SALT LAKE CITY — How do you tackle retail theft from across state lines while also addressing the growing number of scams to the elderly?
Congresswoman Celeste Maloy and the Utah Chamber of Commerce met to discuss solutions.
They said that the legislation in the works is the hopeful cure for current retail woes as thieves make off with merch and pocket millions every year.
“We’ve got a couple of bills. We’ve got CORCA, which passed the House, that are specifically designed to make sure that law enforcement has the tools necessary to be able to track things, including sharing information at the federal level," said Maloy. "What happens a lot of times right now is that states either don’t have anything for tracking it or like Utah, we do, but they need to be able to share across state lines.”
CORCA, or the “Combating Organized Retail Crime Act,” is designed to dismantle large-scale theft rings.
FOX 13 asked what tools law enforcement would be given to track these crimes.
“The exact comes into focus a little bit through the process, but what it looks like is giving them the authority to share information," said Maloy. "Sometimes there are restrictions on what law enforcement in Utah can tell law enforcement in Colorado about someone who committed a minor crime or someone who’s being investigated.”
While it’s said retail theft is a victimless crime, Utah Chamber of Commerce president Derek Miller begs to differ.
“Almost $1 billion lost just from theft itself, but then when you think about the ripple effect of it, what businesses have to spend on higher insurance, they have to spend on better technology to protect themselves and then if you look at consumers, the cost they’re paying, that goes over $1 billion,” said Miller.
The "Guarding Unprotected Aging Retirees from Deception" or the GUARD Act, which would allow federal resources to move to more rural police departments to help them combat fraud, was also discussed.
Since law enforcement can’t stop all scams from happening, FOX 13 asked what could be done for victims of scams.
“The problem is money is fungible, so once you’ve given it away, it’s difficult to get it back," said Maloy. "I actually think Utah is doing a better job than most other states. We have a division at the Attorney General‘s office trying to address this, not everybody has that. That’s why this is such a popular scam. If you get somebody to give you cash, it’s easy to make off with it and really tough to ever get back, so that’s why it’s so important that Google and these technologies are working with law enforcement, with lawmakers and trying to find ways to set up a red flag before it happens.”
CORCA will now make its way to the Senate.
