Claude Poucher has held a variety of senior investigative positions over the last 25 years, from big box retailers and supply chain to discount and specialty.
 
He started in Loss Prevention at Rich's Department store, which was six stories and covered two city blocks in Downtown Atlanta.
 
“It was a great learning ground for Loss Prevention,” he told the Daily. “We processed about 800 shoplifting apprehensions a year.”

ORC Leader Claude Poucher
Using Decades of Experience to Fight Shoplifting & Fraud

17 States - No ORC Laws
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In his most recent role, Claude served as Director, Field Investigations and ORC at Office Depot for more than two decades.
 
The key to addressing ORC, he says, is to look at the issue from a multi-channel perspective.
 

“Fraudsters have learned that they can commit crimes anonymously through the internet,” he said. “In order to be effective, you need to address all facets of prevention across all of your business channels.”
 
He says traditional ORC shoplifting teams are best addressed through strong training, product protection, and awareness programs. Swift communication with stores in the area, ORC organizations and the Law enforcement community can also greatly enhance success, as well as documenting losses and filing police reports in all jurisdictions. Additionally, CCTV footage is critical as you build a case.
 
Claude points to a recently busted ORC group as evidence that these strategies, as well law enforcement and retail partnerships, are effective.

“This past year, a large ORC group was sending out three shoplifting teams across the U.S., targeting two office supply retailers and one electronics retailer,” Claude explained. “The Attorney General in NY worked with the retailers over a 6-month period to bring down this large organization.”
 
 He said over 80 CCTV clips were used to help prosecute the case.
 
 Gift card schemes and loyalty fraud are two other areas that need to have a specific targeted approach in order to reduce the loss. In one case, Claude said, a crew had opened more than 300 loyalty accounts to maximize the discounts.
 
 How can the industry address this type of fraud? According to Claude, working with the gift card providers for fraud alerts and signage to prevent scams against customers is one way.
 
 More broadly, he believes strong partnerships, a robust reporting system, and good data are three other keys to preventing fraudulent activity.
 
 Ultimately, Claude says that to have an effective multi-channel program, you “need the data for refund management, exception reporting, travel and expense, shrink, known theft losses, eCommerce, charge backs, loyalty and bad debt write off.”
 
 These are the types of strategies and partnerships that can allow Loss Prevention teams everywhere to combat ORC and reduce loss within their own organizations.
 
 On a personal level, Claude says John Voytilla – Senior Vice President for Party City – has been a key mentor who got him involved in ORC investigations.
 
 As a member of the Retailers Against Online Fraud and Atlanta Metropol, Claude hopes to continue developing his many solid business partnerships.
 
 “I give all the credit to my past ORC team members for a tremendous job over the years,” he said.
 
 With his experience in the industry and vast understanding of how to combat these crimes, Claude Poucher has been an asset to the ORC fight and will continue to be for many years to come.