Scammers have phoned in bomb threats to major US grocers and retail chains nationwide in recent months demanding ransom payments in bitcoin, gift cards or cash, according to a report.
The extortionists have targeted stores like Kroger, Walmart and Whole Foods Market in states including New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
“It’s yet another evolving scam,” Lisa LaBruno, senior executive vice president of retail operations at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, told The Journal.
One person is reported to have telephoned a Whole Foods Market location in a suburb north of Chicago and claimed that a pipe bomb was placed in the store.
The caller demanded $5,000 worth of bitcoin, The Journal reported.
Store officials called police and no bomb was found.
Another person threatened to detonate a bomb in a Kroger’s in New Mexico unless the scammer was issued a money transfer.
Again, no bomb was found after the store was evacuated.
The Post has sought comment from Kroger, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market.
“It’s disruptive,” Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at food trade group FMI, told The Journal. “If I’m a retailer…I’ve gotta close stores and have to call law enforcement. And send customers out.”
The bomb threats began months ago and increased in the spring, according to The Journal.
Callers have sought payment ranging from hundreds of dollars to thousands, Baker said.
According to the Journal, Whole Foods has recommended that store leaders implement bomb threat protocols with employees.
If an employee at a Whole Foods receives a threat, they are encouraged to inform their store leaders, who would then do a sweep of the store for suspicious items, according to The Journal.
Kroger’s CEO, Rodney McMullen, told The Journal: “Every single day, we worry about safety and take everything extremely serious.”
The threats are just the latest headache for retailers nationwide that have lost an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars due to rampant and persistent shoplifting.
The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, said its latest security survey of roughly 60 retailers found that inventory loss — called shrink — clocked in at an average rate of 1.4% last year, representing $94.5 billion in losses.
The greatest portion of shrink — 37% — came from external theft, including products taken during organized shoplifting incidents, the trade group said. It also noted retailers, on average, saw a 26.5% uptick in organized theft incidents last year.
With Post wires
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