Victoria's Secret Chief Information Security Officer Mark Tomallo speaks at NRF PROTECT 2024.
Fraudsters have made the job of retail loss prevention and asset protection executives exponentially more difficult. Keeping up with the tactics used by bad actors to exploit retailers and consumers alike has evolved into a non-stop challenge, with some of the most frequent cons including gift card scams, sophisticated account takeovers and money laundering.
This NRF working group connects retail leaders to share strategies, spotlight emerging fraud trends, and strengthen prevention efforts. Learn more.
In 2023 the National Retail Federation created a Fraud Prevention Professionals Working Group to bring together retail leaders responsible for fraud prevention to discuss digital and in-store fraud prevention strategies and operations. At NRF PROTECT 2025, four sessions will focus on the risks, tactics and economic impact of retail fraud; several other sessions will also touch the topic, as will a Digital and Ecommerce Fraud Collaborative Conversation on the final day of the event.
During one fraud-focused session, leaders from Walmart, Signet Jewelers and Meijer will delve into how retailers are managing the convergence of physical and digital fraud and strategies to protect businesses against evolving threats. NRF asked the three retailers — Claire Rushton, senior director, global investigations and crimes against the business at Walmart; Jennifer Dayys, senior manager fraud and ORC investigations at Signet Jewelers; and Ryan Themm, corporate investigations manager at Meijer — to share some fraud schemes they’re currently battling.
Criminals are draining gift card balances before customers even get a chance to use them. This often goes unnoticed until the recipient tries to redeem the card — sometimes months later. Law enforcement, through Project Red Hook, is actively targeting these operations.
Stolen credit card data is funneled into illicit digital wallets (often sourced from overseas) and used to buy gift cards in bulk. These cards are then used to purchase goods for resale or returned for cash.
Organized groups — sometimes involving women and children — are convincing customers to make large purchases (often baby formula or health/beauty items). These items are later returned for cash. Some of these groups are traveling across the United States and may be linked to organized crime.
Fraudsters are impersonating legitimate organizations via phone, text or email to trick consumers and employees into sending money or gift cards. Common ruses include fake toll fines, overdue bills or goodwill requests. Payment methods include gift cards, bitcoin, money transfers and cash.
Bad actors are gaming the returns process by claiming items never arrived and sometimes returning counterfeit or swapped items (e.g., replacing a product with a rock). This not only hurts inventory but could also drive up prices for everyone.
These scammers use distraction and sleight of hand during cash transactions — especially in jewelry departments. They often display large amounts of cash, engage employees for 30 to 45 minutes, repeatedly count and exchange money to confuse staff — then walk away having paid only half the amount.
Fraudsters gain access to customer accounts and place buy online, pick up in-store orders. They then impersonate the customer to collect the goods in person, using fake IDs and order confirmations.
When digital payments fail, scammers request to manually enter stolen card information. These transactions often result in chargebacks due to the lack of card presence, leaving retailers to absorb the loss.
Join us for this not-to-be-missed session and more at NRF PROTECT 2025, June 23-25, in Grapevine, Texas.