Organized Retail Crime - AN ASSESSMENT OF A PERSISTENT AND GROWING THREAT

respect to the types of retailers and products targeted by ORC groups; the evolving tactics The National Retail Federation plays a variety of ORC groups to resell and monetize stolen of roles in leading the retail industry in its goods; and the links that ORC groups have fight against ORC. [...] This study defines ORC as the systematic large- This paper discusses the persistent and growing scale theft of retail goods from manufacturers, threat of ORC and examines the ORC cycle and logistics and transportation providers, distributors, its perpetrators, and the core elements of ORC or retailers and the subsequent resale of stolen operations. [...] The key distinguishing features of ORC are We assess ORC groups largely target everyday centralized coordination of operations and a consumer goods — which offer a favorable balance division of labor and specialization across the between ease of theft, monetary value and ease of myriad steps of the ORC cycle — from the theft resale — based on analysis of 116 ORC groups that of goods through the la. [...] The ORC Cycle and Its Perpetrators The key distinguishing features of ORC are centralized coordination of operations, and division of labor and specialization across the various steps of the ORC cycle (Figure 1 ) — from the theft of goods through the laundering of proceeds generated from the resale of stolen merchandise. [...] Money launderers Money launderers process the illicit proceeds from the resale of stolen merchandise through a series of transactions designed to “clean” the funds so they appear to be the proceeds of legal activities.34 To achieve this goal, money launderers often attempt to conceal the identity of the parties involved in a transaction, as well as the source and ultimate destination of the funds.