Online marketplaces and retail theft: Talking Tech podcast

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Brett Molina:

Hey there listeners, it's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. You've likely heard reports about this surge in smash and grab thefts at retailers. You've likely seen the videos of these, where you have a bunch of people rushing into a store, grabbing what they can and rushing right out. We've seen a lot of activity around that. Recently the LAPD, the Los Angeles Police Department announced more than a dozen of arrests linked to these thefts, including involving stolen merchandise worth more than $340,000. I write about this in a story you can read on tech.usatoday.com. And what this story's focused on is the role that online marketplaces play in this surge of organized retail theft. Something to keep in mind here is that one of the reasons why retail theft is rising, according to experts that I talk to, is it's very easy to sell this stuff online on places like Amazon, eBay, what have you. You can create an account, create it anonymously, start a profile, and you can sell these goods.

And of course the experts I talk to, for buyers it's great because you find goods that are a good price. And again, for the sellers, it's easy to sell. There's no seller information that you need to add that ties you to this. So it's really easy. Amazon and eBay, of course, have noted a lot of the tools that they have in place to try to prevent this kind of stuff. eBay, for example, works with law enforcement and retailers to investigate claims. And they've talked about how they have zero tolerance for criminal activity on the platform. Amazon has also rolled out some new steps to verify sellers' info, such as verifying through video chat or in offices to confirm paperwork and confirm their identity before they're made a seller. But a lot of lawmakers and retailers want more. Recently, there was a bill introduced called the Informed Consumers Act, which would require online marketplaces to verify the identity of high volume, third party sellers, and that potentially limits the organized retail theft that we're seeing.

So the question for you of course, is so what do I do? What should I do about this? What can I do if, say, I want to shop, but have a clear conscience about where this item's coming from, so I'm maybe not buying something online that might be stolen. One expert I talked to suggests avoiding third party sellers on websites, especially if they're offering branded goods. If you know the brand of something you want to buy, go directly to the brand themselves. Another thing to consider, the Federal Trade Commission suggests people look up information on a seller. You can search the company, then search for words like complaint or scam to see if other shoppers have had experiences with scams or other issues. You can also check if the company has a real address so you can get a sense of, is this a legit company, or is this someone that's posing to be a company?

It's also important to just double check the sites you're on as well. Some cyber criminals will try to trick shoppers with fake websites that look like the real thing, and so it's important to be vigilant. If you want to read more about this, you can go to my story on tech.usatoday.com for more. Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas, any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter @brettmolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us, or leave a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.