Retail Fraud

Retail Fraud (also known as Shoplifting) is a crime committed by persons of all religious backgrounds, races, ethnicity, ages, and income level. Throughout the United States, over a half million retail fraud incidents occur each day. To combat retail fraud, many stores spend a lot of money in: employing loss prevention officers; training employees to detect and address retail fraud; the installation of theft detection devices (for example sensors) or equipment (for example, locked cases) to reduce the amount of theft.

Loss prevention officers are trained to identify person likely to shoplift, and conduct surveillance prior to the commission of any offense. The typical red flags for loss prevention officers are any or a combination of the following:

1. Nervous demeanor;

Retail fraud is classified as a crime involving moral turpitude under United States immigration law. As a permanent resident in the United States, when you have a conviction of retail fraud, your immigration status will possibly be impacted in three aspects with that conviction. First, you may be deportable. Second, you may be inadmissible at the time of return after travelling overseas. Third, the conviction can affect your application for naturalization.

Deportability

Whether you are deportable with a retail fraud conviction depends on the maximum sentence carried under the status you are convicted and also upon how long you have been a permanent resident. If the retail fraud occurs within 5 years of your admission to the US, and the statute which you are convicted of carries a maximum sentence of one year or longer, you are deportable.

Articles Posted in Retail Fraud

Retail Fraud, Loss Prevention, and Criminal Prosecutions

How a Retail Fraud Conviction Could Impact a United States Permanent Resident