Chinese baby formula syndicates and organised crime is fuelling a rise in shoplifting that's costing retailers $2.26BILLION a year - and YOU are picking up the bill
- Shoplifters are more daring in recent years and theft as reached a 'crisis point'
- Theft of cosmetics, meat and baby formula showed no signs of slowing down
- 'Micro gangs' who overwhelm staff members is reportedly on the rise as well
A rise in shoplifting in Australia has been linked to Chinese daigou shoppers and organised crime syndicates and it is costing retailers $2.26billion a year.
Shoplifters have become more daring in recent years and the cost of theft in-store has reached a 'crisis point' for big supermarket chains.
The daigou trade and organised gangs have been blamed for the 16 per cent increase in shoplifting since the 2018 financial year.
Experts believe people who have never shoplifted before will do so now because of the increase of self-service machines.
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A rise in shoplifting in Australia has been linked to Chinese daigou shoppers and organised crime syndicates and it is costing retailers $2.26billion a year (stock picture)
A study conducted by Apus Research and two other companies analysed over 9000 Australian and New Zealand retailers and found shoplifting was on the rise.
The growing daigou trade have created a market for stolen items from supermarkets such as baby formula, food, champagne and clothing.
Retailers have begun running programs that track and trace stolen items and have found their stock for sale on e-commerce sites.
Classic shoplifting targets such as cosmetics, meat and baby formula showed no signs of slowing down but the study also found an increase in violent crime.
Reports were also uncovered of 'micro-gangs' who rush supermarkets in large numbers with the intention of overwhelming staff and stealing as much as they can.
The majority of companies involved in the study were large fashion, grocery and department retailers who have combined revenue of $95billion.
These companies reported a loss of 0.92 per cent of revenue, or $3.37billion, in the 2018 financial year and it was due to crimes such as shoplifting.
Shoplifting contributed to 57 per cent of the revenue loss with 22 per cent consisting of dishonest employee theft.
Non-crime related loss consisted of 15 per cent and 6 per cent was related to supplier fraud.
Shoplifters have become bolder in recent years and the cost of theft in-store has reached a 'crisis point' for big supermarket chains (stock image)
Dr Emmeline Taylor, the report's lead researcher, said criminals are adapting to new technologies and are finding ways around loss-prevention methods.
'Every time a retailer introduces new technology or a new system there's a backlash from criminals, which is then followed by an attempt to discover the system's vulnerabilities,' Dr Taylor told The Sydney Morning Herald.
'Shop theft is an age-old crime, and where we used to see the occasional items being taken by customers, we're now seeing things like organised gangs, and individuals doing refund fraud.
'Thieves feel that it's become easier than ever, they feel they've got complete free rein to steal with impunity.'
The daigou trade and organised gangs have been blamed for the 16 per cent increase in shoplifting since the 2018 financial year (stock image)
A Coles spokesperson said they are taking steps to reduce shoplifting in their stores.
'While the large majority of our customers do the right thing, it's not fair that a small number of people get away with doing the wrong thing. Like a number of retailers, we work with police to reduce shoplifting,' a Coles spokesperson said.
'There are also trained covert security officers in our stores nationally and they're catching hundreds of thieves every week and reporting them to police.'
A Woolworths spokesperson said the self-service checkouts are loved by customers but some people take advantage of the convenience.
'Self-serve checkouts are incredibly convenient and we know the vast majority of customers do the right thing when using them,' a Woolworths spokesperson said.
'Of course, we have a range of security measures in place for those that don't.'
Classic shoplifting targets such as cosmetics, meat and baby formula showed no signs of slowing down but the study also found an increase in violent crime (stock image)
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