Apple Store and Iphone theft

August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (12)All across the country carrying a smart phone is like carrying cash in your hands.   Many thieves consider a smart phone as easy to steal as snatching a purse from an unsuspected woman. Lost and stolen phones are costing the American consumer millions of dollar a year according to some recent research and according to some news smart phone theft is happening at stores as well.

Follow the links below for more information about this and other stories.

Six Apple Store employees nabbed in iPhone theft ring

Sometimes it is those on the inside that you need to be worried about the most. In Fort Lauderdale, six Apple Store employees were snagged by the cops, as law enforcement smashed an iPhone theft ring that worked out of an Apple Store at the tony Galleria Mall. The six worked together to rip off the store out of 600 iPhones, valued at half a million dollars.
The scheme involved a number of thieves who wandered into the Apple Store, pretending to be customers. In the store, these “customers” would be helped by one of the six employees in on the scam, who would exchange a stolen iPhone for a brand new unit. The Apple Store employees who helped the transactions go through, were paid between $45 and $75 per unit for facilitating the exchange.

The cops arrested former Apple Store employees Devon Persad, Daniel Michael Scotti, Adam Alvarez, Anthony Joseph Tranchida, Sadia A. Dandia, and Otis Jerrell Ferguson. A seventh person arrested was Best Buy Mobile employee Sean Flynn. Flynn provided a list of serial numbers from smartphones on the shelves at Best Buy Mobile, to the other criminals. These numbers were used on the new iPhone models stolen from the Apple Store.

The cops are looking to identify those who brought the stolen phones into the Apple Store. They are also still looking to find the buyers of the new units that the stolen phones were exchanged for. A Broward Country prosecutor says that the phones were probably sold overseas.

Ex-Fairfax Deputy Headed To Trial On Shoplifting Charges

The case of the Fairfax County deputy charged with shoplifting at the Leesburg Target store will go to trial.

Robert H. Palmer Jr., 50, of Leesburg, appeared in Loudoun General District Court Tuesday morning. Judge J. Frank Buttery Jr. set a trial date for Sept. 23.

Palmer has been charged with two counts of petit larceny under $200, a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a sentence of up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

The case, first reported in May, gained national attention after Dallas Northington told The Washington Post he was fired as an assets protection specialist for Target after reporting two incidents of apparent shoplifting in which the suspect shown on surveillance tape was recognized by his superiors as Palmer, who’s worked for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office for 20 years.

Northington said he filed a complaint with the Leesburg Police Department as he did routinely in such cases. However, days later he was fired, told by his managers at Target that he had not followed company procedures.

Following the publication of Northington’s story, the Leesburg Police Department released a statement July 14 about its involvement in the case. According to the department, the initial complaint was filed at approximately 11 p.m. Tuesday, May 27. “The report was documented however, the reporting loss prevention officer did not witness the actual theft,” it said. During that investigation, “the individual involved in the alleged theft was positively identified as a Fairfax Sheriff’s Office employee.” On May 30, Leesburg investigators notified members of the Fairfax sheriff’s office about the report.

There the case stalled.

Mother leaves kids in store after shoplifting

Published on Aug 15, 2014

DELAND, Fla. (WKRC) — A Florida mother’s attempt at shoplifting ended with her running from police and leaving her children behind.

Deland, Florida police said Rebecca Stoltz went shopping at Wal-Mart with her 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old stepdaughter. When she allegedly tried stealing $44 of clothes, she got caught by security. In the panic of getting caught, police said Stoltz ran from the store and left her children behind.

Other parents shopping at the store said they were outraged.

Police said store security found the girls and they were both, “Clearly distressed and very emotional and both were crying.” Investigators said Stoltz knew what she did because she told a friend to go pick the children up from the store.

Police eventually arrested Stoltz who faces child abuse charges.

Follow us on Twitter @Local12 and LIKE us on Facebook for updates!

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Face of a Shoplifter

August 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (8)Winona Ryder is probably one of the most famous celebrities that were caught stealing and prosecuted for shoplifting. Lindsay Lohan the most recent one was also prosecuted for shoplifting. Although shoplifting is a crime and you can be charged and prosecuted, many people neglect to impart the importance that shoplifting deserves. Who is the shoplifter you may ask? From celebrities to news anchors and candidates for the senate, shoplifting affects many people, and the financial ramifications of this crime affect many people in the retail industry and local economies every year.

If You Want To Keep Your Job As A News Anchor, Don’t Get Caught Shoplifting

As celebs like Wynona Ryder have demonstrated, you can get caught shoplifting and still go on to have a decent career in the public eye. Perhaps Ryder’s redemption tale will give some hope to a California news woman who has resigned her local anchoring gig after being charged with shoplifting.

Sabrina Rodriguez had been with FOX40 in Sacramento since 2011, but police allege that in early 2013 she began helping her fiance steal from stores and fence those shoplifted items.

Texts from the fiance to Rodriguez show him discussing the alleged theft of expensive sweaters and purses from stores like BCBG. One text in response to the fiance reads, “Awesome. I love when a plan comes together.”

Then in March 2014, the fiance was reportedly spotted on camera leaving a Coach store with wallets he did not pay for. Rodriguez admitted to being in the store with her fiance but denied being involved in any theft.

However, police claim that security camera footage shows Rodriguez pointing out wallets to her fiance before he puts them into his bag.

Ariz. family accused of shoplifting $15K worth of clothes

Police arrested five people in Phoenix on charges of shoplifting more than $15,000 worth of clothes from different retailers — and it’s the suspects’ relationship that’s making headlines.
ABC reports that the police say the suspects are from the same family. As FOX NEWS says, the family that shoplifts together is arrested together.

Officials from the Phoenix Police Department say that the suspects had worked together to steal clothes, mostly lingerie, from retailers starting as far back as November of last year.

Officers arrested them Friday in their home where they found clothing items with tags and security devices still attached. Police say that the family used the stolen items to trade for drugs or to sell in yard sales held almost weekly.

Store Employees Help Catch Shoplifting Suspect 

A shoplifter didn’t get far when he tried to steal from a Rapid City hardware store.

Ace Hardware employees noticed Keith Ericson push a cart of merchandise out of the store without paying.  They tried to stop him as he loaded the items into the back of a truck being driven by his wife.  She started to drive away as Keith jumped in the bed of the truck, but he fell out before they got out of the parking lot.  When Dianna Ericson got out of the truck to help him, a witness grabbed the keys so that the couple couldn’t drive away.

Police say Keith is also a suspect in the theft of four drills from Walmart.  He’s charged with theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.  Dianna is charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Employee Fraud – Trust, But Verify

August 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (10) During the Cold War arms control treaty negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev President Ronald Regan became famous for a saying based on an old Russian proverb, “Trust, but verify”. He used the adage to describe the need for transparency in political relationships. But, today it has a broader meaning and can be used as a guideline for establishing trust between an employer and employee.

Many business owners, executives and managers don’t like to face the fact that some of their employees have, are or will be committing fraud – that product, materials and/or money has, is and will be walking out the door. For a variety of reasons they choose denial as their policy for employee theft and don’t address it. Unfortunately, employees take advantage of this and their employer’s trust.

One of the main reasons employee theft can be difficult for owners and managers is that they feel it’s a personal affront. They feel betrayed and believe it’s a personal issue, not a business or legal issue. It’s important for them to understand that it’s an operational and legal issue, not a personal attack.

The “Trust, but verify” concept can be used to develop a strategy. Managers can trust their employees, as a whole, while establishing transparency and accountability in daily business operations. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse (ACFE 2012 Report) makes several recommendations on how to minimize fraud.

* Anti-fraud training – Organizations who have training programs for employees, managers and executives have less costly losses and shorter durations of fraud.

* Means to report – Providing people with ways to report suspicious activity is a critical part of prevention. Fraud is almost 3 times more likely to be detected through employee tips than any other method of detection.

* Controls – Companies should establish, monitor and maintain 3 areas of controls – general internal, physical and computer/technology based.

* Screening new employees – This is an area where employers can be lazy. Many times hiring is done by the “I like him, he’s hired.” method. This is an important area to do the due diligence.

* Division of responsibilities and oversight – Don’t give too much responsibility to one person and establish checks and balances in everyone’s job. Fraud is committed by a person who the employer trusts, that’s how they’re able to get away with it. In small      businesses it’s most commonly perpetrated by a family member or friend.

* Pay attention – 81% of fraud perpetrators display obvious red flags: living beyond their means, financial difficulties, unusually close ties with vendors or customers and unnecessary controlling/secret behavior (ACFE 2012 Report).

Employees will steal from their employers, it’s not a matter of “if or maybe”, it’s a matter of “when and how”. A responsible company manager will accept their personal and fiduciary responsibility to protect the company, its profits and the honest employees by establishing and following firm guidelines which don’t enable fraud.

Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist

 

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Shoplifting Flash Mobs and Other News

August 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (5)How do you protect yourself from a mob of shoplifters? Is there a solution? Calling the police will eventually get things going, but rarely do they arrive in time to stop the shoplifting. Even an individual shoplifter can get away many times before he gets caught, and the loses your store or business suffers is big. Prevention and investing in shoplifting devices can be a helpful method for your store to prevent shrinkage and a deterrent to employees and other shoplifters from stealing from your store.

The Future Of Shopping In Three Trends

Back in 2012, I wrote a piece titled, Five Trends Driving Traditional Retail Towards Extinction. Looking back, I’m generally happy to see that the trends I examined are still valid, though “extinction” might be a little strong.

But the retail and e-commerce industries still interest me and living in New York provides a firsthand view into the petri dish that many of these companies use to experiment. So almost two years later, I’ve revisited the space to focus on three more trends that are changing the way we shop. (I’m leaving out an exploration of mobile for the moment, since it’s probably worth its own post.)

The Macro View

First, a brief look at the bigger picture.

Last month marked Amazon’s 20th anniversary, which is kind of amazing to think about since e-commerce seems both very new and indispensable at the same time. Either way, the world has had plenty of time to digest the trend.

Local Fox Anchor Arrested for Shoplifting; Fiancé Arrested for Arson

CBS 13 in Sacramento reports that a local news anchor was arrested for theft while in an unrelated case her fiancé was arrested for arson. Fox 40 news anchor Sabrina Rodriguez was arrested and charged with three felony counts of shoplifting while her fiancé, Nicholas Gray, is in jail on drug and arson charges.

On May 6, 2014, Rodriguez and Gray’s Sacramento home was ablaze; in the ensuing attempts by firefighters, one fire fighter was injured. The couple told authorities at the time that the cause of the fire was a stove exploding.

According to file footage from CBS 13, fire battalion Chris Ortiz said at the time: “The occupants were extremely lucky to get out. If they would have hesitated probably a minute or so they might be crawling out the back windows or we might be extricating them from the home.”

Gray was booked Thursday into the Sacramento County jail on charges of arson, battery, manufacturing meth, and possession of marijuana or hashish for sale. Investigators would not confirm the charges were related to the fire at his home, CBS 13 reports.

Police: Shoplifting flash mobs storm convenience stores

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. —

Police in Washington state are looking for a group of about 40 teens who allegedly stormed a Shell service station in Federal Way early last Sunday, KIRO-TV in Seattle reported.

“It’s pretty bad. … When 30, 40 people come into the store, I don’t think even cops can do anything right away,” said Ranji Rai, who owns the store. He said his clerk was alone at the time and couldn’t do anything to stop the crowd.

The clerk, Sukhvinder Singh, said that at first, he tried to stop the teens at the door, but they pushed through. Then Singh tried to grab one of the teens’ jackets, but another person threw a soda at him and just missed, Singh said.

>> VIDEO: Shoplifting flash mobs storm convenience stores, police say

According to Federal Way police, another group targeted a 7-Eleven about a mile away, only an hour and a half after the incident at the Shell station. KIRO-TV included portions of the surveillance videos in their newscast.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Social Media Helps Authorities Catch Criminals

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

law-3As of the first quarter 2014, Facebook had 1.28 billion monthly active users. This of course is only one social media site that people tend to gravitate to and one of the many sites authorities are using to capture criminals dumb enough to post selfies with stolen merchandise, or bragging about their crimes. Social media sites are playing many roles in the lives of people, from keeping them connected to friends to preying on victims.

For more about this and other stories follow the links below.

Facebook Led These Criminals To Face Time Behind Bars

Doing a crime is inherently stupid, but boasting about it on social media takes it to a whole new level of idiocy. Bidness Etc takes a look at some of these ‘criminal geniuses’ and how their addiction to social media got them caught.

They say social media is nothing but a waste of time and intelligence. While we agree with this notion to a certain extent, we believe that it is actually the horde of brain-dead, half-witted, below-average excuse for human beings that destroy social media’s reputation on a daily basis.

We believe that this epidemic (i.e. stupid people running rampant on social media) is because of the inherent nature of the internet. You see, everyone – even criminals – have access to it, can sign up for various sites, and are then free to express their worthless opinions there. Speaking of petty criminals, there have been many instances in the recent past where the criminal’s own stupidity on Facebook Inc (FB) helped the law catch them and put them behind bars for good. The law’s triumph not only restored our faith in the legal system, but it also gave us hope for the future of social media sites as well.

Criminals using social media sites to prey on victims

NEW ORLEANS —In the past three weeks, three similar crimes happened in the Crescent City – all with one common thread: social media.

Police said sites like Tagged, Tinder and Kik have been used to lure victims to potential danger, resulting in robberies and carjackings.

The first case happened in the 1600 block of Baronne Street, where police said a man met a woman and was later robbed by three men.

The second crime was committed in the 2100 block of Danneel Street by 10 men – four of whom had guns.

Digital Detectives: Social Media Helping Police Put Criminals Behind Bars

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — Anne Arundel County Police say social media is helping them put criminals behind bars.

Rochelle Ritchie explains how.

At the stroke of a keyboard, residents in Anne Arundel County are becoming digital detectives in helping Anne Arundel County Police solve crime.

“We’ve been able to solve crime based on social media tips,” said Lt. T.J. Smith, Anne Arundel County Police.

After one man’s photo was placed on their Facebook page, the comments began to pour in. It didn’t take long for the alleged ATM robber to be put behind bars.

“We have the opportunity to get the message out to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people at the click of a button,” Smith said.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Dumb Criminal Videos

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (10)There are some thieves that manage to do a lot of damage to a store before they get caught, others just can’t restrain themselves and show off their stolen merchandise to the world, making police arrests quick and a blessing for the store owner.

Follow the links below to see the videos.

Dumb Criminal Posts Facebook Photo Wearing The Dress She Stole Earlier That Day, Is Summarily Arrested

from the dress-to-impress dept

At some point, it might become useful for Facebook to release some data on exactly how many dumb criminals have been brought to justice via some aspect of the social media giant. For reasons I can’t fathom, it seems like we see this all the time. Criminals share the police station’s status update implicating themselves. Fraternities vomit their crimes all over their Facebook pages. Fugitives from the law occasionally post pictures from their vacations, alerting police to their exact whereabouts. It’s a brave and utterly stupid new world out there for criminals and they’re just not handling it well.

The latest example is Danielle Saxton, who thought it was a good idea to steal a distinctive leopard-print dress (very tasteful) from a clothing boutique and then post pictures of herself wearing the stolen property to Facebook mere hours later.

Police say 27-year-old Danielle Saxton stole from a downtown boutique last week. Then, she posted pictures of herself wearing the merchandise. Investigators say Saxton shared the pics just a few hours after the theft. The images quickly spread on Facebook, and led officers straight to her. Police say the pictures are evidence of shoplifting committed by Saxton. The theft happened at Mortie’s Boutique in West Frankfort, where multiple items disappeared last Friday.

It Only Takes 4 Seconds For These Wannabe Thieves To Realize They Picked The Wrong Gas Station To Rob

These two wannabe robbers just didn’t know who they were messing with.

As KPRC reports, an attempted robbery ended up poorly for the bad guys after they jumped a Fuel Depot employee returning from the bank with a money bag.

They must have had no idea who his co-worker was, otherwise they probably wouldn’t have chosen to rob the gas station.

Working at the cash register when the assault happened was Mayura Dissanyake, a semi-professional mixed martial arts fighter. And as we can see on the surveillance footage, in an instant, he put his skills to incredible use.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: , , , , , ,

If They Steal $1,000 That’s All I Lost….. Right?

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (13)Whether it involves employee theft, shoplifting or some other real loss, you actually lost a lot more than $1,000. And I mean real money. One of the advantages I have as the former Senior Loss Prevention Executive for several major companies, is that I bring a larger scope of experience to you, the small and medium business owner or manager.

Okay, so the thief got away with $1,000 of your merchandise but that ​​is ​​not all you lost. That merchandise had to be purchased, paid for, shipped, handled by your staff and made available for sale to your legitimate customers. In many cases we do not factor these tasks and the ever tighter profit margins we work with into the loss equation.

As an example, let’s say that your profit margin after taxes, labor and other expenses like rent, electricity, gas…. is 1.5%. Actually this is an average for most US retailers. Some have a higher profit margin others like grocery stores average less than 0.5%.

So take your loss, in this case $1,000 and divide by your margin, again in ​​this case 1.5% (.015). The result is $66,666.67. That is your actual loss. You are going to have to sell another $ 66,666.67 simply to BREAK EVEN on a $1,000 loss! How many more merchandise items will ​​you have to purchase and sell to do this? And remember that is only to break even on the $1000 loss NOT to make a profit.

Oh wait a minute – you have insurance. Few policies cover this kind of loss. If they do, try putting in for several of these cl​aims. You will probably find yourself looking for a new insurance carrier after they drop you or raise your rates through the roof.

There is only one way to do this and be profitable: prevention. You must stop losses before they occur. In addition your loss prevention efforts cannot consume all of your time or resources. Otherwise you lose focus on your sales. But the LP effort has to be a part of your standard operating environment, not on and off. You would not turn off the power to your sign every other day to save money. Why would you do that with loss prevention?

The really great news is that a solid loss prevention program is neither expensive nor difficult for the small to medium retailer. You should loo​k at loss prevention in three areas that are all working together at the same time.

First is Training & Awareness – have you set the standard right from the very beginning with your employees? Do they know what is expected of them and their performance including their responsibilities to protect your assets? Do ​​they understand you do not tolerate any theft by them or their friends regardless of size?

Second – do you have an operational audit or review of your operations? Do people actually know and believe that you look in depth into your operations and losses. Are you ACTUALLY holding them responsible for their performance?

Last is investigation. You must look into and understand why a loss has occurred. Then take action to keep it from occurring that way again. Thinking that it will go away or even worse fix it by itself is ridiculous. IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.

All of then feeds back into Training and Awareness. Once you start this cycle if will feed on itself. You will ​​even find that your core employees will pick it up and go with it. I have other techniques to this process that you may find helpful. Give ​​ me a call at 770.426.7593 x101 if you would like to discuss this or any other loss prevention issues. Again, remember shoplifting and employee theft losses can be controlled!

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Loose the Battle, Win the War

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (1)I read a horrifying news article about a man, who had been convicted of shoplifting, winning a lawsuit to the tune of $500,000. That’s right- half a million dollars paid out to a man who was convicted of shoplifting from a store. The report was horrifying for two reasons.

The first, because he was a shoplifter who might never have to work a day in his life again, basically was paid out to steal. Two, because the reason he won his suit was because he was injured during the course of the apprehension as a result of his shoplifting.

It raises a very important question of where do we, as retailers and business owners, draw the line? Where do we say we will allow this particular loss to happen to avoid an even worse loss? In essence, how do we loose the battle to win the war?

As the news report goes on, this particular man seems to have made a habit of bringing up (and winning) lawsuits stemming from his alleged shoplifting incidents. When the businesses could not win their cases against this man to convict him of shoplifting, he turned around and sued for slander, liable, and wrongful apprehensions.

While this particular situation is probably one of the more extreme examples of how a shoplifting stop can go horrifically wrong, this is not an unrealistic topic for businesses to be aware of.

Any time a shoplifter is stopped, or even approached, we have a responsibility to be right- 100% right. We also have to be able to prove it in a court of law. The days of acting on gut feelings or suspicions are long gone.

We have a right to protect our stores and to make shoplifting stops. We need to do so in a way that is also fair and legal to the suspected shoplifter- lest we also incur a half million dollar settlement at our expense.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Start Before It Becomes An Issue

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (2)Employee theft can and will happen to every small business at some point in time. The question of how you handle it, and what you can do about it relies on the protections you have in place before an incident occurs. Without these protections in place setting precedence, you might find your hands are tied in regards to the specific incident currently in front of you

The best place to start is in having anti theft verbiage in your employee handbook. That of course, means you need to have an employee handbook in place to standardize all of your business policies. If you do not have a handbook, you need to develop and implement one as soon as possible.

Within your handbook you need to be clear and broad all at the same time. A sentence stating that employee theft of any kind will under no circumstances be tolerated. Theft is defined as possessing or removing any company asset or another employee’s possessions without prior authorization from management.

You can further elaborate on the different types of company assets, or you can leave it open to all assets from pens and paper to merchandise and cash. Next you may want to include that the company will prosecute all cases of employee theft.

After having a written record of the company’s intentions, the policy should be verbally covered in employee on boarding and training. This way there is no confusion as to what the expectation is. Some businesses even have the employees sign a paper (to be retained in their employee file) that they are aware of this policy.

By clarifying up front, most employees will take heed to this warning. For those that do not, it is much easier to prosecute the employees for their theft, or misappropriation of company assets, when there is proof that the employee was aware of the consequences ahead of time.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Internal Audit

July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (11)An important, but often overlooked part of running a successful (read: profitable) business is conducting internal audits. An internal audit helps give you a base line of how your business is operating, and whether operational procedures are being followed.

Even if you are making your sales numbers and gals, you might still be missing out on maximizing your profits if operational processes are not followed- costing more than what you may realize. One of the potential areas you might not be loosing is in inventory and merchandise costs.

If you are loosing sales because you do not have the right inventory in place, you are missing a huge opportunity for profit. When those lost sales are because you have employees or shoplifters stealing your merchandise, you are hit three times financially- once for the lost sale, and twice in your cost of goods, since you have to buy the item twice to sell it to a customer once.

Internal audits are a control mechanism within your store. When employees are more cognizant that their execution of tasks and processes will be tested at any point in time, they will be more apt to comply with the correct way of doing these tasks. When they are called out for failing their part of an internal audit, the employees understands that their lack of suitable job performance can lead to counseling and up to termination for repeat offenses. As employees are more willing to execute to your standards, the openings for employee theft and shoplifting are reduced.

We have found repeat evidence that almost all crimes committed against a business are because of a procedural breakdown. Had the store employees been more aware of not only what they were doing, but how they were going about doing it, the procedural breakdowns would not have happened, and the crimes would have been harder to commit.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »