How big? Illicit trafficking is a $2.2 trillion criminal enterprise that crosses every national border and reaches every customer’s laptop.
How bad? In Florida, criminals have stolen entire gas stations.
“In Hillsborough County, vans were pulling into gas stations at night and parking above the filling tanks,” said Ned Bowman of the Florida Petroleum Marketers Association. “They dropped a pump into the tanks, which brought out the diesel fuel and gasoline.
“They had set up a temporary gas station in the middle of a field with tanks and gas pumps, where all the dump trucks and people came to fill their tanks,” Bowman said.
“The point is, in this age of organized shoplifting, they will steal anything that isn’t secured.”
That could have been the theme of this year’s United to Safeguard America from Illegal Trade (USA-IT) 2025 National Summit in Washington earlier this month.
Whether it’s trafficked children trapped in forced labor or counterfeit children’s toys stuffed into a Christmas stocking, most of this illegal trafficking is primarily handled by the same criminal groups, says USA-IT representative Alysa Erichs.
“Criminal networks are quick to exploit weaknesses in our trading and financial systems to make profits, without concern for public safety. No single agency can tackle this challenge alone.”
Erichs, the former executive deputy director of Homeland Security Investigations, said convergence is what makes the modern illicit trade economy so powerful – and dangerous.
Cybercriminals make profits through the same channels as arms dealers, or use the sale of counterfeit goods to launder money through shoplifting. Proceeds from stolen retail goods can be used to buy fentanyl, cocaine and other narcotics, which come to the United States through the same drug cartels that traffic in human beings.
While a flash mob of shoplifters may look like teenagers randomly stealing purses or jewelry, “these are sophisticated criminal networks looking for vulnerabilities,” says Raul Aguilar of Auror, a private retail crime intelligence firm. “It’s not just about gift card fraud or credit card fraud, but about 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 researcher. Asked about his most surprising arrest, Aguilar said it was a relatively uneventful case of shoplifting — until investigators discovered “people were being held against their will in a concrete room, forced to release the security devices from the stolen goods.”
While sex trafficking often makes headlines, Tasha Hippolyte of the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking told the summit that it represents only 20% of the 8 million victims of human trafficking worldwide.
“If we break down the prevalence of forced labor or labor trafficking, it represents about 80 percent,” Hippolyte said. This ranges from the agricultural industry to sweatshop work and retail crime.
While the horrors of human trafficking are global, she said the CCHT’s mission is to combat it locally.
“The most important aspect is to share with local, everyday people who may not realize they can play such an important role,” Hippolyte said. “Just going to local establishments – hotels, etc. – and restaurants, and sharing information with their staff about what human trafficking is, what the indicators are and, most importantly, if you do see it, what to do.”
While attendees supported national action such as passage of the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, the summit repeatedly returned to the power of local law enforcement, nonprofits and individual citizens to tackle the illicit trade that costs the U.S. economy $18 billion annually, according to USA-IT.
Barb Bergin, the CEO of Crime Stoppers USA, said her organization encourages citizens to address crime they know about in their neighborhoods.
“It was huge to hear all the pitfalls and problems that arise from illegal counterfeit goods, from lost tax collections to the chemicals and minerals contained in some of these goods,” Bergin said. “Now we can go back to our communities and say, ‘Listen, it’s really important that if you know anything about this, you can anonymously tip your local Crime Stoppers program.’ We need to pay attention because illegal trade affects us all in many ways.”
Michael Graham is the editor-in-chief of InsideSources.com.
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