- I03 -

Organized Retail Crime Association of Idaho What is Organized Retail Crime. ORC is defined as the TheftFraud activity conducted with the intent to convert illegally obtained merchandise cargo cash or cash equivalent into financial gain no personal use wherewhen the following elements are present TheftFraud is conducted over multiple occurrences andor in multiple stores andor in multiple jurisdictions by two or more persons or an individual acting in dual roles booster fence Groups gangs and sometimes individuals are engaged in illegally obtaining merchandise through both theft and fraud in substantial quantities as part of a criminal enterprise. These crime rings generally consist of boosters who methodically steal merchandise from retail stores and fence operators who convert the product to cash or drugs as part of the criminal enterprise. Sophisticated criminals have even found ways to switch UPC bar codes on merchandise so they ring up differently at checkout commonly called ticket switching.