Modus Operandi (28 page)

Nonstop Shop

Shoplifting teams simply walk up and down the aisles with large bags. They know where the security cameras are located from prior visits. They make sure that when they pick up the item with one hand it is quickly placed into the bag in front of them while the camera is behind them. You must see it to believe it. Many shoplifters will pick up an item from a shelf without breaking stride, place it in their bag, and keep walking around the aisles. Keep in mind that this is done while the shoplifter is walking quickly. They don't stop in the aisle or pick up the merchandise to look it over.

The quick pace prevents the security camera from picking up what has transpired, as many of the cameras have only black and white film of poor quality. Additionally, the shoplifters are relying on people to monitor these cameras in the store, and quite honestly, many security or clerical personnel do not monitor them. The cameras are hooked up to a VCR with a time lapse, which takes three to four second recordings from each camera in a zone.

The Drop-Off

Shoplifter #1 will be standing in a certain area, which is
not
in the area where the items will be stolen. Shoplifter #1 will be poised, however, looking at an item on a shelf and will have a large bag, somewhat open so that items can be easily placed into it, sitting on the floor. Shoplifter #2, who entered the store separately, will walk around the store and select the item that they both wish to steal. Shoplifter #2 walks around the store until he or she walks right behind shoplifter #1, and without breaking stride, drops that item into shoplifter #l's bag. This can be accomplished several different times at different locations in the store, because as long as shoplifter #1 and shoplifter #2 are not in the same location for any long period of time, they will not be suspected of being together.

The Junkie Drug Addict Shoplifter

The junkie drug addict shoplifter steals to support his drug habit. Junkies often work in pairs and sometimes in groups of three or four. A known shoplifting offender will appear in a store hoping to draw attention to himself, while his partner, who is probably not known to the police or store personnel, will actually make the lift. Once back on the street, they split the take after selling the items.

The shoplifting drug addict is very particular about what he or she steals. He knows that it is to his benefit to take items that have a very high resale value on the street. Each addict usually has his own specialty. In this way he becomes known to fences as the person to contact when a certain type of item is desired. Shirts and bras especially, but almost any article of clothing, are favorite items with junkies.

A very real and dangerous situation exists whenever a shoplifting junkie enters a store to steal. He may be so desperate for his next fix, and the need may make him so oblivious, that he may act rashly and with total disregard for other people's safety. The existence of the junkie shoplifter is one reason why all store personnel are warned to be extremely cautious in stopping shoplifters. If the shoplifter shows any sign of panic or of harming anybody, retail security people usually will be very happy with identifying the person and letting the police do the rest.

The Shoplifter Who Doesn't Shoplift

There he is, walking down the aisle. He's in the perfect location: A crowded large retail store in a crowded urban city. There he goes, turning down the aisle where all the electronic accessories are sold. He looks at a pair of small headphones that can easily be attached to a portable CD player. He looks at them, looks around, brazenly puts them underneath his jacket, and zips it up. He doesn't seem to care if somebody sees him as he walks down the aisle and turns the corner and heads right for the door! But just before he gets to the door, he takes the headphones from underneath his jacket and throws them under one of those large Rubbermaid recyclable trash cans on the bottom shelf of the rack. Why did he do this? Because he thought at the last minute he'd get caught? No, on the contrary, he wants to get caught and he wants to be accused of shoplifting, even though he has nothing in his hands. Why? Lawsuit.

If he convinces the store owner that he was falsely detained, and the police officer who responds that he is being falsely accused, he could get a couple of thousand dollars minimum for his "pain and suffering" and humiliation from being branded a shoplifter in front of all those people.

This type of shoplifter is on the rise because with lawsuits it is more advantageous for the shoplifter to pretend to take an item than to actually take it. These shoplifters are very well rehearsed. They case the store, just like any other professional, decide which item they want to pretend to shoplift, and focus on that item when they enter the store. But they also plan what is known as the ditch-off point, the point in the store where they are going to get rid of the item right before they get caught by the security personnel or an

employee. This type of shoplifter waits longer for the payoff, but it's worth it!

Catching the Shoplifter

One of the common misconceptions is that a shoplifter has to actually leave the store before he can be apprehended by the police or security personnel. Many times the shoplifter feels that once he is past the doorway and out on the street, he has a chance of outrunning anybody who might choose to pursue him.

The laws vary in different states, but in many places security personnel may legally stop a shoplifting suspect once he leaves what is known as the paying area. The law provides that a retail store or its employees has the right to detain a suspected shoplifter. Detaining a person in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time is not an arrest and the shop will not be liable to the person detained. However, the store must notify the local police department as soon as possible.

In many states it is considered a theft to conceal goods on one's person while still inside the store. The shoplifter does not have to walk past the cash register to be eligible for apprehension in this scenario. In some states it may also be a crime to carry an item from one department to another within the same store, such as picking up an item in men's apparel and carrying it down to the lower level of the store where electronics are sold.

To apprehend the shoplifter successfully, the accuser, whether a security person or an employee of the store, has to prove one of the following elements:

1. He must prove that the theft was intentional. Sometimes intent can be extremely difficult to prove. Take the case of a woman shopper who slipped two scouring pads into her purse instead of her shopping cart. When the woman was prosecuted for shoplifting, her explanation was that she did not want the scouring pads to come in contact with the food in her cart, so she placed

them in her purse as a safety precaution. When she came to the checkout, she forgot to pay for them and left with them in her purse. In this particular incident, the court gave her the benefit of the doubt and dismissed the charges.

To prove intent, security people will allow the person to leave the store before they actually confront them. If the person passed the cash register without paying for his merchandise, it is usually quite easy to prove that the theft was intentional.

2. The shoplifter must actually have the article in his or her possession. Sometimes the shoplifter thinks that by dropping the item or throwing it away after he has been detected he can get out of the situation. But that is not the case if the store owner can prove that the person had possession.

3. The merchandise in question must be proved to be the property of the store and must be offered for sale. Through price tag codes and perhaps inventory sheets, the store owner can usually prove that the particular merchandise actually came from his store. But these things are not always as they seem.

Let's take this scenario: A store security person observes an elderly woman look over a display of men's clothing. After a short while she rolls up a pair of men's trousers and hides them underneath her coat. Walking behind the display she then moves the trousers from under her coat to her shopping bag. She leaves the store. The security person, thinking that he as a clear-cut shoplifting case finds that no crime has been committed. Why? The lady could not speak or read any English as she was from Czechoslovakia. The woman wanted to buy her husband a pair of pants, just like the ones he likes so much, so she took his favorite pants to the store and compared them to make sure that she bought him the right thing. As she cannot speak or read English, she was too embarrassed to ask for help. Of course, cases like this are unique, but you

can see how it behooves merchants (and their shoppers) to be able to easily identify their merchandise.

4. It must be proved that the shoplifter intended to use the stolen merchandise or to deprive the rightful owner of its use. Again, this is usually not to hard to prove, because if a person leaves the store or paying area with the merchandise he has hidden and avoided paying for, then of course he is depriving the rightful owner of its use. Store owners are getting pretty tough about shoplifting and the law is on their side.

White Collar Crime is a catch-all phrase encompassing a variety of frauds, schemes and other nonviolent offenses. With more personal and professional business now being conducted electronically, it is easier for crooks to thrive at our expense. Home and car alarms are no longer adequate to protect us from becoming victims; these days we need security for our computers and credit cards as well.

Computers play as basic a roll in crime as they do in business and science. Computers are targets of thieves and as instruments of swindlers and intruders. Hackers pride themselves on gaining unauthorized access to data files. Money launderers cover the trails of dirty money, and common thieves can steal millions without leaving their desks. Their plundering can leave a crime scene empty of conventional clues. Only recently have states begun to pass laws that deal with computer crimes.

The annual loss from computer crime each year in the United States has been estimated as high as $100 billion. The average loss per incident can be as high as $600,000 compared to the average loss of $19,000 from all other kinds of thefts combined. The experts agree that computers will be the single greatest crime generator that we face in the future.

Telephones and Computers

Crimes involving the telecommunications industry have grown, especially since the break-up of the AT&T system. The Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) has estimated that phone companies lose as much as $500 million each year. The most common crime is the theft of long-distance access codes.

Fraudulent Telemarketing

Fraudulent telemarketing costs the industry about $200 million a year. You receive a card in the mail that says you won a prize and you need to call a particular number to claim it. These prizes can range anywhere from a new car to a "diamond" pendant. You call the company to redeem your prize, and they ask for your credit card number. You tell them that you want to know what prize you have won. They tell you that before they can tell you what prize you won, they need your credit card number to verify who you are. That's a fallacy in a couple of ways: (1) your credit card number isn't going to tell them who you are, only the banks have that information and banks do not reveal this information; and (2) most reputable companies do not do business this way. Now, there is a giant legitimate telemarketing industry out there. The problem occurs when you make the call or when you receive an unsolicited telephone call trying to get you to buy anything from land to travel packages, vitamins and water purification systems.

Travel.
The travel industry, by and large, is legitimate and well run, but there are problems with postcards that say "you have won three days, four nights in Cancun or Florida or New Orleans, call this number." What they are trying to sell you is a $300 travel club membership. What they don't tell you is that you probably have to pay for plane fare to take a travel package to an exotic locale in the off-season. Or, they overbooked the hotel so the room will not be as nice as they described to you. They are going to sell you a lot less than what you think you are buying.

Scams seem to go in a cycle. As law enforcement tries to put these telemarketers out of business, they reappear through a method called
laundering.
The telemarketers go out to a small family business in a rural area that has come across hard times. They approach the owners with a way of bringing money into the business every week. All they want to do, they say, is use the business' merchant number to process credit card charges, and the telemarketers will give them a percentage. This seems like an easy way to make a couple thousand dollars a week, but when the people who purchased these items start calling and complaining about the product they received, the complaints fall back onto the small business owner. Their business will fail, and the bank will ultimately take the loss. We are starting to see more and more of this operation in Florida, Texas, California and the Midwest.