Major U.S. suppliers urge action by Congress on on-line stolen, counterfeit goods gross sales

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – The chief executives of major U.S. vendors including Goal (TGT.N), Household Depot (Hd.N), Kroger (KR.N), CVS Health and fitness (CVS.N), Autozone (AZO.N) and Finest Acquire (BBY.N) on Thursday urged Congress to acquire action to handle the on the net sale of stolen, counterfeit and hazardous consumer solutions.

The team called on Congress to crack down on anonymous on the web income, citing the rising affect of structured retail crime.

“Retail institutions of all kinds have viewed a considerable uptick in structured criminal offense in communities across the

country,” the letter said.

“Criminals are capitalizing on the anonymity of the Web and the failure of sure marketplaces to validate their sellers. This pattern has made retail organizations a focus on for rising theft.”

On Friday, the White Property mentioned it has been in speak to with federal regulation enforcement officials in excess of a string of flash mob “smash and get” robberies of U.S. retail retailers.

A wave of “smash-and-get” crimes is plaguing upscale retailers in major U.S. cities, with mobs of burglars making off with costly merchandise in brazen raids. The metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles have observed a numerous significant-profile robberies.

The letter, which was also signed by the CEOs of Neiman Marcus, Levi Strauss, Rite Support (RAD.N), Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O), calls on Congress to pass legislation to make it “less difficult for individuals to establish particularly who they are shopping for from, and make it harder for prison factors to hide powering phony screennames and fake enterprise facts.”

The bill introduced in 2020 would require verification of third-get together sellers on on line retail marketplaces. It would also buy on the net platforms letting for 3rd-get together sellers of client merchandise “to authenticate the identity of large-quantity 3rd-party sellers” to “avert arranged retail criminal offense”.

On-line marketplaces would require to confirm substantial-volume third-occasion sellers by getting seller’s governing administration ID, tax ID, lender account facts, and contact facts.

Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Angus MacSwan

Our Criteria: The Thomson Reuters Have confidence in Principles.