Overview

"From piracy to counterfeiting to cargo theft, organized retail crime has exploded into a $38 billion industry. Synchronized global teams of thieves are pilfering immense volumes of high-value products, counterfeiting even more--and using the profits to support the world’s most vicious terrorists and criminal gangs. In this eye-opening piece of investigative journalism, top business reporter Hitha Prabhakar connects the dots and follows the money deep into the world’s fastest-growing criminal industry. You'll learn how the Internet, social media, and disposable cell phones have opened the floodgates for a new generation of criminals--and how buying something as innocent as a counterfeit handbag or discounted cigarettes actually funds terrorist groups from Al-Qaeda to Central America’s drug lords. Black Market Billions draws on extensive first person interviews with law enforcement, industry, and the criminals themselves to reveal how retail crime rings impact the security in every country in which they operate. Prabhakar goes ""inside"" to reveal why the piracy economy has exploded...why preventive measures have failed...and what to expect next, as organized retail crime reaches a terrifying critical mass."

Full Product Details

Author:   Hitha Prabhakar
Publisher:   Pearson Education (US)
Imprint:   Financial TImes Prentice Hall
Dimensions:   Width: 16.10cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.590kg
ISBN:  

9780132180245

ISBN 10:   0132180243
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   14 December 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock  

Table of Contents

Introduction     1   Part I: The Piracy Economy   Chapter 1: Organized Retail Crime Goes Global     9 Why Is ORC Such a Threat?     11 The Promised Land: Money Talks     13 Made in America: Homegrown Terrorism     17 Recruiting from the Inside     19 From Prison to Gangs to the World’s Most Notorious Terrorist Group     21 Access to Funding Gets Creative     25 Burrowing In: The Hezbollah Finds a Home in the U.S. and South America     27 From America to South America: Ties Get Stronger in the Tri-Border Region     28   Chapter 2 When a Deal Isn’t a Deal     31 Getting a Slice of Luxury the Cheapest Way Possible     34 The “Real Deal”     36 Dying for a Deal: The Recession Doesn’t Make Aspirations Go Away     38 Big Takedowns Take Precedence Over Smaller Offenders     39 Counterfeiters and ORC Move Their Operations Online     40 eBay’s Swift Response     42 Too Little, Too Late     44 Lurking in the Shadows: Stolen Gift Cards Bought Online     45 Easy to Obtain, Easy to Sell     46 Fake-out: Retailers Fronting as Legitimate Stores     48 Protecting Yourself: Know the Signs of E-fencing/ORC     51   Chapter 3: The Cost to the Stores     53 The Blame Game     54 Insider Information: Employee Theft and ORC     54 Human Resources Fail: Hiring the Wrong People     56 Wholesale Scam: Terrorist-Affiliated Warehouses Sell to the Little Guy     61 Taking a Bite Out of the Balance Sheet: Economic Downturn Fosters Cargo Theft     64 Coordinating Information in Real Time: LAPD and APD Case Studies     67   Part II: Follow the Money   Chapter 4: The Money Trail and the Business of Cross-Border Trade     77 The Warehouse: Ground Zero for Cross-Border Trade     80 Profile of a Purchaser     81 Keeping Shelves Stocked Through Cargo Theft      83 Coveted Items: Over-the-Counter Drugs     84 Profile of a Cargo Thief      86 “Shell Stores”: A Conduit for Organized Retail Crime      87 Shell Stores Move Online     89 A Hotbed of Stolen Merchandise: Flea Markets     91 Nabbing the Bad Guys: Classifying Organized Retail Crime as a Felony      91 Insurance Companies: The Missing Link     93 The Gray Market: Another Retail Facilitator of ORC     94 Laws Have Been Passed, But Are They Helping?     95   Chapter 5: Profile of a Booster and a Fence      97 Moving the Merchandise: The Role of a Fence     100 Being Convicted as a Level 1 Fence: More Like a Slap on the Wrist Than a Slap in the Face     101 The Level 2 Booster: Inside the Mind of a Potentially Dangerous Criminal     104 Other Forms of Theft from a Level 2 Booster     106 Level 3 Boosters and Fences: A High-Level Organization Equals High Profits     108 Level 3 Boosters: Frequently Lifted Merchandise     112 Curbing Boosters and Fences: What Does and Doesn’t Work     115   Chapter 6: Family Ties     119 When Family Funds Support Terrorism     121 Assad Muhammad Barakat and His “Family”     123 Illegal Entry into the U.S. Is Not Difficult—if You Have Money     127 The Great Entrepreneurs: Terrorists      132 The Trust Factor: The Basis of Any Organized Retail Crime Ring     136   Chapter 7: Money Laundering 2.0     139 The Three Stages of Money Laundering     141 Organized Retail Crime and Latin America     151 Funneling Money Through the Black Market Peso Exchange     152 The South American, Mexican, and African Connection      155   Chapter 8: The Political Agenda     159 Homegrown Terrorism: How Retail Theft and Piracy Has Funded Terrorist Operations     160 Rebel Kids: Extremist Ideas Financed Through International ORC     163 When Things Went Awry     164 ORC Funding by Way of Somalia: A Tale of Two Misguided Kids     165 As Local as Down the Street     168 Funding Evil Under the Guise of Charitable Contributions: The Mosques     168 Muslim Charities: Capitalizing on Natural Disaster and Religious Empathy     169 Terrorist Fund-Raising Via Charities Finds Roots in the U.S.     172 Charitable Donation Loopholes: How the IRS and Banking Systems Failed to Prevent Fraudulent ORC Funds from Financing Terrorist Groups     173 Charities Turn to a Cyber Audience     175 Why the Government Can’t Regulate Charities     175   Chapter 9: Strange Bedfellows      179 How Banned TVs Funded Bombings     180 The Business of Cigarette Smuggling      183 The EC Versus R.J. Reynolds Tobacco     185 The Role of Money Brokers and Money Launderers     186 The History of Cigarette Smuggling     188 Cigarette Smuggling Funds Local Terrorism Around the World     189 Chiquita International Brands: “Either You Pay Me, or I Am Going to Kill You.”     192 Dole Foods’ Involvement with the Colombian Paramilitary     195   Part III: Putting a Band-Aid on a Broken Leg   Chapter 10: The Failure of Preventative Measures     201 Acting Locally, Thinking Globally     202 Types of ORC Theft Prevention That Are Supposed to Work But Don’t     204 A Bottom-Line Breakdown of Costs     207 Legal Issues: Defining ORC Versus Shoplifting and Shrinkage     215 Regulating the Resale Market     216   Chapter 11: Letting the Bad Guy Get Away     219 Regulation Epic Fail: How Banking BSAs and AML Programs Let Terrorist Funding Slip Through the Cracks     222 Continued Failure to Regulate IFTs: The Costs to Local and Federal Governments as Well as Retailers     223 Failure to Regulate Hawalas     224 IFTs Get Sophisticated: Stored Value Cards     227 Bulk Cash Smuggling Comes in a Smaller Package     228 Retailers Feel the Pain of SVC Fraud     230 Credit Card Fraud Is Even Worse     231 RICO Defined     234 Why ORC Rings Still Exist: Money Laundering and the RICO Statute     235 More Problems with RICO: It’s in the Definition     236 Laws That Once Protected Potential Terrorists Have Changed     239 Defining “Material Support” and “Coordination”     239   Epilogue     243 Glossary     247 Endnotes     271 Index     299

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Author Information

Hitha Prabhakar is a New York-based reporter for Bloomberg Television, covering business news and financial markets with a particular focus on retail. Before joining Bloomberg Television in 2011, Prabhakar was founder and principal of The Stylefile Group, a retail consulting firm based in New York City, where she served as an advisor to hedge funds and other clients with long-term holdings in retail companies. Prior to that, Prabhakar served as a retail reporter for Forbes Media, covering the luxury industry as well as men’s fashion. She has written for Time, People, MSNBC.com, ELLE India, and Metro newspapers, among other publications. Prabhakar was formerly a contributor on CNBC and has had numerous television appearances as a retail analyst on networks including CBS, CNN, Fox News, Sky News, and Bravo. She holds degrees in philosophy and economics from Smith College and a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She also studied at the London School of Economics.

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