ST PETERSBURG, Fla. — Return fraud is becoming a bigger problem for online retailers, and now companies are being forced to look at how they can crack down on the expensive issue.
According to the National Retail Federation, retailers are expected to hit nearly $850 billion in returns after this holiday season wraps up. According to David Sobie, the head of UPS-owned logistics company Happy Returns, nearly 1 in 10 items returned is fraudulent in some way.
What You Need To Know
- Retailers looking for ways to cut back on return fraud
- AI now being used by some retailers to analyze returns
- 83% of retailers polled say its a growing problem
Sobie says 83% of companies he and his team polled this year, consider retail fraud a very serious issue. Retail fraud can range from returning an empty box in hopes of a refund, to more complex schemes like returning a similar looking item of lesser value and hoping the employee processing the return doesn’t notice…