1. 2/14/2015 Organized retail crime taking off in Canada | Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/12/12/organized_retail_crime_taking_off_in_canada.html 1/7
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Organized retail crime taking off in Canada
Shoplifting is big business in the criminal underworld, with organized gangs
systematically stripping stores. Retailers are fighting back.
Surveillance video shows a woman in a head scarf, sweater and floor­length skirt sneaking into
backroom of a Mac’s in Parry Sound and then stealing over $30,000 of tobacco products in
under five minutes.
By: Francine Kopun Business reporter, Published on Fri Dec 12 2014
From a bland Toronto office filled with large television monitors, Sean Sportun keeps
an eye on 560 Mac’s stores in Canada.
The live video streams randomly from the locations. Most of it shows honest customers
at counters, plunking down merchandise, paying and leaving.
Then Sportun, manager of security and loss prevention for the convenience store chain
for central Canada, loads a recorded clip. It shows a slim woman in a head scarf, sweater
and floor­length skirt, sneaking into the back room of a Mac’s in Parry Sound.
The store’s walk­in safe is open and the woman heads straight for it. She stuffs
merchandise into laundry­sized bags concealed beneath her skirt. The bags are latched
onto a belt around her waist.
There is a name for her garment: It’s called a booster skirt.
After stuffing the bags to capacity, she hobbles out of the backroom. She is no longer
slim.
Her skirt has ballooned out and she knocks merchandise onto the floor in her wake.
Stepping out of the back room, she is engulfed by accomplices who shield her from view
of the lone clerk as they exit.
At the counter, the clerk is distracted by two more gang members asking about products
hanging on the wall behind her. They make a small purchase and leave.
The clerk, sensing that something has gone wrong, darts into the back room to urgently
replay the surveillance tape. She calls police.
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2. 2/14/2015 Organized retail crime taking off in Canada | Toronto Star
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Total take: $30,000 of tobacco products in five minutes.
That next day the gang was at work in the GTA. They were arrested at a Winners in
Thornhill after police were alerted by Sportun.
“They work off the highways. They’re very transient. They will jump from place to place,
from province to province, wherever they feel they can get the biggest bang for their
buck,” says Sportun.
“For the most part, these folks are really good at what they do. They train for it.”
The Mac’s incident was an example of sophisticated, organized retail crime — the kind
that is costing Canadian retailers an estimated $4.67 billion a year.
According to a social media campaign last year, consumers paid 20 per cent more for
goods as a result of retail theft.
“Things have changed immensely. The organized piece wasn’t as big ten years ago. It was
prevalent in the U.S., but it was not as big an issue for us. We would have opportunistic
theft, now we’re dealing with very organized gangs. These guys steal $10,000 to
$20,000 a day or more,” says Don Berezowski, divisional vice­president, loss
prevention and safety for Sears Canada.
“We’re talking a small percentage of the population here, but they do a lot of damage,”
says Berezowski.
In some of the busiest stores, 300 to 400 shoplifting arrests are made every year.
Thieves use a variety of methods, but most of them involve an element of distraction.
They also use specially lined bags to defeat store security alarms. They use props,
including wheelchairs and even costumes, like a nun’s habit. They rely on ruses, like
walking out the door beside a customer who appears unimpeachably honest.
When the alarm goes off, the honest customer stops and looks around. The thief,
meanwhile, keeps moving forward, into a waiting car or busy crowd.
In an interesting twist, the booster gang at Mac’s in Parry Sound had two fake babies
with them, echoing an incident in Barrie this month. A man and a woman are being
sought after they looted an electronics store, stuffing merchandise into a fake pregnancy
belly.
“What we are seeing is more sophistication, more organization,” says Toronto Police
Services Superintendent Douglas Quan.
CST. ANDREW CRITCHLEY/CALGARY POLICE SERVICE
This thief, complete with a Remembrance Day poppy, walked out the front door of a store with
stolen merchandise ­ a common tactic among the new breed of sophisticated organized thieves.
(Cst. Andrew Critchley/Calgary Police Service)
“We can have the same suspect working in Toronto and they show up in Calgary the next
week doing the same thing. They’re mobile. With rental cars and mobile phones and
fraudulent identification and credit cards, it gets multi­layered. It is advancing. They are
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becoming more sophisticated with each year.”
In Toronto, the stolen goods are sold at pop­up events, warehouse sales, flea markets
and low­income malls in neighbourhoods where people are so busy trying to make ends
meet, they won’t ask too many questions if the price is low, Quan says.
Stolen goods may also show up mixed among legitimate goods at convenience stores
and discount stores owned by unscrupulous vendors.
But the crimes in Toronto that get the most attention are drug crimes, gun crimes and
gangs.
“Toronto, as a larger city, we unfortunately have to deal with the largest crimes and
work backwards,” says Quan.
Still, police and loss prevention experts in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary are finding
innovative ways to crack down on organized retail crime.
Some retailers conduct their own investigations, following suspects and conducting
surveillance, evidence that is then handed over to police, says Sportun, who is also vice­
chair of Toronto Crime Stoppers.
In the case of the back room Mac’s thefts, Sportun sent out a security alert on the
Toronto Association of Police and Private Security (TAPPS) network. The TAPPS
system is accessible by police and approved retailers as an investigative information
sharing portal.
The TAPPS system is not accessible to the public, but members can scroll through
pictures of criminal activity and suspects, making it easier to spot repeat offenders and
organized retail crime activity.
In Toronto last year, a joint investigation by loss­prevention officers from Aritzia, the
Gap, Mexx and Toronto Police resulted in three arrests in connection with an elaborate
and organized shoplifting ring targeting mall stores.
Nearly $390,000 in clothing had been stolen and $90,000 in personal items, including
shampoo and hand cream, for a grand total of nearly half a million dollars.
The stolen goods were allegedly being sold from a semi­detached home in the Jane and
Wilson area.
“It was the first time I saw a residence turned into a store like that,” said Toronto Police
Detective Bruno Miron.
Because the case remains before the court, Miron was unable to provide further details.
According to a police press release issued at the time, the goods had been stolen from
major chain retailers across southwestern Ontario.
The items seized included 1,103 pairs of pants, 1,532 shirts and sweaters and 1,563 bras.
The three­man anti­fencing unit at Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has taken down
53 fencing operations in three years, shutting down underground stores where goods
from Aritzia, Costco, the Gap, Holt Renfrew and Sport Chek, among others, were being
sold at half price.
Typically the fencing operation is run by 1­3 people and is based on friendships or
family relationships. Knowledge of the illegal stores is spread through word­of­mouth,
according to VPD Detective­Constable Kirk Miles.
“They’re not running guns on the side. This is their job, this is what they do, moving
stolen property,” says Miles.
Fencing organizations often rely on the homeless and addicts to steal for them.
One small business owner in Surrey was able to collect $80,000 worth of
pharmaceuticals in two months, buying as much over­the­counter medication, perfume
and makeup as he could get from addicts and the homeless.
He sold the products from the back door of his legitimate business, for about 50 per
cent of retail, no taxes. He had a huge cache at his house.
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4. 2/14/2015 Organized retail crime taking off in Canada | Toronto Star
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KEITH BEATY / TORONTO STAR Order this photo
Sean Sportun, manager of Security & Loss Prevention for Mac's Convenience Stores in central
Canada, says the new breed of shoplifter is more sophisticated and organized. "These folks are
really good at what they do." KEITH BEATY/Toronto Star
“He used a method we called predatory fencing,” said VPD Detective­Constable Doug
Fell. “All he is doing is sitting in his shop, and all the drug users — anyone who needed
$10 for crack . . . he would buy stolen goods for 10 cents on the dollar.
“We use the word predatory because it describes the relationship between him and the
boosters. He is the person with the money. The addict is desperate, vulnerable, they will
do as directed for him. He is exploiting these people to make good money. He had a very
nice house, a second house, and three cars.”
The majority of fencing operations are moving into retail clothing, says Kirk.
Detective­Constable Alen Ivezic has been working undercover on fencing operations for
two years. He poses as a drug addict selling stolen property. Fences give him lists of
items to steal.
“One person even drew a map, telling me what Skytrain to take, where to get off, how to
defeat security, when security was weakest during the day,” says Ivezic.
“They wanted it within an hour or two at the most. I came back with the items. I put it
right by their cash till and they paid me right from the cash till, immediately.”
Sometimes he would be directed to unload an entire backpack of stolen goods in the
back of the store.
“As soon as I was done, the next person was in line, waiting to do the same thing. It was
that fast,” says Ivezic, adding that he was subjected to verbal abuse by the fences.
He was ridiculed and threatened with physical violence and was offered less for the
goods than he’d been promised.
The underground clothing stores in Vancouver are in nondescript locations, in the
basement suite of a home in a residential neighbourhood, or in rented office space.
There are display racks and tables and the clothing is laid out in men’s and women’s
sections. Many of the items still have anti­theft devices, which the illegal store operators
remove after purchase. One underground retailer the team arrested had his own anti­
theft devices.
Everything still has the original retail tag on it so buyers know the goods are not
counterfeit. The price is 50 per cent off retail.
“Anything that is a popular chain store in a mall, you will find in these places. I describe
them as a kind of Winners, where people go in every day to see what is new,” says Fell.
“It’s spectacular to watch a busy one. You can see upwards of 20 people in an hour going
into these places and coming out with bagfuls. The shop is open for a couple of hours.
People shop for about 30 minutes at a time,” says Fell.

5. 2/14/2015 Organized retail crime taking off in Canada | Toronto Star
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“It’s moms, it’s dads, it’s pregnant moms taking kids in, grandparents taking their kids,
in Acuras, Land Rovers, Pathfinders, Mercedes — high­end cars. There is no one buying
this product that is hurting. It’s not a poor person buying it. These are people who fully
know that everything is stolen. It’s advertised as stolen.”
The team has seized $1.7­million in clothing.
They have had significant success working with the city to obtain business license
suspensions, with more than 20 businesses losing their license for weeks or forever.
“If you’ve ever run a business and had to shut it down for any period of time, it’s a
terrific loss,” says Fell.
Many retailers are victimized every single day, multiple times a day, sometimes in one
store, sometimes across different stores in the chain.
Sportun once saw thieves walk out of Ikea, where he used to work in security, carrying a
couch. Nobody stopped them because nobody could believe that anyone had the nerve
to do it.
A common theft at big box retailers involves thieves boldly walking out of stores with
boxed merchandise — who’s going to stop someone who looks like they’re struggling to
carry something?
Loss prevention expert Peter Horsley remembers one such theft involving a man who
had walked into the back of a big­box store, put two televisions on a trolley and was
putting them into the trunk of his car when he was apprehended.
His explanation? He just wanted to see if the two boxes were going to fit in the trunk. A
check revealed he had a long criminal record.
“It’s so matter­of­fact you want to believe it, so bold and so brazen, you can’t believe
that it’s happening,” says Horsley, chief operating officer of the company Loss
Prevention Services Ltd.
“We have apprehended everyone from homeless transients to respected professionals.”
Being caught shoplifting could compromise a person’s ability to travel, Horsley points
out. An arrest could show up during a background check at the border.
Even a caution and release can be recorded by police. Either one could affect your job
prospects, says Horsley.
Horsley has also caught unscrupulous restaurateurs buying meat stolen from a grocery
store.
“Meat has to be in the fridge. It can’t be in a gym bag for two hours and sometimes it is,”
says Horsley.
Stores are also subjected to smaller thefts of opportunity by a wide variety of people.
“It’s nickel­and­diming a store to death, and then when a professional comes in and
cleans them out, that really affects their bottom line.”
Horsley tells investigators not to blindly trust anyone, regardless of their age, gender or
social status. There are homeless people who pay for their items and men in suits
walking out with $300 worth of unpaid merchandise.
“We trust instinctively. We have to be thinking worst­case scenario backwards. As
investigators, we have to work as pessimists,” he says.
“Did they pay, yes or no?” That is the one question they have to answer.
“If you start to use personal biases, you would be wrong.”
Part of the problem is that retail theft is viewed as a low­risk, high­reward crime. The
penalties are minimal.
Sportun says that even people who offend multiple times are only held for a couple of
days before they are out again.

6. 2/14/2015 Organized retail crime taking off in Canada | Toronto Star
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He would like to see stiffer penalties. He says criminals know they won’t face serious jail
time for stealing from a retailer, so they stick to it.
“They get out and two days later they commit another retail theft and while escaping
they run someone over and hurt or kill them. Now is it important? Now will you lock
them up?” asks Sportun.
Sportun warns against customers and staff challenging thieves. Loss prevention experts
also need to understand what they are up against.
The thief could be armed or intoxicated.
“As soon as you challenge them, they’re going to step up their aggression. Their
adrenaline is pumping harder than yours — you’re going to lose,” says Sportun.
Berezowski of Sears sits on the private­sector liaison committee for the Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police. He has 26 years of experience in the field of loss
prevention.
He believes that the growth of organized retail crime in Canada is due in part to the fact
that police have more resources to fight drug and gun crimes than they do retail theft.
Also, penalties for retail theft are low and the merchandise is quickly converted into
cash, especially now, through online sales.
“Why now? In the U.S., legislation has been brought in targeting organized retail crime
with tougher penalties. We haven’t gotten to that point yet,” says Berezowski.
Since 2008, 25 U.S. states have enacted legislation related to organized retail crime,
according to a report from the U.S. National Retail Federation.
A law passed in Michigan in 2013 imposes sentences of up to five years for those found
guilty of participating in retail theft rings, a far cry from the recent six­month
conditional sentence given to a Toronto woman who was boosting clothing as part of a
suspected organized retail crime operation.
According to an NRF survey of retailers, three in ten have noticed a reduction in
organized retail crime in states where laws are present. More than half said the laws
have enabled them to prosecute offenders more effectively.
Since organized retail crime rings often transport stolen goods through multiple
jurisdictions, federal laws are necessary, too, according to the NRF report.
“There is clearly an issue with the prosecution of what may be, in some people’s opinion,
a victimless crime,” says Stephen O’Keefe, vice­president, operations, for the Retail
Council of Canada and a former retail loss prevention executive at Walmart Canada.
The RCC put a case for longer sentences to the federal minister of justice a few years
ago, pointing out that no tax is being paid on any of the stolen merchandise, said
O’Keefe.
The problem is that most police departments can’t afford to assign resources to the
investigation of retail crimes, or actively maintain systems like TAPPS or Retail C.O.P.
in Calgary.
A bill before the senate would give more flexibility to retail loss prevention officers to
share information for the purpose of protecting people against crime.
“The sentencing guidelines are a moot point if you can’t get someone convicted for
organized retail crime activity,” said O’Keefe.
For now, the job is in the hands of a growing cadre of loss prevention professionals,
working with police.
“These organized crime rings aren’t getting scared. It will continue to grow until we are
no longer the path of least resistance,” says Berezowski.
More on thestar.com

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