Category Archives: Technology

The Retail Gazette website reports that JD Sports is introducing tagging sprays across its stores nationwide as it ramps up security measures in its fight against shoplifting.

The sprays leave a synthetic DNA and a UV marker on property and criminals, which can then be used to link assets to owners and criminals to crime scenes.

The Guardian website reports that the government is investing more than £55m over the next four years in expanding facial recognition systems.

The plan includes £4m for mobile units that can be deployed on high streets using live facial recognition in crowded areas to identify people wanted by the police.

According to the Independent website, a recent report shows that the UK retail sector lost £11.3 billion to payments fraud in 2023.

Retail businesses lost an average of £1,394,518 each to fraudulent activity, with luxury fashion retailers losing an average of £2.8 million.

The Mail Online reports that ten of Britain’s top retailers have agreed to fund a police crackdown on shoplifting gangs.

John Lewis, Co-op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Next are among those reportedly investing £600,000 into the operation, dubbed Project Pegasus.

According to the Fashion United website, recent research conducted by Watchfinder & Co., identified 1,010,572 fake watches circulating within the UK market.

An estimated 40 million counterfeit watches are sold worldwide annually, resulting in profits exceeding 1 billion dollars.

From across The Pond, the New York Times website reports on how facial recognition technology is being used in the UK to combat the rising numbers of shoplifting offences.

When one such piece of software, Facewatch, spots a flagged face, an alert is sent to a smartphone at the shop.