STORES Magazine - May 2008 - (Page L6)

NEWSbeat This Guy’s a Real Chalupa F AST-FOOD restaurants’ security officers often rely on CCTV to help prevent or solve crimes. But one guy in California decided to do their work for them. Robert Echeverria decided to post a video of his taco theft prank on YouTube. The video, called “How to Scam Del Taco,” shows Echeverria calling the restaurant in Rialto, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. In a friendly tone he claims to be a CEO named Robert Kennedy who has already spoken to the store’s manager and corporate office about some unwanted sour cream and the lack of a receipt in a previous order. “I love your guys’ tacos,” he says. Then, one of his two 18-year-old co-stars/accomplices is shown walking into the restaurant and claiming a “make-good” meal. The video ends with the three men feasting and laughing. Echeverria even provided a pair of personal phone numbers in the video. A Rialto resident viewed the video last month and alerted authorities. Along with a 30-day jail sentence, the prankster received three years’ probation – and has been banned from the Rialto Del Taco. raid as “one of the largest takedowns of trademark copiers in the city’s history.” Three buildings occupying a city block were found to house 32 storefronts illegally selling fake goods. The area, dubbed the “Counterfeit Triangle” – a reference to the shape of the block formed by Canal, Walker and Centre Streets – was considered to be one of the most notorious knockoff shopping malls in the city; The New York Times reported that the shops were run by more than 150 employees operating with impunity 10 or more hours a day seven days a week. All three buildings are owned by the same landlord who has knowingly rented space to counterfeit retailers since 1999. Although no arrests have been made, city officials issued health and safety code violations that resulted in the sellers’ having to vacate the premises and effectively shutting the buildings down. It reportedly takes months for a landlord to go through nuisance abatement to get their property back – not to mention significant expenditures of time and money. Intellectual property lawyers and brand owners praised the strategy of going after landlords, saying it is having a lasting impact. Counterfeit Crackdown N EW YORK CITY has the dubious distinction of being a hotbed of counterfeit merchandise, and there are certain pockets of the city where sales of this merchandise thrive. In February, a major bust in the Chinatown area resulted in the seizure of more than $1 million in knockoff accessories and fragrances, prompting Mayor Michael Bloomberg to trumpet the city’s “gettough attitude toward counterfeiters.” At a press conference following the bust, Bloomberg described the NYPD Rough Shave T’S A CREDIT CARD scam that doesn’t require a credit card, yet “shaving” can be as damaging as other schemes for both consumers and retailers. Here’s how it works: Thieves meticulously try out combinations of 16 digits until they come up with a series that fits someone’s card. Typically, they test the number by trying to make a purchase online or by calling a verification number the way a merchant would do. Then, using gift cards found in many grocery stores, they painstakingly craft their own phony credit or debit card by shaving numbers off of the gift cards with a razor blade and gluing the right seL6 STORES / MAY 2008 WWW.LPINFORMATION.COM I http://WWW.LPINFORMATION.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - May 2008

Stores - May 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Contrasting C-Level Compensation Across Segments What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Concepts That Clicked Concept2Watch Kiosks Artificial Intelligence Tech Support Online LPinformation Data Synchronization Human Resources Site Selection POS Selection Communications Biometrics Networking Systems Credit Loeb Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - May 2008

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