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Retail Federation Warns of Fraud
The National Retail Federation is again calling on retailers to look at their policies for the returning of gifts, especially during the holiday season, because of the potential for billions of dollars in fraud.

NRF spokesperson and Galesburg native Ellen Davis says as much as $3.7 billion in sales could be lost during the Christmas shopping season alone due to what is called "return fraud," people who steal merchandise then try to return it, or those who use something for a short amount of time with the intention of returning it.

Davis tells WGIL it's a balancing act for retailers to try and keep deals good for shoppers while eliminating such fraud.

"What this does is raises the prices for honest shoppers, and so retailers are trying to always look at their return policies and change them around to try and discourage dishonest people from taking advantage of policies that still make it easy, for people who need to, to return merchandise."

Davis says many retailers now have a policy of requiring customers with returns to show identification.

She says many retailers won't make changes to their return policies this year, while small percentages will either loosen or tighten theirs.
11 24 10 by Newsroom
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