in the cars. Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson says it’s designed to deter crime from robberies to shoplifting to graffiti.
“It’s a reminder to those that may be up to no good — whatever it may be on that spectrum of illegal activity — that we’re nearby, and that we’re watching at all times,” he said.
Thomson says the cars are part of a wider bid to work withbusiness owners to address blight and dilapidated properties in neighborhoods.
“We were seeing an increase in the amount of graffiti, trash, broken-down cars, boards falling off of abandoned buildings,” the chief said. “And considering the fact that 80,000 cars a day travel along that route — I don’t want that to negatively define our city.”
What is the solution to shoplifting and employee theft?
Employee theft is a common and costly problem in retail. Some businesses’ are reporting that, for the first time, internal pilferage has now surpassed external. There are many ways to control and manage internal theft. But, one of the most effective ways is often overlooked. Stop it before it starts.
It’s no big secret that I can’t stand a thief; I did make a career out of catching them. Shoplifters really get under my skin, but employee theft really fires me up. You put people to work, give them opportunity to grow and instead of putting in the long hours, hard work and dedication needed to move forward, they steal from you. They betray your trust, slap you in the face and take money out of your pocket and food off your family’s table. Will you ever stop employee theft completely? Probably not. You can, however, minimize the risk.
For decades the gold standard of learning theory was that people needed to be told something 3 times before they really understood and remembered it. If you wanted people to learn something you were supposed to: tell them what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you just told them.
It’s not too many industries where I can share two separate stories of a crook falling four stories after trying to steal. This is why I chose Loss Prevention as my career. It’s not the thrill of the chase, or the feeling I get when I close a big case; no, it’s the funny stories I get to tell!
It was 4:30am on a Tuesday morning. My company cell phone pierced through the quiet halls of my house. At first, I didn’t get out of bed; perhaps it was a wrong number. Silence. As I doze back off, I hear the familiar tone once again. Who could be calling me and for what reason at this hour? I let it ring. I hear the chirp of the voicemail. Before I can muster the energy to get out of bed, I hear my personal phone ringing. This one is next to me on the night stand. Something is wrong, I immediately think to myself. When I reach for my phone in the middle of the dark room, eyes still blurry, I see the caller ID. It’s a sheriff’s deputy that I’m good friends with. My heart is in my throat as I answer. “You’re morning crew was just robbed at gunpoint. Get to the store now.”