New York’s Shoplifting Epidemic Creating Shadow ‘Resale Economy’ as Businesses Lose Billions
New York’s shoplifting epidemic is now so severe that a shadow “resale economy” has formed across online marketplaces.
According to a report from The New York Post, some of the city’s most notorious thieves are hawking products at a discount prices on services such as Facebook and eBay. Organized gangs are even providing their underlings “shopping lists” of the specific items they want stolen.
In some cases, thieves even stealing perishable items such as expensive ice cream before selling them on for profit to people at subway stations or local bodegas.
One law enforcement source told the Post:
They get shopping lists for items that include cellphones, power tools, handbags… They bring stolen goods to [illicit] wholesalers in the five boroughs.
