| Thanks to the zero liability policy offered by most | | | | indicate an annual inventory loss of over $37 billion |
| credit card issuers, if your credit card is stolen you're | | | | nationwide for theft from employees, shoplifting, |
| typically only liable for a very small portion of the | | | | vendor fraud and administrative errors. |
| unauthorized purchases- if any. Even if a thief charges | | | | The Vice President of Loss Prevention for the National |
| thousands of dollars on your credit card, a zero liability | | | | Retail Federation based in Washington, DC, Joseph |
| policy means you don't pay for it. | | | | LaRocca, said they have developed a system that |
| You're not the only one affected by your stolen credit | | | | law enforcement and businesses can use in order to |
| card, though. The retailers who accepted the stolen | | | | track nationwide theft. It's a secure online database |
| credit card (not knowing it was stolen, of course) lose | | | | system created because LaRocca insists that the |
| price of the merchandise purchased with the credit | | | | issues of theft, fraud and scams effect everyone. |
| card, and also considerable amounts of time and effort | | | | Attorney General Long, and the office of the Attorney |
| as they attempt to recover some of their costs. | | | | General are not directly involved in the prosecution of |
| Who do you think pays for the costs of credit card | | | | shoplifters and thieves, but the state assists people |
| theft? If the cardholder of the stolen credit card is not | | | | and businesses who have been targets of such |
| required to pay for the unauthorized charges; and the | | | | crimes. The local law enforcement handles the |
| thief is rarely caught; and the retailers are out the | | | | prosecution. While the goal is to be advocates of |
| merchandise that was purchased with the stolen credit | | | | consumers, Long realizes that doesn't necessarily |
| card- who pays for all of these financial damages? | | | | mean in order to do that we have to be on the |
| Consumers. Retailers raise their prices and credit card | | | | opposing side of merchants and retailers. |
| issuers raise their interest rates and fees to help | | | | It's estimated that only about one out of every eight or |
| compensate for credit card theft. | | | | nine cases of fraud are reported to the state's |
| So while the cardholder of the stolen credit card | | | | consumer protection office. Scams and fraud are |
| doesn't pay for the unauthorized purchases; the rest | | | | extremely common, and more so than most people |
| of the consumers who are already paying for their | | | | fully understand. Long says, "There is not a week that |
| purchases are paying higher fees to compensate for | | | | goes by that we don't have at least one person who |
| the stolen cards. | | | | says they've been a victim of such a scam." |
| Attorney General Larry Long spoke to the South | | | | Under laws in South Dakota, retailers can attempt to |
| Dakota Retailers Association about loss prevention in | | | | recoup lost merchandise and expenses from the |
| Sioux Falls on April 3, 2007. Long says that retailers | | | | thieves. In order to effectively do this, Long believes |
| need a plan for how to catch shoplifters, in order to | | | | that retailers must have a plan in place to catch |
| alleviate some of these escalating costs. The seminar | | | | shoplifters. A plan would require retailers to effectively |
| that Long spoke at was sponsored by the South | | | | and properly detain thieves until law enforcement |
| Dakota Retailers Association and aimed to assist | | | | arrives once they are identified as thieves, and as |
| retailers for developing strategies to stop theft, fraud | | | | Long suggests, there should be a standard policy in |
| and scams. | | | | place for handling such activity. |
| Statistics provided by The Retailers' Association | | | | |