Have you ever heard of online shoplifting? How does one even go about it? If you are interested, I urge you to keep reading.

The vast majority of retailers in the United Kingdom believe fraudsters are siphoning off profits but firms have yet to confront the issue. In fact, More than 90% of the UK’s leading retailers believe ‘goods lost in transit’ (GLIT) fraud is a serious threat, yet most say that home shopping firms don’t have strategies or processes in place for thwarting false claims. As reported in www.retail-digital.com.

Research from Retail Knowledge and Transactis, named “The Digital Shoplifting Survey”, shows that fraudulent GLIT claims cost UK retailers roughly £405 million ($650 million USD) last year with the average operational cost per claim estimated to be more than £40.

Ninety three per cent of the retailer representatives interviewed said that fraudulent GLIT claims pose a serious threat for most firms in the sector. That said, few are ready to combat online shoplifting as only 64% of the respondents say most home shopping retailers do not have a strategy in place for preventing false claims from succeeding.

Do any of you have experience with online shoplifters? As a counselor for both in-class and online stop theft classes I would like to be able to share any real-life experiences.