Actress and American Eagle brand ambassador Sydney Sweeney “has good jeans” — so much so that the retailer’s global head of security said they are being stolen en masse and shipped around the world to be resold on the black market by cross-border criminal organizations.
Private sector leaders, including Scott McBride, chief global asset protection officer of American Eagle Inc., pleaded with Congress while in Washington on Wednesday to send in federal investigators to address the crime problem.
“Every single retailer has a key set of products that are being targeted by the organized crime groups. In my case, it is denim, it is jeans from American Eagle Outfitters. It is the highly lucrative, most expensive item that we sell on a regular basis,” McBride testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.
Through working hand-in-hand with Homeland Security Investigations, an office within the Department of Homeland Security, McBride said he has seen how global theft rings operate and the massive syndicate that retailers are up against.
HSI and American Eagle’s corporate investigators tracked down 2,000 pairs of stolen jeans worth $100,000 in a sea-land container that was about to be driven across the U.S.-Mexico border and head south, McBride said. The incident was connected to criminals based out of Houston, and the jeans were stolen from 35 stores across more than a dozen states.
In another incident, McBride testified that container shipments originating from the Port of New Jersey were bound for South America, carrying more stolen American Eagle merchandise.
“In the retail stores, they are being boosted by what we call boosters … they come in and commit mass thefts. They may come in and overwhelm a staff in a store that may only have a few associates working,” McBridge said. “They use intimidation tactics to try to come back and revictimize the same locations over and over again because it’s easier for them. We are also experiencing cargo theft. We have some of our shipments interdicted … trucks that are broken into at truck stops, red lights, at the mall parking lot.”
The National Retail Federation reported last December that retailers saw a 93% increase in the average number of shoplifting incidents in 2023 compared to 2019.
Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC), who previously worked with law enforcement to prosecute organized crime rings, said the effect of retail theft on Americans’ everyday lives cannot be overstated.
“Most Americans are least familiar with organized retail crime, even though organized retail crime affects arguably every single American the most,” Knott said during the hearing.
Chris Spear is president and CEO of the American Trucking Association and represents 8.4 million men and women in the U.S. trucking industry. Stolen cargo off the backs of trucks, awaiting loading, being purposely sent to the wrong location, or being ambushed at stoplights leads to higher insurance costs for shippers and higher expenses for companies moving their products, according to Spear.
Whether it be hundreds of pairs of American Eagle jeans or pallets of Monster Energy drinks, Spear said theft is so widespread that it has increased the cost of groceries, clothing, and other goods. Prices have spiked under the Biden and Trump administrations.
“Those elevated costs for fleets are felt by consumers at the store. Plainly, there is a direct connection for rampant cargo theft and what Americans are paying at grocery stores,” Spear testified. “Across the supply chain, cargo theft is estimated to cost $35 billion annually. This is money that belongs in consumers’ wallets, not criminals’ pockets.”
For example, Walmart reported a $6.5 billion loss in revenue in 2023 due to retail theft, and it closed 11 stores the following year.
McBride endorsed the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which was introduced in April. The bill has a significant number of co-sponsors and would allow federal law enforcement to take the lead on investigating and prosecuting crime rings behind the theft.
Shane Bennett, who oversees cyber defense for theft, fraud, and abuse for Target’s online operations, 2,000 stores, and 66 supply chain facilities nationwide, said that “no single state or retailer can see the full picture,” adding that the CORCA is necessary legislation to address the problem.
“The impact on both consumers and retailers is significant,” Bennett said in prepared remarks. “Organized retail crime contributes to lower product availability on shelves, increases safety risks for both our team members and guests, disrupts supply chains, and fuels widespread financial fraud, which could fund other criminal activities impacting our communities.”