Retail's Enemy Within?
Growing Insider Threat: Why Retailers Can’t Afford to Ignore the Enemy Within

By the D&D Daily staff

As retailers pour resources into battling external theft and ORC crews, a quieter threat is gaining ground: insider-driven crime.

While smash-and-grab headlines dominate the news cycle, internal theft remains a persistent — and evolving — risk. Today’s insider has access not just to merchandise, but to systems, schedules, and security protocols. That access can be exploited for personal gain or, increasingly, to aid external boosters.

Collusion Is On the Rise

Recent investigations have revealed a troubling trend: employees coordinating with ORC groups. Whether it’s tipping off crews, staging product for easy grabs, or disabling surveillance systems, these internal actors know exactly how to bypass controls.

And they’re often hiding in plain sight.

Why It’s Getting Worse

High turnover, burnout, and limited vetting processes create fertile ground for internal risk. Add in expanded access to e-commerce and inventory platforms, and the modern insider threat becomes more sophisticated — and harder to detect.

How to Respond

Retailers need to treat insider crime as a front-line threat, not a background issue. That means:

• Tight exception reporting to flag suspicious patterns in refunds, discounts, and overrides

• Behavioral monitoring to identify signs of collusion

• Regular audits of inventory and vendor transactions

• Anonymous reporting systems that empower staff to speak up

• LP–HR collaboration to track red flags in employee behavior

Final Word

The most dangerous threat might not be coming through the front door — it could be already clocked in. As external threats evolve, so too must internal protections.


Nationwide Operation to Fight In-Store Skimmers
Shoppers urged to check SNAP bank accounts as discreet info-swiping device found at popular grocery store self-checkout

Plus, the key methods to prevent information from being stolen

CONSUMERS have been warned about a sneaky device stealing personal details at select grocery stores. Placed by scammers and fraudsters, it quietly collections bank account information as they check out and pay.

In a process known as skimming, shoppers swipe their credit or debit cards as usual near the point-of-sale terminal, but hidden by the criminals is a small item that quickly captures and later drains funds.

The most targeted group is low-income families, particularly those who have EBT cards from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

This month, the Secret Service worked with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), state, and local law enforcement in Tennessee and Mississippi to create a coordinated operation that located and removed the hidden devices draining funds from Americans in need, per NewsNation.

Agents in 12 teams went to over 400 businesses in each state, inspecting 2,200 point-of-sale terminals, 857 gas station pumps, and 234 ATMs. A total of four skimming devices were found.

Mark Switzer, a special agent out of the Memphis field office, explained in a briefing that the devices are becoming exceedingly sophisticated and difficult to spot. the-sun.com


Another State Enacts New ORC Law
Tennessee Senate Update: Legislation Focuses on Crime, Public Safety
A new law is designed to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to dismantle criminal networks and protect both retailers and consumers by closing loopholes in the law and enhancing criminal penalties. It ensures that criminals who exploit retailers, defraud businesses and threaten public safety face appropriate consequences.

The measure builds upon the Organized Retail Crime (ORC) Prevention Act of 2017.

It adds new offenses to the definition of organized retail crime — including the use of anti-theft device removers, fraudulent returns of counterfeit merchandise, sale of stolen goods through online marketplaces and possession of devices used to steal electronic payment information.

Under the bill, offenders who engage in property destruction, use weapons or commit organized retail crime while out on bond or pretrial release will face increased penalties.

It extends the time period stolen goods can be counted toward felony charges from 90 to 180 days, making it harder for criminals to avoid prosecution by spreading out their thefts.

Tennessee retailers lose an estimated $500 million annually to theft, and the state loses $117 million in tax revenue each year. mainstreetmediatn.com


New app lets North Charleston residents submit tips, view crime data trends

Crime data shows thieves target parked cars to steal guns
 

Store Closures Up 67% in 2025
Retail Closures Outpace Openings As High-Profile Bankruptcies Bloat Inventory
Retailers have announced 67% more store closures so far this year compared to 2024, with 119 shops across the U.S. closing in the first week of July alone, according to data from CoreSight Research. Large brand bankruptcies, including Forever 21's exit from U.S. malls, are driving store closures.

There have been 5,941 announced store closures and 4,176 new locations this year through July 4. The imbalance of openings and closings amounts to roughly 50M SF of space that has been vacated this year without a new tenant in place, CoStar estimates.

Brick-and-mortar shops remain consumers' preferred method of shopping, but the data could reflect unease among retailers as consumer sentiment sours and President Donald Trump’s trade war drags on.

The nearly 6,000 store closings recorded this year through early July is compared to 3,496 closures during the same period a year earlier. Store openings have kept pace with 2024 levels, but the acceleration of closures is resulting in more vacancies.

While higher than last year, the pace of closures lags CoreSight’s forecast for the year, which predicted that 15,000 locations would shutter. Retailers are also announcing new locations at a faster rate than the 5,800 new locations CoreSight forecast for the year in January.

Craft retailer Joann has closed the most stores this year —815 locations — after declaring bankruptcy for the second time in less than a year. Party City, which went out of business last year, is exiting 738 stores. Big Lots, which has been mulling a comeback after its 2024 bankruptcy, has announced 682 locations will close.

Eleven retailers plan to close more than 100 locations this year, including the leading pharmacy chains, 7-Eleven and bankrupt fast-fashion retailer Forever 21.

The top four brands opening stores are all discount retailers, led by Dollar General at 611 planned openings, Dollar Tree at 378 stores, Aldi and Five Below. bisnow.com


Retail Impact of Foreign Worker Purge
Trump’s Purge of Foreign Workers Arrives at Amazon’s Warehouses

The tech giant has quietly shed warehouse employees whose work authorizations were revoked after the Trump administration ended a Biden-era immigration program.

They are among thousands of foreign workers across the country who have been swept up in a quiet purge, pushed out of jobs in places where their labor was in high demand and at times won high praise. While raids to nab undocumented workers in fields and Home Depot parking lots have grabbed attention, the job dismissals at the Amazon warehouse are part of the Trump administration’s effort to thin the ranks of immigrants who had legal authorization to work.

Such dismissals are happening at many of Amazon’s more than 1,000 facilities around the country, including in Massachusetts and the warehouse in Staten Island that fills orders for millions of New Yorkers. At one fulfillment center in Florida, hundreds were let go, a person familiar with the site said.

The timing of the dismissals is tricky for Amazon, just before its Prime Day deals, an event that now stretches over four days in July. The deals typically drive a spike in customer orders — and overtime demands — rivaled only by the holiday shopping season.

During that rush before Christmas, Haitians would emerge in threes and fours from cars that filed into the huge lot outside the West Jefferson fulfillment center to start their shifts. But “if you go to the parking lot now,” said Sadrac Delva, a Haitian asylum seeker who continues to work at the center, “you will notice a huge difference.”

Amazon said it had prepared for the policy change, adjusting staffing plans and awaiting formal guidance from the government, which finally came last month. nytimes.com


'Massive Blow' to Canadian Retailers
Trump’s latest tariff threat creating uncertainty for Canadian businesses
President Trump’s latest threat to increase tariffs on select Canadian imports by 35% represents unprecedented uncertainty to Canadian business, according to various retail experts.

“The worst thing for business is uncertainty. Businesses cannot plan under these circumstances due to the variability in economic forces at play. The knock on effects include lower capital spending, lower hiring, a cautious consumer who spends less at retail and potential GDP erosion and layoffs for our country,” retail analyst Bruce Winder.

“The longer this type of political and economic climate persists, the greater harm to the Canadian economy and thus our quality of life as a country."

“One can argue that President Trump will face significant pressure from US business owners and consumers if and when these significant planned tariffs import inflation into America. In essence we are playing a game of chicken with our biggest trading partner and must watch from the sidelines as to who blinks first.”

Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University, said Trump’s threat of 35% tariffs on Canadian goods, if implemented, would be a massive blow—not just to Canadian exporters, but also to retailers and ultimately consumers on both sides of the border. retail-insider.com


"Significant Shift in Federal Workplace Safety Policy"
What's Behind OSHA's Flurry of Rulemakings

July 1 actions seen as undoing Biden-era regulatory agenda.

On July 1—just three days before Independence Day—the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) took the unprecedented step of initiating 26 rulemaking proceedings on the same day, ranging from technical adjustments for chemical exposure equipment rules to one major policy shift, all intended to advance the Trump Administration’s deregulation agenda.

“One of President Trump’s very first actions was directing his cabinet to dismantle the mountain of outdated rules that have held back American workers and businesses for far too long,” commented Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, adding that DOL “is proud to lead the way by eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle growth and limit opportunity.”

OSHA’s proposed deregulatory actions represent “a significant shift in federal workplace safety policy, with implications for employers across a range of industries,” according to attorneys from the law firm of Reed Smith. “While the agency asserts that these changes will streamline compliance and better reflect current technology and practices, companies should closely monitor OSHA’s ongoing rulemaking process and be prepared to adapt their workplace safety programs accordingly.”  ehstoday.com


Study: Three holiday shopping predictions

- Holiday consumers will be discretionary spenders

- This will be a healthier holiday season

- Holiday is the biggest moment for multichannel chainstoreage.com


Target to open 8 new stores this summer

Retail vacancy rates edge up as rents edge down in Q2