Foreign-run organized theft rings ravaging US retail stores with immigrant shoplifters: FBI

Federal investigators have tracked major retail theft incidents back to criminal organizations in Europe and South America that send non-U.S. citizens into the United States with the sole objective of stealing.

These foreign crime rings are flying operatives into the country to do as much damage as possible at major stores, and the thefts contributed to the $112 billion total in retail losses in 2022, up from $94 billion in 2021, according to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials who briefed House lawmakers Tuesday.

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Investigations launched by DHS’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arm focus on the head honchos behind organized crime rings and have uncovered several such foreign-based groups that have targeted and continue to focus their efforts on hurting U.S. retailers.

“One such example is the South American Theft Groups (SATGs), which include organizations based in Colombia, Chile, and other countries,” said Michael J. Krol, special agent in charge for HSI, in written testimony. “These groups recruit members and facilitate travel into the United States for individuals who then commit strategic thefts of high-value electronic devices. Items are stolen, consolidated, shipped to another location in the United States, and ultimately illicitly exported to foreign countries.”

Krol pointed to another crime ring in which Romanian organized theft groups, or ROTG, based out of Eastern Europe recruit people to travel to the U.S. to commit various types of crimes, including retail theft.

“A recent HSI investigation in Missouri revealed an ROTG, comprised of previously deported individuals, that wired illicit proceeds to Romania and other international destinations,” Krol said.

FBI Deputy Assistant Director of the Criminal Investigative Division Jose A. Perez said the agency has launched an initiative targeting the South American theft groups and shared intelligence with law enforcement worldwide.

This specific ring consists of citizens from Chile and other South American countries who exploit tourist visas to travel to and from the U.S. to steal and then ship the goods internationally.

In the government’s fiscal 2023 year, which ended in September, HSI worked with the Secret Service, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to prevent suspected members of the South American and Romanian crime rings from entering the U.S., as well as go after immigrants already in the U.S.

The National Retail Federation told lawmakers that a group of 170 Eastern European individuals have taken unusual measures when it comes to “boosting” or stealing merchandise from stores. The thieves wear specially designed skirts that have bags and pouches sewn into them meant to hold a lot of products. This group has been identified as responsible for 168 incidents nationwide, totaling nearly half a million dollars in stolen goods.

“For several years we have had a group that travels from the West Coast to the East Coast for a 6–8-week period, stealing ink cartridges up and down the I-95 corridor. Investigations determined that this group operates an online ink cartridge store,” the NRF told the panel in a written statement. “They fly to Boston every year, renting a vehicle for the purpose of committing these thefts. They travel up and down the East Coast, stopping at several retail stores daily. The stolen product is shipped back to California.”

The three suspects have not yet been identified, but at least one of them may not be a U.S. citizen and resides outside the country after being recorded crossing into Mexico at the border.

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The NRF called for Congress to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act. The bill would align federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement to partner more on the issue, which would be a game changer, Perez said.

“One of the challenges with investigating Organized Retail Theft is that most of these crimes appear initially as state offenses, such as shoplifting, that are not ordinarily reported to the FBI and may not have clear connection to a transnational criminal organization,” Perez said. “To address this challenge, the FBI continually partners with state and local law enforcement to share intelligence on crime trends and patterns and create better networks to identify the criminal actors.”