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Shoplifting and Organized Retail Crime: Mall Rats

John Talamo of The Limited knows exactly how profitable shoplifting can be. He explains the fight against organized retail crime.

By Sarah D. Scalet

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What constitutes a big boosting operation?

In a normal crew, you'll have a leader, who negotiates the deal with the fence—and that's important, because after they steal the product they need to be able to move it quickly to the fence. You'll also have someone to drive the vehicle, which is usually a van; in addition to being the getaway car, it's really the storage locker. Then you have someone who's called the distracter, who will distract the sales associates. If the group wants to steal bras from the front of the store, the distracter may say, "I have a question about your new fragrance," and take the salesperson off to the fragrance area. They may also have a lookout—someone who watches to see who's coming, and who may have a code for the group if they see something. They may have a booster, the person who actually steals the product, and a mule, who carries the product out to the van. A good crew also has someone who does countersurveillance, now that groups like us, Target, Wal-Mart, TJX and Gap have our own ORC departments. We're watching them; they're watching us. If they notice loss prevention professionals, they'll move on.

Here's how it works. You know how people hold merchandise up in the air to look at it? When the booster is ready to steal, maybe the lookout holds up a top, so that when employees look over, all they'll see is what looks like a customer looking at a piece of product. What they don't see is the booster on their knees on the floor taking the product out of the drawers and putting it into the booster bag, which is usually lined with aluminum foil or duct tape that helps defeat the [electronic article surveillance system]. Then you'll have a mule who'll pick the bag up from inside the store and carry it out to the van. They'll put the goods in there, and then they'll repeat the process. It's a repeatable business model—when something works, you keep using it.

They'll also change their appearance. They'll change their tops. They'll put on sunglasses or take off sunglasses. We've seen some use wigs. You wouldn't believe some of these pictures. You'll see someone who has her hair up and no makeup, and now she has her hair down and makeup, and she looks like almost a different person.

So you have to catch all of them in the van, not just the mule with the bag.