Since A.G. Ferguson’s initial Task Force meeting on July 7, 2022, his office has met with dozens of retailers, union representatives, online marketplaces, and law enforcement in Washington State and beyond. Based on that outreach, the Attorney General’s Office developed nine primary recommendations for online marketplaces to implement to help to combat organized retail crime, including:
- Establishing a specialized organized retail crime team dedicated solely to interfacing with victims and law enforcement to investigate trafficking of stolen property through their marketplace.
- Establish and make available their team’s criteria for assisting victims and law enforcement with such trafficking investigations.
- Establishing mechanisms by which information and data about the suspect seller and their sales history may be shared with victims and law enforcement on an expedited basis, without disclosing personal information about the seller that is protected by law.
- Identifying the types of items regularly sold through their marketplace that are particularly susceptible to trafficking.
- Identify purportedly new items being offered at prices substantially below the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP).
