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2012 Archives
 Kirkwood,
Mo., police bust ORC fencing operation that hired drug
addicts to steal merchandise from retailers.
Detective Dave Smith said warrants are pending for
receiving and possessing stolen property on a man in his
50s who was arrested after he allegedly hired drug
addicts dependent on heroin to steal merchandise from
area businesses. Various retailers, most of which were
big box stores such as Target, TJ Maxx, Shop-N-Save and
Walmart, were targeted by the thieves on an almost daily
basis, Smith said. One allegedly posed as a store
employee in uniform to gain access to the rear stock
rooms of one of the businesses to commit thefts, Smith
said. The investigation is still ongoing. (Source
stltoday.com) (source fox2now.com)
Excerpts from
GAO-11-675: Efforts to Combat Organized Retail
Crime
The U.S. Government Accountability Office ORC report
June 2011
Leading Online Marketplaces Have Taken Steps to
Combat e-Fencing, but It Is Unclear If Additional
Federal Action Is Warranted
eBay, the Largest Online Marketplace, Has Recently
Taken Steps to Deter e-Fencing, but Varying Business
Models and Available Resources Impact Efforts of
Other Online Marketplaces
Continued from yesterday
eBay has also created tools to
aid in providing law enforcement with access to
information. eBay’s Law Enforcement Portal allows
state, local, and federal law enforcement to request
information from eBay on users suspected of selling
stolen merchandise. The company allows all vetted LE
agencies to use the Portal to investigate possible
illegal activity on the site, including the sale of
stolen goods, and eBay reviews all requests to
ensure they comply with eBay’s privacy policy.
According to eBay officials, it approves about 99
percent of requests, responding within 48 hours with
the name, address, Internet Protocol (IP) and email
addresses, any additional contact information,
shipping information, listing and sales data, and
user history over the last 2 years. In 2010, eBay
received 603 requests through the portal. eBay also
built the Law Enforcement eRequest System to allow
law enforcement to submit requests for information
and court orders electronically. Since inception in
November 2010, 1,601 requests or court orders have
been submitted by law enforcement in North America.
Additionally, all law enforcement can access eBay
information through LeadsOnline, an online,
property-crimes database. eBay provides access to
listing and sales data through LeadsOnline
automatically, providing law enforcement with
another investigative tool. Through the database,
law enforcement users of the system can get basic
seller information from the past 3 months. In 2010,
2,090 law enforcement agencies conducted 12,990 eBay
related searches on LeadsOnline. For more detailed
information, law enforcement agencies are to contact
eBay directly.
In addition to its retail and law enforcement
efforts, eBay has also implemented and improved a
series of procedures designed to verify seller
information, proactively flag suspicious listings,
and further protect buyers. These efforts are
independent of retailer or law enforcement requests.
These efforts include:
• Enhanced seller vetting: Starting in October 2010,
eBay verifies users’ names, addresses, and phone
numbers, and restricts new seller activity until the
seller builds a good business record on eBay.
• Filters: eBay utilizes thousands of rule-based
filters that search for suspicious listings. Filter
variables can be seller based (financial, user
information, feedback), item based (category,
pricing, keywords), or risk based (internal losses,
risk models).
• Exception reporting: eBay runs 17 monthly
exception reports on over 100 categories of commonly
stolen products such as gift cards, health and
beauty aids, and infant formula. These reports are
designed to identify sellers who may have a high
volume of sales in several retail high-theft
categories for further review or monitoring by eBay.
From January 2010 through March 2011, eBay has
proactively reviewed 490 sellers, 237 of which were
deemed "bad actors," compared with 2,870 requests
received from retailers and law enforcement, 220 of
which were deemed "bad actors."
• Payment holds: Through PayPal, eBay has instituted
a 21-day hold on funds to new accounts so that
proceeds from the sale of merchandise are not
available until the hold expires. eBay believes this
is an effective deterrent to the listing of stolen
merchandise online as thieves generally look for a
quick way to convert merchandise into money.
• Seller messaging: To remind sellers of eBay’s
rules related to certain products, such as infant
formula, eBay provides specific messaging if a
seller is trying to list the product. For example,
sellers of infant formula are reminded that they
must include the expiration date of the formula in
the listing and that it is against eBay’s policies
to sell expired infant formula. These efforts are
intended to protect consumers from purchasing
potentially expired products but may also provide an
additional deterrent to those knowingly selling
expired products.
Retailers and law enforcement alike indicated that
eBay’s recent efforts have been effective at
facilitating information sharing during ORC
investigations. Three of the 5 retailers and 6 of
the 10 state and local law enforcement agencies we
interviewed are members of their respective eBay
programs, as are members of FBI and ICE. Several
indicated that the company is timely and effective
in providing requested user information, and both
groups commented that eBay’s commitment to
information sharing is a significant change from a
more contentious relationship previously. eBay’s
recent efforts to increase its cooperation with
retailers and law enforcement have been voluntary on
the part of the company. Several retailers, and eBay
itself, credited its Senior Director of Global Asset
Protection—an individual with a retail loss
prevention background—with developing the more open
environment at eBay. Two retailers we
interviewed—one PROACT member and one non-member—as
well as two retail associations, cited specific
concerns about eBay’s maintaining its long–term
corporate commitment to the PROACT program. In
response, eBay officials reiterated the company’s
long-term commitment to PROACT, noting that the
program maintains buy-in from senior corporate
officers and is part of a larger effort to enhance
working relationships with retailers.
(Source
gao.gov)
Continued tomorrow
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The Top 10
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