Excellent article on how thieves are attempting to beat the system in regards to store returns policies. Common returns fraud techniques include:
- returning stolen item
- counterfeit receipts to inflate price of returned item
- buy one cheap item and one expense item – swap boxes and return the cheap item
- “wardrobing” – buy item – wear it once and return it.
Digg.com posts, “Return fraud cost retailers an estimated $3.5 billion during the 2006 holiday season, and a full $9.6 billion for the entire year, according to NRF. Some estimates even say return fraud amounts to $16 billion in losses to retailers each year.”