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2012 Archives
 Tulsa forms Organized Retail Crime unit that has
identified over 40 to 60 groups that's causes Tulsa over
$1M in tax revenue loss. It's a huge
problem right now, it is a huge problem," said detective
Lori Visser, of the Tulsa Police department's newly
formed Organized Retail Crime Unit. The new task force
will give the department more focus to pursue
shoplifting rings. Meeting monthly to review cases and
increase relationships this group is bound to make a
difference.
(Source
ktul.com)
Excerpts from
GAO-11-675: Efforts to Combat Organized Retail
Crime
The U.S. Government Accountability Office ORC report
June 2011
Stakeholders Identified Additional Federal Actions
Intended to Deter e-Fencing and Mitigate Potential
Health and Safety Concerns but Potential Impacts Are
Unknown
Seller Contract Information; Continued from
yesterday
In accordance with e-commerce
legislation in the European Union (EU), designated
business sellers operating on a range of e-commerce
sites, including eBay-operated sites in that region,
are obligated to list full contact information,
which is to include name, physical address, and an
e-mail address. However, according to eBay
officials, business seller laws do not contain a
consistent legal definition of what constitutes a
business and the legal obligation for properly
identifying themselves as either a business or a
consumer lies exclusively with the seller. eBay
provides its sellers a means for this designation on
its marketplace sites and informs them of their
statutory duties, but generally does not make this
determination and has no reporting requirements to
EU or national agencies regarding sellers’
compliance. However, eBay officials indicated that
above a very high threshold of sales, eBay may
require sellers to register as a business (subject
to a right of appeal) on some of its European sites.
eBay officials further noted that applicable
business seller laws instituted in some EU countries
were developed as one component of a broad consumer
protection framework present in the EU and were not
connected to the issue of e-fencing. According to
eBay officials, as it is unlikely that sellers
engaging in e-fencing would self-identify as a
business, the requirement would not likely be
effective as a means to compel criminals to provide
their contact information. eBay officials in the EU
also reiterated that buyers in that region often
contact sellers directly in an attempt to circumvent
eBay seller fees—a practice they noted that puts
buyers at increased risk of loss and other
fraudulent activity. Further, eBay officials noted
at least one verified case in which a seller was
attacked in their home when selling high-value
luxury goods as a business seller on eBay in the EU.
Given the concerns identified, it is unclear if
instituting such a requirement in the United States
would serve as an effective mechanism to deter ORC
groups from using the internet to fence stolen goods
and not result in unintended negative consequences.
Further, given that law enforcement agencies can
already request seller contact information from
online marketplaces through other means, including
through eBay’s Law Enforcement Portal or through
legal process, such as a subpoena, these agencies’
ability to investigate potential e-fencing
activities would not be affected by such a
requirement.
(Source
gao.gov)
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