by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
As they say, crime doesn’t take a holiday.
To help retailers and consumers prevent shoplifting and credit card and identity theft, the Daily Record asked the State Attorney’s Office for suggestions.
Special Prosecution Division Senior Division Chief Dan Skinner and County Court Supervisor Sheila Loizos responded to questions.
What do you recommend to retailers to prevent shoplifting?
Dedicated loss prevention officers who continuously observe shoppers for theft is a prevention tool used by many retailers. Quality surveillance systems certainly assist in successful prosecutions. So, we generally urge retailers, particularly this time of year, to check their surveillance systems to ensure they are in working order and they are producing quality videos for juries to view later.
Furthermore, we encourage merchants to adhere to their strict return policies, for example, not allowing returns without a receipt and not after a certain amount of time.
These stringent policies can be burdensome to those customers who are making valid returns, but they also act as a preventive measure in combating fraud.
We also recommend merchants place security personnel on their premises, while also placing store personnel near exits.
The sight of these individuals can help deter one tempted to steal from the business. For example, some stores check receipts at the exit to see if the receipt corresponds to what the customer is carrying out of the business.
What other forms of fraud do you see regarding retailers?
We see many cases where actual employees pretend they are ringing up their friends’ merchandise when in fact they are not. But, again, good loss prevention officers and a video system will generally catch and deter this type of theft, as would good background checks of the potential employees.
We have always advocated that employers run background checks on any employees they entrust to any job dealing with the transfer of funds.
What can consumers and retailers do to prevent credit card and identify fraud?
We see many cases where a victim has his or her credit card stolen. When your card is stolen, immediately notify your financial institution and follow its policies in reporting fraudulent activity on your account.
Many times, even though the victim has written on his or her card to ‘check ID’ on the signature line, businesses still may not check the purchaser’s identification. We urge businesses to check IDs as often as possible. Unfortunately, even when the card directs that an ID be checked, some store employees simply do not ask for a form of identification.
Other ways to help combat identity fraud and identity theft:
• Keep a close eye on your bank accounts if your debit card is taken out of your presence, such as at many restaurants, for the transaction. We have seen instances where the store employee takes a picture of the credit card on their personal phone and then later use that information to conduct fraudulent purchases online.
• Shred your bills, credit card statements and other documents that have any financial information on them
• If you refuse to pay your bills online, do not mail bills in your home mail box. Rather, take them to a secure U.S. Postal Service mail box or mail center.
• Monitor your incoming mail. If it slows or stops, someone might have filed a change of address for your residence without your knowledge. Immediately check all of your banking and financial information and look for fraudulent activity.
• Monitor your accounts daily.
356-2466