54% of small-business owners reported an uptick in shoplifting in 2021, according to a survey of 700 small businesses, with 23% saying theft happened every day. It's not just big-box retailers that have been impacted, however. In December, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said theft was "higher than what it has historically been" and that stores could close if the problem did not improve. In November, Target said it expected to lose $600 million in 2022 to " inventory shrink" - when stores have less on their shelves than is recorded in their inventory - much of which it attributed to organized retail crime. In 2021, a law enforcement officer told The Wall Street Journal that Amazon "may be the largest unregulated pawnshop on the face of the planet." The apparent rise in shoplifting over the past year, however, suggests the online selling of stolen goods may be becoming more common. Organized retail theft increased nearly 60% between 20, the National Retail Federation found in a 2020 survey, costing retailers an average of over $700,000 per $1 billion in sales. This e-fencing - the selling of stolen goods online - is not a new phenomenon. Spokespeople from both eBay and Amazon said the platforms do not allow sellers to list stolen goods and that they work with law enforcement to identify this activity. Insider reached out to Amazon, eBay, Craigslist and Meta for comment. They are stealing specific items that they know they can resell online." "They're not looking to steal food for dinner, or something they need because they can't afford it. "This is a professional criminal," Jason Brewer, the spokesperson for the Buy Safe America Coalition, a lobby group for the retail industry, previously told Insider. Rather than being driven by a surge of one-off thieves, experts say organized criminal organizations are largely to blame, and are hurting not only the businesses they steal from, but the legitimate online sellers they're competing with. Given the sellers often appear legitimate - and the goods are often sold at discounted prices - many consumers are happy to do business. It often indicates a user profile.Ĭouple a spike in shoplifted items with the rise of online shopping in recent years, and it's possible you could be one of these unwitting customers.
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