Uniqlo, other Japanese retailers slammed by organized shoplifting

Visitors from Vietnam said to be taking stolen goods home to fence for high prices

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Uniqlo is a popular luxury brand in Vietnam, making the store a top target for organized shoplifting. (Nikkei montage)

SAYA KANAUCHI, Nikkei staff writer

OSAKA -- A wave of shoplifting perpetrated by visitors to Japan is hitting Uniqlo and other retailers, with the number of foreigners arrested for the crime rising for the first time in eight years in 2023, as experts call for such countermeasures as bolstering employee training.

In Osaka, three Vietnamese women were arrested in February on suspicion of repeatedly stealing from Uniqlo stores. In the investigation, which concluded in July, one of the women told police that "because the stores don't have many employees, we were able to avoid their attention and shoplift again and again."

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