Keeping on top of retail fraud is a never-ending battle. The South Australian Police Force has uncovered yet another retail and consumer con this week and is calling on all retailers to be on high alert, and make immediate contact if they sense something suspicious.
Scammers have been buying items like vacuum cleaners over the phone from department store David Jones, using stolen or compromised credit cards, and then having the goods delivered to hotels around the state.
The scammers are then booking a night at the hotel, however when the package arrives they call and say they’ll be having it collected.
This is then done via Fedex or another external provider, and the item is then sent on to the UK, with all costs mounting on the unsuspecting victim’s credit card.
Retail theft accounts for around 1% of all sales across most categories, costing more than $2billion a year – it can come from shoplifting, staff theft, vendor or supplier fraud, damage to property, lost productivity and personnel management costs.
Coupled with the extraordinary rates of credit card fraud like these, this is one of the few crime segments that’s growing, rather than slowing.
We’re asking all retailers to please be on alert for anything suspicious. not just in South Australia, but nation-wide, as it’s believed this is a wide-sweeping scam.
We would also like to hear from you via 1800 RETAIL or info@nra.net.au if you have even the smallest piece of information about this or any other retail scam, and are urging everyone to please report any suspicious activity to your local police station as soon as possible.