Learn more about ORC and why it matters to retailers.
Organized retail crime is more than a headline — it’s a growing national threat impacting retailers, workers, consumers and communities nationwide. Retailers face increasingly aggressive and often violent theft orchestrated by coordinated criminal networks, not isolated individuals. These groups often operate across state lines and international borders and are frequently tied to broader criminal activity, including drug trafficking and money laundering.
But it’s not just about what happens inside stores. Organized retail crime spreads across the economy — disrupting the supply chain and online marketplaces, and through various financial frauds and schemes impacting consumers.
As David Johnston, NRF’s vice president of asset protection and retail operations, shared in recent testimony before a House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee roundtable on cargo theft: “Organized criminal groups are increasingly stealing cargo from railcars and trucks, posing a direct threat to our supply chain, commerce and retail industry.”
These thefts aren’t random — they’re calculated operations. “These sophisticated and often transnational groups exploit weaknesses in security, infrastructure and law enforcement coordination,” Johnston said. “Their targets range from consumer goods and electronics to pharmaceuticals and essential supplies, fueling further criminal activity.”
Gift card frauds and other schemes have become lucrative opportunities for organized criminal groups. Criminal activity that includes gift card “tampering” and various phone scams have impacted consumers across the nation. Homeland Security Investigations has established “Project Red Hook,” an online awareness campaign to alert consumers and retailers about Chinese organized crime groups conducting these frauds in the United States.
The concern around ORC is echoed by a growing chorus of law enforcement officials across the country. In a February 2025 letter to congressional leadership, 38 state attorneys general urged swift federal action to address what they described as a national “epidemic.”
“Organized retail crime has reached a level never before seen in this country,” the letter stated. “No community is immune from the economic impact and the violence that comes with it.”
The letter emphasizes the impact that many retailers —from household names to Main Street businesses— continue to face sustained losses, rising violence against employees and substantial cost increases to protect products from theft. Consumers see the impact through increased security measures, the removal of products from sales floors or product unavailability due to high frequencies of theft.
The attorneys general called for stronger federal coordination, enhanced penalties for supply chain theft, and more resources to support investigations and prosecutions at the state and local level: “Our resources are finite. A new federal coordination center would act as a force multiplier for our offices and help us dismantle these complex, cross-border criminal networks.”
That’s exactly what the newly reintroduced Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025 (S.1404/H.R.2853) aims to do. This bipartisan bill would:
establish a federal coordination center within Homeland Security Investigations focusing on organized retail and supply chain theft;
improve data-sharing and investigative collaboration across jurisdictions and between local, state and federal agencies and private sector organizations; and
expand criminal penalties and tools to prosecute organized theft groups and their evolving methods of criminal activity
It’s a serious solution to a serious and escalating problem — and it has significant momentum. More than 150 bipartisan members of Congress supported it in the 118th session and, in just one month since its introduction in the 119th Congress, 77 members have already signed onto the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2025.
That’s why the National Retail Federation is bringing the voice of the retail industry to the Hill — to amplify the growing consensus that federal leadership is essential in the fight against organized retail crime.
Organized retail crime is on the rise. Join us and tell Congress to act now.
Our message is simple: Organized retail crime is more than a retail issue. It is not a victimless crime. It extends beyond a single community or state. It’s a matter of national safety and economic security, and it threatens the stability of America’s supply chains and consumer access to goods. For American businesses, workers and families, the time for Congress to act is now.