I was wondering if anyone could refer me to a company that may sell software geared at managing restitution cases.
I also wanted to ask if anyone in the specialty area could send me via email or through US Mail a copy of a high shortage store program.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sunglass Hut International
255 Alhambra Circle
Coral Gables Florida
33134

Attn:
Paul Jones
Loss Prevention

A report was recently presented at a National Retail Federation loss prevention conference profiling the ring of South American Boosters it is as follows:

Thousands of professional shoplifters area t work in North America on a daily basis. One fence who was caught admitted that she did business with 300 organized groups in the U.S.
The majority of these shoplifters come from South American Countries, such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile and are known as the South American Theft Groups. Other pro thieves, largely gypsies, come from Eastern European countries like Poland and Yugoslavia. Others are from Asia.
They operate in groups of 3 to 6 individuals and hit the stores hardest on weekends.
They use foil lined bags to defeat security systems, booster boxes, booster aprons and other professional electronic systems.
They take large quantities at one time and when apprehended are often in possession of $50,000 in merchandise. Six men apprehended in Alexandria, Va. had $150,000.00 in merchandise stored in their hotel room ready to be shipped to a fence.
Merchandise sold to the fences go between 1/10 and 1/3 of the normal ticket price. Fence locations are in the large, American cities where the goods are then sold to the local poulation.
The fence locations operate like a regular business. They have merchandise racks, cash registers, fitting rooms, security cameras and signs which will announce that one should not steal merchandise and that packages will be inspected upon leaving.
If you have any information on North American Booster Gangs please drop me a line at Notheft@aol.com
Thanks.

Please forward all VHS tapes to:

Scott R. Castleman
Corporate Crime Control Association
14621 SE Linden Lane
Milwaukie, Oregon 97267

Thank you very much.

I have noticed a rise in the arrests of individuals who are boosting wallets from purses in unattended shopping carts at grocery stores. I recently attempted to apprehend a billfold booster. The situation turned very violent and my partner was taken to the hospital after it was over. The guy got away unfortunately. If you have grocery stroe clients or consult loss prevention in grocery please tell them to keep an eye on unattended purses in shopping carts.

Scott R. Castleman
Corporate Crime Control Association
Notheft@aol.com

Just wanted give a little tip on some possible dishonet activity that might be going on in your store if your receiving associates are involved with "customer sends" using a outside parcel service. Instead of sending merchandise to a legitimate customer they will send merchandise that they previously collected and mail it to someone's house and pick it up at a later time. They are usually smart enough not to send it to their own address. One way to detect this type of theft is to have strict controls on who does sends. For example, only authorize the manager to do them. Another way would be to audit the sends, pick a few of them at random and call the customer posing as a customer service rep and verify that they received the merchandise. Hopefully this info can be helpful to someone!

Recently while conducting research over the internet I stumbled across an interesting document. It may be old to some loss prevention professionals but is somewhat news to me. It is a article entitled "The Art of Shoplifting." It appears to be written to educate people on how easy it is to shoplift. It gives several different techniques to utilize in your thefts and how to "spot" undercover security. Since my business is set up to educate retailerst this article has become an extremely useful tool for me. Not only is it very interesting reading it is also an effective prevention tool. I recommend to anyone who has not seen this article to read it. Not only waa this the only one I found but several more that are similar.

Another is entitled Brotherhood of Gods and Retards Improved Shoplifting Volume 1 "Department Sores" By Bushwacker located at http://www.world2u.com:80/~altp/files/bgr/isl_1.bgr

Of all the pages I have discovered The Art of Shoplifting has been the best source of information.

If you cannot locate these pages and would like to read them please contact me via E-mail Notheft@AOL.com I will arrange a way to get you a copy via mail or fax.

Thanks,

P.S. I am still looking for those shoplifting video tapes.....If anyone has any video footage of shoplifters in action PLEASE send them to me I am putting together a training video for retailers. If you send me videos I will send you a copy of my completed tape. Thank's Again. Please send VHS tapes to:

Scott R. Castleman
7931 SE King Rd. Suite #2
Milwaukie, Oregon 97222

Paul Jones (paulj17947@aol.com or pjones@hutmail.com)

NOTE : Ok, I found the bill. It's Senate Bill #984 from 1993. Anyone who is interested can download the bill (39K) by clicking Here (It will appear on your screen as Text, just save it to your hard drive.)

I recently began an investigation into a refund scam, and I need some help from anyone who might be familiar with these folks. I have two different women who refunded 19 rolls of wallpaper at 6 different stores (so far) They use a receipt that is on company receipt paper, and look perfectly legitimate. Problem is, they have consecutive transaction numbers, with the store number correct, and the changeable heading on the receipts is one the store has never used. They are hitting in the north central Illinois area right now, but it is my understanding that they have travelled into Kentucky, and Missouri in the past year. If anyone has dealy with similar scams, with very good counterfeit receipts, I' appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks.

Looking for information on how different companies handle restitution for dishonest associates. Do you handle restitution inhouse ? Do you use a collection company or civil recovery company ? If you use an outside company, has it improved your percentage of recoveries ? Any information would be helpful. We currently perform this function inhouse, but are thinking of using a service. You can contact me at:
DJohnst00@aol.com

Recently here in Oregon I have been noticing a dramatic rise in the theft of medications. Mainly allergy medications such as Sudafed etc. Further investigation revealed that a recipe was given recently over the internet for a homemade drug. Appearently gaining popularity. The recipe calls for Pseudoephedrine which is a main ingredient in most allergy medications.

Please do not hesitate to drop me a line for any more information or comments Notheft@aol.com

Over the past seven years, the supermarket business has been plagued by cash liftout artists, commonly referred to as "gypsy's". There have been 9 hits that I am aware of, and have investigated in companies that I have worked for. I have good reason to believe that in 7 of the nine incidents the same woman was involved. The FBI have two outstanding Federal warrants against this individual, the last time I checked, about a year ago.
Gypsy's are known to victimize stores in many ways, often utilizing diversion tactics. The following is the M.O. most commonly used in the supermarket hits:

1. The woman and her counterparts steal cars in the states they hit, they seem to know where they're going to hit, as if the trip is pre-planned.
   
2. The store will be cased, to determine the presence of security personnel and equipment, as well as management presence and physical layout.
   
3. During this period, a cashier is targeted; 90% of the time the cashier will be female. In all cases, the cashier is under 18 years of age, and LOOKS under 18.
4. It is assumed that also during this period, the group monitors the target cashier's register for a media pickup. From this point on, they estimate the amount of cash tendered into the register (the reason for this assumption is because in almost all instances, $600.00 or more is stolen).
   
5. When a sufficient volume of sales is reached, the woman enters the store and picks up 2-4 small items, usually less than $5.00 in value, total. She enters the lane of the target cashier.
   
6. As the sale is recorded, she is silent; once she hands the bill to the cashier and the payment is tendered, she begins her act (just as the till drawer opens). She makes gutteral noises and points to the open drawer, as she pulls a larger bill from her pocket (typically a twenty or a fifty). She is pretending to be a deaf mute, and don't underestimate her; she plays this off very well!!. especially to a younger, naive` cashier.
   
7. The jist of the scam is that she is trying to buy a travellers cheque with the $50.00. In the early-going, though, the cashier doesn't know this, and the woman becomes increasingly more "agitated", particularly if it appears to the woman that the cashier is about to close the till. She waves the bill in the cashiers face, leaning over the register belt toward the open till, all the while making these gutteral sounds.
   
8. The cashier falls victim to a combination of naivety and human nature; in most cases she stares at the womans mouth and tries to talk to the woman in a futile attempt to discern what she is trying to say. The till drawer is still open. In some cases the cashier will even hand the woman a pen and a piece of paper.
   
9. At just the right moment the "customer" reaches the pinnacle of her frustration. As she is leaning over the belt she reaches into the till and snatches everything from the large bill slot of the till, and starts waving the cash around around rather wildly as the deaf mute act continues. As she waves it, she palms a significant amount of cash.
   
10. The cashier usually snatches"all" of the money back from the woman. She typically feels terrible that she was unable to assist the "customer", who walks away displaying the throes of the final portion of her emmy-award winning act; frustration and anger.
    
11. The cashier feels even worse when she is told that her register is short $400.00 to $1200.00.
    
12. If timed correctly, the supervisor never see's the "show". Often, the cashier believes she got all the money back and never even reports that a customer had cash from her register in her hands.... sometimes not until the investigation begins does anyone realize what has happened. Of course by this time, they are in another state with a different vehicle, probably on their way to the next performance.

E. Van Allen
L.P. Specialist
Shaws

Sergeant Jeff Ross
Northbrook Police Department
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
847-564-2060
SATSHQ@aol.com

We are considering the use of Fingerprint ID on checks that we accept. Banks have begun using them, however I recently read a story about one man is sueing a bank for making him give a fingerprint due to privacy issues. Does anybody use Fingerprint ID and if so what kind of feedback have you received (complaints, loss of sales, decrease in check fraud, etc.). Please email me with any information you may have or any comments or concerns on the issue.

Thanks
Jeff Anderson
Loss Prevention Agent for Virgin Megastore, CA
Undrcvrspi@aol.com

Does anyone have any suggestions.

Kind Regards

Denny van Maanenberg
Managing Partner
retailrisk@onaustralia.com.au

Thanx
Russ Swanson
Kids R Us

If you have any significant experience with these issues, E-Mail me HERE

There is a professional group of white males who have been breaking into stores like Kohls, DIY, Lowes--(similar to Builders Square) and License Bureaus. They go in after hours, cut the main trunk of the phone lines-disconnecting the alarms. They wait back in their vehicle-(sometimes about 1 mile away from the store) until the local police arrive; check the doors, and leave.
They have taken safes right out of concrete floors and have been in these places for up to 4 hours.
They have a stake body- white truck, and they are HEAVILY ARMED. They wear B.D.U. (s.w.a.t. type) uniforms and masks. They have walkie-talkie radios.
*** They have hit businesses in the following OHIO areas: Mentor, Chesterland, Orange Village, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, N. Canton, Warren, and a few West side suburbs.
These people are believed to be from the Youngstown area.
*** IF YOU CAN GAIN ACCESS INTO THE BUSINESS, PICK UP THE TELEPHONE AND MAKE SURE IT WORKS. IF IT DOESN'T, THIS MAY BE A GOOD INDICATOR THAT THE AFOREMENTIONED GANG IS INVOLVED!!!

Leslie Value City Dept. Store
Loss Prevention Specialist.

We're not sure why, but here in the Oregon / Washington area packages of razor blades, along with the larger bottles of Tylenol, Advil, etc... are being cleaned out in one or two "hits." One couple was in the store less than three minutes, and removed over $400 in razor blades ! We are now only keeping two or three packages available on the displays. We have also discovered during questioning of these subjects, that most of them are drug addicts. Any ideas why razor blades are so popular? They won't share this info with us...Thanks

Steve Kasserman
LPO, BI-MART Stores

I've noted a recent increase in the passing of stolen checks in the Chicago and surrounding suburbs, and to make matters worse, these bad check scam artists are able to fraudulently obtain a legitmate state ID to match the stolen checks. To try and combat this, I've instructed my front-end supervisors to pay particular attention to the ISSUE date of the ID, which, in Illinois, is in the lower left corner. If an individual is attempting to purchase high-dollar items with a check and an ID less than a week old, we will take some extra precautions (i.e., call the bank, call the number on the check, use the Ameritech cross-match, etc) before accepting the check.

Also, for those folks who utilize SCAN, the scammers are bypassing SCAN by pasting new magnetic ink numbers over one or more of the original MICR numbers on the bottom of the check. When the cashier inputs or scans the account number into SCAN, it will be read as a different acount number with no negative history.

And one last thing....for those of you who have not utilized the FREE class offered to businesses by the secretary of state in Illinois, called "Operation Straight ID", you're missing out on some great information on how to spot bogus Illinois driver's licenses and state ID's. Paul Froelich is the man who conducts these classes, and he will come to your place of business to conduct the class if you request! If anyone would like his phone number, send me an email.