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National law enforcement and local retail groups want Americans to understand that the problem of illicit trade — counterfeiting, organized retail crime and human trafficking — is bigger and more dangerous than most people realize.
How big? Illegal trade is a $2.2 trillion criminal enterprise that crosses every national boundary and reaches every shopper’s laptop.
How bad? In Florida, crooks have been stealing entire gas stations.
“In Hillsborough County, vans were coming into gas stations at night and parking over the top of the fill tanks,” said Ned Bowman with the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association. “They were dropping a pump down into the tanks, pulling up the diesel fuel and gasoline.
“They had set up a temporary filling station with tanks and gas pumps in the middle of a field, where all the dump trucks and people were coming and filling their tanks,” Bowman said.
“The point is that, in this era of organized retail theft, they’ll steal anything that’s not tied down.”
That could have been the theme at this year’s United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade (USA-IT) 2025 National Summit in Washington earlier this month.
Whether it’s trafficked kids trapped in forced work or counterfeit kids’ toys stuffed in a Christmas stocking, most of this illicit trade is primarily handled by the same criminal groups, said USA-IT representative Alysa Erichs.
“Criminal networks are quick to exploit weaknesses in our trade and financial systems for profit, with zero concern for public safety. No single agency can address this challenge alone.”
Erichs, the former acting executive associate director for Homeland Security Investigations, said what makes the modern illegal-trade economy so powerful — and dangerous — is convergence.
Cybercriminals move profits through the same channels as weapons traffickers, or use counterfeit-goods sales to launder money through retail theft. Revenues from stolen retail goods can be used for fentanyl, cocaine and other narcotics, which come to the United States via the same drug cartels that also run human smuggling.
While a flash mob of shoplifters may look like teenagers randomly stealing handbags or jewelry, “these are sophisticated criminal networks that are looking for vulnerabilities,” said Raul Aguilar with Auror, a private retail-crime intelligence company. “It’s not just gift card fraud or credit card fraud, but actual stores that are being targeted for the specific products that these (criminal) organizations know exactly what to take.”
Like Erichs, Aguilar is a former HSI investigator. Asked about his most surprising bust, Aguilar said it was a relatively ho-hum case of retail theft — until investigators discovered “people were being held against their will in a concrete room, forced to peel off the security devices from the stolen goods.”
While sex trafficking tends to make the headlines, Tasha Hippolyte with the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, told the summit it represents just 20% of the 8 million victims of human trafficking worldwide.
“When we break down the prevalence of forced labor or labor trafficking, it represents about 80 percent,” Hippolyte said. That ranges from agribusiness to sweatshop work to retail crime.
While the horrors of human trafficking are global, she said the mission of the CCHT is to fight it locally.
“The most important aspect is to share with local, everyday folks who may not realize they can play such an important role,” Hippolyte said. “Just going to local hospitality units — hotels, etc. — and restaurants, and sharing information with their staff on what human trafficking is, what the indicators are, and, more importantly, if you do see it, what to do.”
While the attendees support national action, such as passing the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, the summit repeatedly returned to the power of local law enforcement, nonprofits and individual citizens to confront the illicit trade that costs the American economy $18 billion annually, according to USA-IT.
Barb Bergin, the CEO of Crime Stoppers USA, said her organization encourages citizens to confront crime they know about in their neighborhoods.
“Hearing all the pitfalls and problems that come from illegal counterfeit items was huge, from lost tax collections to the chemicals and minerals that are in some of this merchandise,” Bergin said. “Now we can go back to our communities and say, ‘Listen, it’s really important that, if you know something about this, you can anonymously tip your local Crime Stoppers program.’ We need to pay attention, because illegal trade affects every one of us in a lot of ways.”
Michael Graham is the managing editor of InsideSources.com.