Will Shoplifters Start Shifting their Attention to Supply Chains?

The rising cost of living is fuelling an outbreak of crime in countries across Europe.

It’s no longer only luxury items that are a target. Some supermarkets are now placing security alarm tags on basic everyday items from cheese and chocolate to alcohol, coffee, butter, and cosmetics after seeing a significant rise in losses. In the UK, the CEO of one major retailer says ‘organised gangs’ are now ‘shoplifting to order’ as new data shows a 25% increase in shoplifting in the past year.

These are petty, low value crimes individually, but, collectively, they are causing great concern among a business community in Europe which is already seeing a decline in consumer spending and leading to the need for more investment in security systems, such as CCTV and alarms, as well as increased security personnel.

One media report this month gave an example of chocolate bars being locked inside the types of plastic security cases normally reserved for high value items, such as phones or electronics products.

TAPA EMEA continues to see a rise in the number of lower value thefts from supply chains, particularly across Europe, which also signals a similar theme of more people turning to crime to source products, either for their own use or to generate income on the ‘black market’. Most attention, however, is still drawn to the much higher value or more extreme cargo thefts and incidents which continue to set supply chains apart from many other types of crime.

A look at the latest incident data reported to the TAPA EMEA Intelligence Service (TIS) for September 2023 demonstrates this clearly. The 470 new cargo crimes reported to the Association produced a total loss of €19,280,713 in just 30 days – a statistic based also on only 20.2% of losses stating a value.

So, what does 30 days of cargo crime in EMEA look like? The following examples of crimes and losses in September highlight the scale, diversity, and disruption security risks are causing supply chains:

€. 6 million of cash stolen by an employee from an Origin Facility in Bremen, Germany
€. 5 million of gold taken from an Origin Facility in Val-d’Oise, France
€. 680,000 of electronics products lost following a deceptive pick-up in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
€. 643,671 of miscellaneous goods reported stolen in Carcabuey, Spain
€. 209,954 of cigarettes in a truck hijacking in Warrenton in South Africa’s Northern Cape
€. 200,000 of tools stolen after thieves smashed a hole into the side of an Origin Facility wall in Peterborough, UK
€. 148,437 – three offenders arrested after being caught transporting stolen railway track cable in Mpumalanga in South Africa
13 vehicles stolen from an Origin Facility in Salzbergen, Lower Saxony
50 pieces of a high fashion clothing collection lost after thieves stole a delivery van on its way from Paris airport to the headquarters of a leading fashion designer
19 suspects shot and killed in a shoot-out with law enforcement officers during a cash-in-transit robbery in Limpopo province, South Africa
A shooting of a security officer and a member of the public in another C-I-T robbery at a Destination Facility in South Africa
A truck driver robbed by fake ‘police’ officers in Germany
The loss of a shipment of metal in South Africa in another incident involving bogus ‘police’ officers

TIS recorded cargo thefts in 27 countries in EMEA in September, including 21 incidents involving loss values of products valued at €. 100,000 or more. The average loss for these major crimes was €. 867,563, while the daily loss for the month – based on 95 incidents sharing a financial loss figure – was €. 642,690.

September crime data also showed an average loss based on all incidents with a value of €. 202,954. TAPA EMEA also recorded six crimes with loss values of between €. 50,000-€. 100,000 and these produced a total loss of €. 409,036.

Five countries in EMEA accounted for over 81% of cargo crimes in September:

Germany – 163 incidents or 34.6% of the monthly total
Sweden – 91 or 19.3%
South Africa – 55 or 11.7%
France – 42 or 8.9%
Italy – 30 or 6.3%

Spain and the United Kingdom also recorded double-digit incident rates with 27 (5.7%) and 11 (2.3%) cargo crimes respectively.

TAPA EMEA was unable to determine the types of products in over 50% of reported thefts from supply chains in September. Of the rest, six TIS product categories suffered 10 losses or more:

Fuel theft – 91 incidents or 19.3% on the September total
Metal – 25 or 5.3%
Cash – 23 or 4.8%
Food & Drink – 12 or 2.5%
Tools/Building Materials – 10 or 2.1%

The top 5 types of incidents in September were:

Theft – 124 crimes
Theft from Facility – 119
Theft from Vehicle – 100
Robbery – 59
Theft of Vehicle – 18

Of the known locations for cargo crimes during the month, four recorded double digit incident rates:

Origin Facility – 125 incidents
Unclassified Parking – 76
En Route – 56
Authorised 3^rd Party Facility – 31

Crimes involving violence or the threat of violence towards supply chain personnel or the public were above the usual monthly average, with 62 incidents listed of this M.O, over 13% of the monthly total.

“It is clear businesses across EMEA are becoming far more aware of the rising level of crime and the impact it is having in terms of financial losses and the risks posed to their frontline staff. From a retailers’ perspective, we are seeing far more reports linked to shoplifting, for example, and this is gaining more attention from both governments and law enforcement – but still we believe many companies outside of our own membership group are not recognising the even bigger losses and threats that are occurring along the supply chain. Our TIS figures for September highlight not only the high values of goods that can be stolen, but also the range of threats which exist.

“Perhaps the biggest concern is reports of organised crime groups ‘shopping to order’ in stores. How long will it be before the current economic realities lead more people to look at supply chains as a prime target. If more of these groups turn their attention to the higher value/less risk alternatives of cargo crime, it will be especially impactful for companies and supply chain operations which are not taking prudent steps to secure their end-to-end businesses,” said Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA.