Standing Out From the Rest During this Retail Revolution

Burlington Stores Asset Protection Department Continues to Grow
& Develop the Team, the Program & its AP Team Members

Certainly some would say that Burlington Stores, Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, and a nationally recognized off-price retailer with fiscal 2017 revenue of $6.1 billion, is in an industry that hasn't been as impacted by online retailers and the Amazon impact like so many other sectors. But that doesn't make it immune to the pressures, stress, or issues of operating during this transitional age in retail.

With 651 stores, and opening a net 43 more this year, and with total sales up 11.3% for the first six months of 2018, and fiscal '17 comp's up 3.4%, they are standing out from the rest. However, along with this strong performance comes the traditional financial and performance expectations of the company, the departmental teams, and the individual executives.

Couple that with the evolving digital consumer expectations and you have virtually the same environment that all retailers are subservient too and the expected change that comes with it. Which translates into the financial pressures and limitations that every department is held accountable to and must operate within.

With that said, their Asset Protection effort and team deserves to be recognized and called out as one of the leading growth and development success stories over the last eight years and doing this at a time when every organization, regardless of your sector, is micro-managing every dollar.

In 2010, Jim Connolly joined the organization as the senior vice president of Asset Protection and basically gave birth to a program and took the team from a non-aligned, limited focus, under-staffed team to a fully aligned, multi-focused and integrated, operational support team of approximately 65 field executives and 18 corporate support and leadership members.

And the building effort continues with the addition of eleven new District Loss Prevention Managers, aligned with their operations counterpart, they recently approved, some of which are listed below.

While some may discount the effort and envy being in their off-price sector, the effort by every team member has enabled Jim and his team to continue to grow and prove the value throughout the enterprise. Which is no small feat given today's digital black whole that's existent in every retailer and is sucking up every dollar.

One anomaly that's also contributed has been the level of available candidates on the market. Which Jim points out, recognizes, and views as Burlington's way of helping the community and helping these displaced executives in a shrinking market.

Over the last eight years the AP department at Burlington Stores has contributed significantly to the success of the organization and helped drive shrink results to historical levels. A huge accomplishment given today's environment and with its continued growth it'll continue to offer opportunities for the Loss Prevention community. Congratulations to the entire team. Job well done. Just some thoughts - Gus Downing

James Kennedy promoted to Territory Loss Prevention Director, West for Burlington Stores Jim was most recently Regional Operations Manager in Sacramento CA. Prior to that position Jim was the Regional LP Manager in San Francisco and prior to joining Burlington, Jim held store and Loss Prevention management positions at Sears. Congratulations, Jim!

	NEW Position Maria Rodriguez promoted to District LP Manager, Chicago IL for Burlington Stores		NEW Position Janine Marin named District LP Manager, Long Island/Metro NY for Burlington Stores
	NEW Position Tomas Negron Hernandez promoted to District LP Manager, Orlando FL for Burlington Stores		NEW Position Ki Johnson named District LP Manager, Chicago IL for Burlington Stores
	NEW Position Robert Redman named District LP Manager, Las Vegas NV for Burlington Stores		NEW Position Justin Ponzini named District LP Manger, E. Upstate NY for Burlington Stores

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position

StopLift Detects & Confirms 3 MILLION Incidents
of Unscanned Items at Checkouts Worldwide

StopLift Checkout Vision Systems has now detected and confirmed 3 million incidents of scan-avoidance at both manned and self-checkouts at retailers in the U.S. and around the world.

StopLift's Artificial Intelligence (AI) video analytics software automatically analyzes security video to detect theft and improve operational efficiency at manned and self-service checkouts.

StopLift's Scan-It-All can determine what occurs during each transaction at the retail or supermarket checkout to immediately distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent behavior. As soon as a scan avoidance incident occurs, StopLift, which constantly monitors 100% of the security video, flags the transaction as suspicious. It quickly reports the incident, identifying the cashier or customer and the date and time of the theft.

This includes incidents which may be due to mistakes by the cashier or customer at self-checkout as well as items left in the shopping cart. It also includes "sweethearting", when cashiers pretend to scan merchandise but deliberately bypass the scanner, thus not charging the customer for the merchandise. The customer is often a friend, family member or fellow employee working in tandem with the cashier. Many scan avoidance incidents are also caused by customers using self-checkout.

See real scan avoidance incidents - and a realtime incident counter showing more than 3 million detected incidents at www.StopLift.com.

StopLift's new Self-Checkout Accelerator is enabling retail chains to receive realtime reporting on self-checkout theft, alerting attendants via video sent directly to a wrist-based mobile device. The Self-Checkout Accelerator reduces by 90% the self-checkout's annoying transaction interventions, thereby significantly improving customer experience at the self-checkout.

"Retailers always suspected that self-checkouts would be highly prone to scan-avoidance, and our technology has certainly found this to be the case," Kundu said. "Furthermore, using the incidents detected from their own stores, retailers are now able to train staff on the signals indicating when customers are either having problems using the self-checkout or are exhibiting suspicious behavior."

Dishonest associates are identified on the basis of video evidence the first time they conduct a fraudulent transaction, rather than months or even years down the road, significantly reducing inventory shrinkage, deterring future theft, and boosting profitability. Likewise, dishonest customers are identified at the self-checkout.

Any 'Grey Hats' In Your Group?
Are Cybersecurity Professionals Turning to Cybercrime?
Almost one in 10 U.S. security professionals admits to having considered participating in Black Hat - or cybercriminal - activity, according to the report White Hat, Black Hat and the Emergence of the Grey Hat: The True Costs of Cybercrime, conducted by Osterman Research and sponsored by Malwarebytes.

Participating both as a cybersecurity professional and as a cybercriminal would make them "Grey Hats," and on average, survey participants believe that 4.6 percent of their colleagues are Grey Hats. Forty-six percent think it's easy to get into cybercrime without getting caught, although most believe there's more money to be made in fighting cybercrime than being a cybercriminal. The study found that more than half of all U.S. security professionals know or have known someone who has participated in Black Hat activity. Among cybersecurity professionals polled globally, that rate is 41 percent. Furthermore, 22 percent have been approached about participating in cybercrime, and 12 percent have seriously considered it.

Money is one of the main reasons cybersecurity professionals believe people turn to cybercrime, though, with 62.5 percent saying Black Hats can earn more money than security professionals. On the high end, cybercriminals can earn in excess of $166,000 per month, and on the low end of the earnings scale, cybercrime can net the criminal more than $3,500 per month - more than some entry-level security professionals make. For comparison, The True Costs of Cybercrime study found that the global average salary for an entry-level cybersecurity professional is $60,662, and the top salary is $130,520. securitymagazine.com

CVS is edging towards an Apple-style cashierless checkout
Pharmacy retailer CVS wants to cut time in the customer checkout process by making it easier for customers to scan and pay for items themselves and by building technology to let people check out customers while they roam the aisles.

The company said on Tuesday it's working with Toshiba to make this happen through a platform called TCx Elevate, which lets it bring together a series of legacy tech systems into one platform, and through it, gather data to learn more about customers. CVS and Toshiba did not respond to requests for comment, but industry observers say it's a move to keep pace with industry giants like Starbucks, Amazon and Walmart.

Like CVS, industry players that are testing tools to give customers the ability to scan items anywhere in stores include Walmart, Kroger and Tesco.

An Apple Store-style mobile point-of-sale capability, which retailers like the Gap are also testing, offers more promise. Walmart, which has been experimenting with mobile point of sale through a tool called "Checkout with Me" at 350 of its stores, recently told Digiday early results were encouraging. If CVS can reduce time and increase the number of transactions, it has a good chance of achieving success, said True. digiday.com

Physical Security is Cyber Security
Cyber-Securing Video Cameras
Passwords, encryption and networking techniques all help to safeguard your video surveillance feeds.

"Historically, camera systems have been fairly isolated on the network, and so people have not lumped them into the cyber realm." "Now these devices are connected to the same network as mission-critical servers and applications."

What are the most likely cyber gaps in video systems, and what are the most significant remediations?

Video surveillance security starts with passwords. Like many IoT-type accessories, cameras can easily be password protected, but end users tend to overlook this basic safeguard. The simple fix: Implement a rigorous password regime straight out of the box.

Encryption of the video feed between camera and the storage site is an equally important first step that often gets overlooked. "Most of these systems don't activate encryption by default, and a lot of times people will just turn it on to see that it is working. They want to avoid any possible compatibility issues or performance issues at first, so they ignore encryption and then they forget about doing it," Chesla says. It takes but a moment to put this basic safeguard into play.

Along these same lines, basics of cyber governance indicated that video systems should be scanned regularly for vulnerabilities and that patches should be applied in a timely way as dictated by manufacturers and various standards bodies. This is Cyber 101, arguably, but it often gets overlooked in video systems, which may not always be perceived as being truly an "IT" asset.

Defensive techniques: One such method involves the deployment of decoys, data that resembles real production assets and can be used to misdirect attackers, fooling them into attacking what is essentially a bogus system.

Behind the scenes, IT security leaders also can pursue structural means to safeguard video. "When you deploy a video system on the network, you want to separate that network with a logical or physical segmentation of the video network from the other data," Chesla says.

It's worth noting, too, that video doesn't live strictly in the IT shop, and hence may not fall strictly under the embrace of cyber teams. This can further complicate an already sticky situation.

"Many security pros lack the knowledge, tools and time needed to adequately defend these assets," Galvin says. "This is even more challenging when there's little communication or collaboration between IT and physical security teams."

That being the case, a little cooperation can sometimes go a long way. "IT and physical security pros must work together to ensure that the entire video surveillance ecosystem - from the edge to data center servers - is protected," he says.

In fact, it can reasonably be argued that physical security is cybersecurity when it comes to video systems.

"The security situation around video can be worse than for other systems, because parts of the system - the cameras - are in public places outside the firewall." securitymagazine.com

Liquor thefts 'draining' police resources - 1,182 incidents reported in '18
Police calling on stores to implement better prevention measures
Winnipeg police are sounding the alarm on the number of thefts happening at liquor stores across the city. Since January, the police have received 1,182 reports of thefts at liquor marts across Winnipeg. Murray said the booze thefts are proving to be a drain on police resources.

"Every one of those thefts requires investigation, requires a detective to look into it. Often there's video surveillance associated with these files and they take a substantial amount of work," Murray said. "You often have multiple suspects. We see these crimes being committed by parties of individuals. Everyone of those suspects, we need to pursue as well."

"We'll work with the authority in charge of the liquor marts to try and reduce that number. To an extent, there has to be prevention on their end as well," he said. globalnews.ca

Alleged racial profiling results in calls to boycott Hudson's Bay in Lethbridge
Two groups of University of Lethbridge students say they were made to feel unwelcome during their back-to-school shopping trip on Thursday after they found themselves monitored by store staff and security.

The five shoppers, who are First Nations, were in the Hudson's Bay in the Lethbridge Centre Mall when an employee allegedly made an announcement calling for all security staff to report to the men's clothing department, the spot in the store where the groups happened to be at the time.

The would-be customers were allegedly surrounded by store security personnel and at least eight clerks who monitored their every move.

Nadine Eagle Child, a learning facilitator for the First Nations transition program at the University of Lethbridge, is also calling for a boycott of the store following the incident that she describes as upsetting, especially for the students. ctvnews.com

Ontario still has not pursued punishment against Costco after its pharmacy directors admitted to illegal payment scheme
A complaint had been filed alleging the retail chain pressured a generic drug company to pay illegal kickbacks in exchange for getting its prescription products stocked on Costco pharmacy shelves. The alleged demand had been captured in a secretly recorded phone conversation.

Costco, in its response to the complaint, has said the contentious payments from Ranbaxy were for "advertising fees" and were not connected to its decision to buy specific medications from the drug company. In Ontario, it's illegal for pharmacies to receive any direct or indirect rebate from a drug company.

But outside the province, generic drugmakers routinely pay pharmacies a percentage of the cost of their drugs to induce them to stock their products. These rebates are sometimes upwards of 80 per cent. For Costco in Canada, these payments amount to millions of dollars a year. thestar.com

Lottery scam forced change in retail security procedures
Father, son, daughter sent to prison for $12.5M lotto scandal
A father and his son and his daughter were sentenced to prison terms for their roles in an outrageous insider lottery scandal that forced OLG to tighten their security procedures with retailers. Kenneth Chung, 35, who operated Variety Plus in Burlington, and his father Jun-Chul Chung, 68, who worked there part-time, were found guilty in April of stealing lottery tickets during an eight-month period ending in February 2004. Gray sentenced the patriarch of the family to seven years in prison, his 36-year-old daughter to four years and his son to 10 months as the judge found he didn't play a role in the winning ticket scam.

The Chung case was highlighted as the most shocking example of what a scathing 2007 Ombudsman report called OLG's "too cozy" relationship with its retailers that saw it pay out $100 million to "lottery insiders" under suspicious circumstances. Following a public outcry, the OPP launched an investigation and the Chungs were arrested in 2010.  montrealgazette.com

Tim Hortons seizes ownership of 4 locations from franchisee who leaked sensitive corporate information
The parent company of Tim Hortons seized the restaurants of the head of an unsanctioned franchisee group after he allegedly leaked sensitive corporate news to the media. His restaurants under corporate management until the company selects a new franchisee to run them. financialpost.com

Canada Store Openings
● Uniqlo to Almost Double its Store Count in Canada Over 8 Week Time Span
● Baskin-Robbins Continues Aggressive Expansion In Ontario With Plans For 18 New Locations
● Saks OFF 5TH Continues Expansion, Canada's Mondetta Brand Revived
● Lee Valley Tools to Expand Into Quebec
● Sleep Country Opens in CF Fairview Mall

DSW to Shutter Iconic Town Shoes Chain of Stores; 38 locations across Canada

No touching! Plus 5 other rules to expect inside Sask.'s legal pot shops

Tim Hortons franchisees say coffee pots are shattering, wounding employees

Almost 80% of Canadians buy or use digital products online; Spent CAB 8 billion from July '17 to June '18

Duty-free shopping limits on the line in NAFTA talks, but could be a win for consumers

 

'Live in Dallas' - Introduction with Gus Downing

Gus Downing, Publisher & Editor of the D&D Daily, introduces the Loss Prevention News Network's 10th LIVE Season - "Live in Dallas" at NRF Protect 2018. This only-one-of-its-kind Live LP Digital Conference brings you a host of LP/AP and Solution Provider Leaders discussing the hot topics, the ongoing issues and challenges, the programs, the latest technology, and the solutions these providers offer to the industry.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we re-broadcast our entire live shoot from start to finish.
 

MCs Joe LaRocca & Amber Bradley - Quick Take 1

MCs Joe LaRocca and Amber Bradley tell us what's in store for the day - from our upcoming agenda full of valuable LP insights and information to surprise guests, movie quotes, and lighting rounds. You never know what LPNN's dynamic duo will say or do! Tune in for their fun-filled, value-packed Quick Takes filmed LIVE between LPNN interviews at our "Live in Dallas" 2018 shoot.
 

Almost 8,000 ecommerce sites infested with MagentoCore Card Skimmer
A number of 7,339 ecommerce sites have been infested with the MagentoCore.net payment card skimmer in the last six months, making the malicious script one of the most successful credit-card threats out there.
The independent malware hunter Willem de Groot said he suspects the Magecart group to be behind it is the same outfit that pulled off the Ticketmaster heist earlier in 2018.

The infections are part of a single effort, all tied back to one well-resourced group with global reach. The campaign is global, de Groot said, and ongoing. According to de Groot's nightly scans, new stores are being hijacked at the alarming pace of 50 to 60 stores per day.

The Magecart actors are targeting online stores running WooCommerce from WordPress and Magento software, and "the attack vector is, in almost all recent cases, brute-forcing the administrator password." Attackers can also gain unauthorized access from a staff computer that's infected with malware, or by hijacking an authorized session using a vulnerability in the content management system (CMS). thepaypers.com

JD.com's CEO arrested in Minneapolis in sex‑case probe

VC money is pouring into e-commerce - but are women getting a fair share?

Amazon to Expand San Diego Tech Hub with 300 IT Jobs

Online sales driven by store associates now account for up to 9% of retailers' annual e-commerce revenues

Walmart Overhaul Of eCommerce System Results In More Out-Of-Stock Items

Amazon reaches a $1 trillion market value

Amazon Sets Its Sights on the $88 Billion Online Ad Market

Grocery App Usage to Grow Nearly 50% in 2018

Stevens Point, WI: Employee stole $30K from Feltz Lumber
A Wittenberg woman accused of stealing more than $30,000 from a Stevens Point lumber company faces more than 14 felony charges. Amy L.M. Stennett, 36, was working for Feltz Lumber in the office for almost two years when the company's owner contacted the Stevens Point Police Department about discrepancies in their checking account. The owner said his wife was looking at the company's checking account when she discovered four checks that weren't accounted for. When the company got copies of the checks, they discovered the checks were written to Stennett for amounts ranging from $700 to more than $3,000. When detectives confronted Stennett with the checks, she said things were tight and she was stupid, according to records. stevenspointjournal.com

Martin County, IN: Martin County Sheriff's Department and Kroger LP team up to break Western Union Scam
Martin County authorities, in connection with Kroger's Loss Prevention representatives, have arrested two people on fraud and theft charges. Officials report that last week investigators discovered that two employees at the JayC store in Shoals had stolen more than $4,000 by making fraudulent Western Union transactions at the store and keeping the money. Authorities said they transactions took place July 23 and August 26. The Martin County Sheriff's Department arrested Melissa Gibson, on a charge of theft and Patty Tolbert, 44, on a charge of theft. washtimesherald.com


Fayetteville, NC: Tips flood in after thefts at Cross Creek Mall
Fayetteville Police thanked the public Tuesday for tips that will lead to the arrest of suspects in a theft from Cross Creek Mall. After police published to Facebook surveillance video of women carrying bags of merchandise out of the mall, the tips came flooding in. Within hours, police followed up with a social media post that said, in part, "We don't need any additional information at this point. ... Thanks to all who called and submitted mobile tips!" Investigators believe the suspects are responsible for stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. wral.com


Frazer, PA: Two people accused of stealing about $2,700 in goods from Pittsburgh Mills mall

UK: Exeter, England: Lovesick Distribution Center supervisor stole $96,000 worth of clothes from Go Outdoors to impress girls

Greenwich, CT: Four Shoplifters hit Brooks Brothers, Hermes and Saks Fifth Avenue in brazen
Grab & Run

Montgomery, IL: Menard's Shoplifter arrested for Felony Theft; repeat offender

Brookfield, WI: Man steals $600-$700 worth of alcohol from Metro Market
 

Sycamore, IL: &-Eleven Armed Robber sentenced to 30 years; clerk shot and wounded

Sioux City, IA: Man sentenced to 25 years for January Kum & Go Armed Robbery

Earl Township, PA: Former C- Store Employee sentenced to 2 to 5 years for Armed Robbery

Oakland, CA: Man Sentenced To Fifteen Years In Prison For His Role In Robbery Crew

Orlando, FL: Two Men Sentenced To 12 Years in Federal Prison For Walgreens Robbery

Tampa, FL: Man Sentenced To Nine Years For Credit Card Fraud And Identity Theft In Gas Pump Skimmer Case

Submit Your New Hires/Promotions or New Position

Featured Job Spotlights

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	Project Lead (LP Technology) Dublin, CA The Lead, Project Coordinator facilitates the development, implementation, and ongoing execution of multiple Loss Prevention technology projects, programs and systems. This is accomplished by leading projects from concept to completion, acting as a subject matter expert, and working effectively with internal partners (i.e. Store Operations, Store Planning, IT, HR, Logistics, Purchasing, etc.) and external resources (i.e. vendors, service providers, etc.) to drive results, and monitoring to ensure all projects meet scope, timeline, and budget needs...
NEW TODAY	Regional Asset Protection Manager Harrisburg/State College, PA The Regional Asset Protection Manager will lead their region in Shrink Reduction, Asset Protection and Safety efforts through an in-depth understanding of the overall business, effective partnerships and by directing the region with integrity and professionalism...
NEW TODAY	Loss Prevention Market Specialist Jacksonville, FL To monitor store locations to detect, investigate and resolve internal and external situations and circumstances that could lead to or result in losses to the company. All actions and conduct within the scope of the position must be performed according to performance standards set by Burke's policies, procedures and Code of Ethics...
	Loss Prevention/Asset Protection Investigator Boston, MA Responsibilities will include but are not limited to: ● Protect the assets of the distribution center as well as the associates and visitors. ● Maintain surveillance of the property via CCTV and physical inspections including perimeter checks...
	Asset Protection Analyst Norcross, GA AP Analyst based in Norcross, GA reporting to the Director of Asset Protection. This high-visibility role will be responsible for business-wide security administration, multiple fraud detection programs and functional communication...
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	Regional Loss Prevention Manager Atlanta, GA ● Develops and implements shrink reduction strategies and action plans for their coverage region and for individual stores as needed ● Creates and conducts training sessions at the regional, district, and store level to educate and bring awareness to loss prevention and shrink related topics...
	Asset Protection District Manager Chicago, IL The Asset Protection District Manager will lead the District in shrink reduction and profit maximization efforts. The position will proactively seek to bring economic value to the company, promoting profitable sales and world class customer service while ensuring a safe place to work and shop...
	Regional Loss Prevention Manager Pacific Northwest Job responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: ● Conducts internal investigations related to theft, business abuse, and safety violations by conducting interviews, determining course of action, and writing reports. ● Formal interview training, i.e. Wicklander-Zulawski or Reid Techniques...

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