Safeguarding Your Jewelry Business from Retail Threats

By Jennifer Heebner, Editor in Chief

This is the second in a multipart series of articles about security measures in the jewelry industry.

A recent virtual town hall of security experts aimed to help retailers safeguard themselves against crime just ahead of the holiday season. “Nationwide Crime Crisis: Safeguarding Your Jewelry Business from Organized Retail Threats” took place courtesy of the Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA) and insurance company Jewelers Mutual.

Panel participants included Scott Murphy, President & Chief Executive Officer at Jewelers Mutual (JM); Scott Guginsky, Vice President of the Jewelers Security Alliance (JSA); David Johnston, Vice President of Asset Protection & Retail Operations at the National Retail Federation (NRF); Howard Stone, Vice President of Global Asset Protection & Analytics at JM; and Chad Berg, President of Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry. The panel was moderated by Mark Smelzer, Vice President of Content for JM.

Takeaways from the presentation are below.

Scott Murphy, JM President & Chief Executive Officer

I’ve worked at JM for almost 10 years and the crime we’re seeing now is the worst since I’ve been here. This crime is the worst because of a combination of factors—there’s a level of sophistication and aggressiveness, and in how broad-sweeping the crime is across the country and beyond.

This is an unprecedented time in what JM has seen in the types of and severity of losses; sometimes an entire store is wiped out not just with your jewelry, but your customers’ items. So stores are not just threatened economically but reputationally. This town hall aims to bring awareness to you and your team members about the level of sophistication of the bad actors.

Scott Guginsky, JSA Executive Vice President

We are seeing sophisticated burglary crews and South American theft groups enter stores through roofs or common walls. They’re using ruses such as wearing construction vests and tampering with power sources. Year to date in the first 10 months of 2024, we’ve seen a 38.6% increase in sophisticated burglaries—there were 57 incidents in 2023 versus 79 in the same period this year.

Since May 2024, JSA has gotten 19 reports of burglars dressed as construction workers versus one incident in the same period last year. That is a 1,800% increase.

Since May 2024, 89.5% of these burglars used ruses in mall settings, and year to date, that’s a 350% increase in total dollar losses.

Year to date, we’ve had 50 wall entries versus 13 last year. That’s a 284.6% increase.

We’ve seen 35 safe or vault attacks this year compared to 27 last year. Most jewelers might feel that burglars can’t penetrate safes, but with angle grinders and torches they have. We’re seeing groups of five to 10 burglars work on one store. I’ve not seen this in my 33 years in jewelry crime.

Howard Stone, JM Vice President of Global Asset Protection & Analytics

Here’s what we’ve learned over the last several months about alarm responses, procedures, and how and what to do differently.

For alarm responses, burglars are using Wi-Fi jammers to take alarms down. Alarms may read line failure or power outage, so we recommend that jewelers test their alarms to be sure they’re working at the level you expect them to. Get into a cadence of testing them at least once a month, and if you find the alarm is not working to your standard, get service out to fix it. When jewelers see these power outages, they need to treat them as events—not just, “Oh the power went down overnight.” These are indicators that something is happening.

Go through your call list and make sure it is up to date with your provider so that calls don’t go unanswered or that no one shows up. This is an overlooked step. Then wait for law enforcement to meet you onsite.

If you show up to the store and your phone is not working, that’s an indication that a Wi-Fi jammer is present. So move to a safe location, wait for a signal, and call law enforcement.

Have opening and closing procedures, and have your team know your store procedures. We’ve seen cases where criminals put up their own cameras or move yours so that you lose sight of what’s happening.

Be aware of individuals who come into your store to case it and report it to JSA.

Lastly, connect with law enforcement at mall locations. Make them aware these events are happening. Share information with mall security and make them aware so they know how to respond. It doesn’t cost any money to test alarms or develop your own procedures for your store.

Chad Berg, President, Lee Michaels Fine Jewelry, 10 stores in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and New Mexico

We gave managers the ability to look at alarm systems from home. We gave them access to security cameras from home so they can log in and see if there could be an issue.

When there are communication failures, we don’t say, “No big deal” or “Oh, the Wi-Fi is out.” It’s so important that you respond. It’s so important that if you show up at the store and your cell doesn’t work and there’s no electricity, step away from store and call the police. Sign up for JSA alerts, they send them out every week so you know what issues are happening. You can be prepared.

[Editor’s Note: You must join JSA to receive its crime alerts. Click here to join.]

We don’t want someone to get a phone call at night, and then the mall security doesn’t see an issue—there could be bad actors in the store, and they could be there all weekend. It’s important how we respond to alarm companies; we don’t treat it as “no big deal” because it could be a big deal. Our most valuable asset is our people. Also, we don’t want to be faced with telling someone they lost grandma’s ring.

David Johnston, Vice President, Asset Protection & Retail Operations, National Retail Federation

I was hired over two years ago. Overall, retail is experiencing high levels of theft and crime from organized crime groups. Now is an unprecedented time that is impacting retailers regardless of size. Crimes vary from shoplifting, smash and grabs, cargo theft outside of stores, non-merchandise theft like gift cards, fake or fictitious websites, and other cybercrimes. These are not only impacting the U.S. retail market, but in speaking to peers from the U.K. and Canada, the level of violence happening is concerning.

There are some fed investigations that show criminals now use organized crime to fuel their drug trade and human trafficking. So it’s not just product losses, and these are not victimless crimes; they impact employers and shoppers through reduced hours or even closing stores.

The NRF perspective supports the Combating Retail Crime Act, which has bipartisan support and would create a center for combating crime at the federal level and bring together all federal agencies to centralize intelligence and when borders are crossed. We need to tackle this crime at a federal level.

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