4 steps retailers can take to combat flash robs

News about large crowds of organized thieves is popping up in the headlines. But should retailers really worry and prepare?

By , Senior Editor

November 29, 2011 — CSO —

As the start of holiday shopping season kicks off, retailers know they will no doubt deal with inevitable amounts of theft this year, particularly in a difficult economy. But this season, news of a phenomenon known as flash robbing is putting a new twist on smash-and-grab tactics.

The National Retail Federation says the trend of flash mobbing, or using social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to organize en masse and get together in one place, has taken on a nefarious form called flash robbing.

Flash robs, technically known as multiple-offender crimes, occur when a group of people coordinate to overcrowd a retail outlet and steal items by overwhelming staff with their numbers and speed. According to a poll the NRF conducted among retailers around the country, over three-quarters (79 percent) of retailers report being a victim of a multiple-offender crime in the past 12 months, some of these incidents (10 percent) have involved so-called flash mob tactics.

Earlier this month, a crowd of youths in Maryland, some estimate as many as 50, made headlines when they flash robbed a 7-Eleven in Silver Springs, the third time such an incident has happened in that area this year.


Also see: Organized crime and retail theft facts and myths


But crowds getting together to steal is nothing new, according to J.R. Roberts of J.R. Roberts Security Strategies. Roberts said flash robs, known also as swarming, have been utilized for decades, often by traveling groups of people, gangs or transients seeking to steal as means of livelihood.

"It's not a new practice to use large groups of people to distract staff and try and take material that way," said Roberts. "What is new is the social media aspect of it, which computerizes flash contact."

What's also changed is the motivation and items being stolen, said Roberts.

"In the past swarming was typically used to pluck off high-end items. What we see now is the social component, the fun or excitement, of stealing in these flash robs."

But Pat Murphy, president of LPT Security Consulting, believes the hype over flash robs is misplaced and a few incidents do not a trend make.

"I'm not seeing the pattern the media is trying to create," he said. "It makes great news when 50 kids come and try and smash-and-grab at a 7-Eleven, but they are not doing that in department stores or jewelry stores as the media would have you think."

And Murphy takes issue with the NRF report on the flash-robbing issue because some multiple offender crime examples referenced in their data include as few as three people involved in the crime. Three people does not comprise a flash rob, he argued.

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