Target claimed in September 2023 that theft and organized retail crime helped drive its $500 million decrease in annual profits.
Walmart and Amazon posted banners on their websites asking their customers to report products for sale on other sites that they believed to have been stolen, in line with a new U.S. law that went into effect in June 2023.
In December 2023, husband and wife Kenneth and Michelle Mack were arrested in the San Diego area on charges of operating a retail crime empire centered on shoplifting.
The Macks resold cosmetics worth $8 million, stolen by a dozen women from Ulta, Sephora and other stores, on Amazon.
Specific and narrow obligations upon on-line marketplaces known to be used by high-volume sellers of stolen merchandise are also included to benefit legitimate online businesses.
[21] On August 1, 2008, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. introduced the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008 that would give law enforcement the ability to prosecute, among other things.
In January 2023, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, introduced the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (S. 140), which would update current federal criminal penalties related to organized retail crime and establish a new law enforcement coordination center within Homeland Security Investigations at the Department of Homeland Security to improve coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
[22] In December 2023, NRF retracted a claim it had made in April that "nearly half" of retail inventory shrinkage in 2021 was attributable to ORC.