I am beginning to think that there is a certain type of shoplifting on the increase lately. It seems that loss prevention agents, myself included, are dealing with more and more group, or gang, shoplifters. Usually, they are teenagers or young adults, typically males. These groups come into stores either as a group, or a couple at a time. Once inside, they do a lot of damage. Their methods of operation vary slightly, but generally, they have some common characteristics:

• Groups can be as few as 4 or 5, or as many as a dozen, but it is usually not difficult to tell that they are “together”. They may come in as a group, but usually will come into the store in pairs or three at a time. They may space their “entrances” by several minutes apart.
• There are usually one or two designated “boosters”. The others are there to run interference and for “moral support”.
• They don’t just steal a couple of small items usually. They go for the popular items. They get all they can, and sometimes, they have a “shopping list” of items to get.
• There will always be a distraction. It could be horseplay, asking questions of employees, being loud and obnoxious, or any number of things meant to distract employees and take attention away from the boosters.
• If employees get too close to the designated boosters, one of the others will try to distract by either approaching with a “question”, or some other tactic meant to pull the employee out of the area.
• They will usually leave as a group, as this makes them feel safer (strength in numbers and all).

These gangs of thieves are extremely hard to catch, but they can be stopped. I use a “blitz” technique. I pull every available manager and associate into the area when we suspect that we are being targeted by a group of shoplifters. We kill them with kindness, but we subtly let them know that we are watching them. We give them the VIP customer service, and we don’t let them out of our sight.

When the distraction ploy is attempted, we simply tell them that we will be right with them, or we offer to call another associate to “assist” them with their questions. If the distraction is unruly behavior or horseplay, we immediately ask the entire group to leave.

Undoubtedly, some of these groups are working for adults who have sent them into retailers to steal, convincing them that they won’t be charged if caught. Still others are working together, but only for the gang. Either way, they are more than a nuisance.

Anybody else want to weigh in on this? Are you successfully combating this type of theft? Are you even seeing it out there? If so, how big do you think the problem is?

 photo credit: SarahCartwright

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