In the U.S., we just went through a fake news cycle about shoplifting fueled by retail chains knowingly lying to the press — they told shareholders the truth because there’s penalties for lying to them. And “human trafficking” has become a part of QAnon conspiracy theory lore for some reason.

Not saying this article is fake news or that human trafficking isn’t a scourge. Just saying beware of possible bullshit when those topics pop up.

surely a retail organization would never lie about shop lifting

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/organized-retail-crime-trade-group-half-of-all-missing-merchandise/#:~:text=A national trade group representing,on retail chains’%20financial%20results.

This article seems bad.

The only sources cited are RAC (Retailers Against Crime) and their employees. If there really had been a major bust against organised crime as they claim, wouldn’t there be confirmation by the Scottish police (who RAC is cited as claiming they cooperated with and made these arrests?).

So why is not a single government or police source being cited? Did they just copy a press release from RAC?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Hundreds of vulnerable women and children are being trafficked to the UK to shoplift for Eastern European crime groups, the BBC has learned.

One company in Scotland told BBC File on 4 it had identified a gang with 154 shoplifters stealing high-value items in bulk to sell or ship abroad.

Ms Fraser said the gang has a number of children who have been trafficked to the UK specifically to shoplift.

Another 100-strong gang operates in London with members that are almost exclusively female, all trafficked from Eastern Europe.

He said gangs will choose young women to carry out crimes because they are less likely to be seen as criminals by security guards and shop staff.

They are living in houses of multiple occupancy, 30, 40 of them at a time, sleeping on mattresses in dirty rooms, being used and abused as criminals for financial gain."

The original article contains 511 words, the summary contains 145 words. Saved 72%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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