Retail
Volume I of the Sector Coverage Series
For loss-prevention directors, corporate security, retail counsel, e-commerce risk teams, and independent investigators retained by brands, banners, and franchisees.
Professional Reference Material
These playbooks are professional reference material intended for licensed investigators. They are not legal advice. Investigators are responsible for compliance with the laws of their jurisdiction and the specific requirements of their clients and cases.
The TALON Difference
Every playbook in this platform is built against TALON, the proprietary defensive-operations doctrine developed inside The Investigator's Desk over years of federal investigative practice.
Actor-model analysis
Reverse trace
Artifact mapping
evidence econstruction
“Subscribers receive the playbook; the proprietary model that produced it stays inside the platform.”
Retail, at a Glance
80
Investigative Playbooks
22
Categories
$227
Per Month
within 24-36h
Dispatch
The 80 Retail Playbooks
The full catalog is listed below by category. Each entry is a standalone playbook covering the case type named.
01. Internal Theft and Employee Dishonesty
POS and register employee fraud
Cash office and deposit fraud workup
Store manager theft investigation
Warehouse and DC employee theft workup
Delivery driver theft workup
02. External Theft and Organized Retail Crime
ORC ring investigation
Booster and fence workup
Grab-and-run and flash-mob theft workup
Shoplifting ring investigation
03. Return Fraud and Refund Abuse
Return fraud investigation
Refund policy abuse workup
Cross-channel return fraud workup
Employee-assisted return fraud workup
04. E-commerce and Online Fraud
E-commerce chargeback fraud investigation
Account takeover investigation (retail)
Reshipping and mule network workup
Coupon and promo code abuse workup
05. POS and Payment Fraud
POS malware and skimming investigation
Contactless payment fraud workup
Employee POS manipulation workup
Terminal tampering workup
06. Gift Card Fraud
Gift card draining investigation
Gift card cloning workup
Gift card refund fraud workup
Corporate gift card program fraud
07. Inventory Shrink and Cycle Count Fraud
Inventory shrink investigation
Cycle count fraud workup
Receiving fraud workup
Store transfer fraud workup
08. Vendor and Supply Chain Fraud
Vendor over-invoicing workup
Vendor short-shipping workup
Supply chain diversion investigation
Vendor MDF and co-op fund fraud workup
09. Kickback and Procurement Fraud
Procurement kickback investigation
Buyer-vendor collusion workup
Store-level vendor kickback workup
Slotting fee and category management fraud
10. Executive Misconduct
Executive expense abuse workup
Executive self-dealing workup
Executive conflict of interest workup
11. Employment and HR Investigation
HR complaint investigation (retail)
Harassment workup (retail)
Discrimination workup (retail)
12. Wage-and-Hour and Misclassification
Off-the-clock and unpaid overtime workup
Meal-and-rest break investigation
Assistant manager misclassification workup
13. Loss Prevention Operations
LP audit and effectiveness workup
LP false-detention and civil-recovery workup
LP undercover investigation workup
CCTV and video evidence workup
14. Premises Liability and Slip-and-Fall
Slip-and-fall investigation (retail)
Trip-and-fall investigation workup
Parking lot assault and premises workup
Customer altercation workup
15. Product Liability
Product injury claim investigation (retail)
Product recall workup (retail)
Food-safety and contamination workup
16. Trademark and IP
Counterfeit merchandise investigation (retail)
Trademark infringement workup
Private-label knockoff workup
17. ADA and Accessibility
ADA physical accessibility workup
ADA website accessibility workup
ADA drive-by lawsuit defense workup
18. Consumer Protection and False Advertising
False advertising workup (retail)
Consumer complaint and AG workup
Deceptive pricing workup
19. Cyber and Data Breach
Customer data breach investigation (retail)
Ransomware incident response (retail)
Loyalty program data breach workup
POS network compromise workup
20. BEC and Wire Fraud
BEC and wire fraud investigation (retail)
Vendor payment redirect workup
Payroll diversion BEC workup
21. Insurance Investigation
Retail property claim workup
Retail crime and theft claim workup
Business interruption claim workup
General liability claim workup (retail)
22. Emerging Exposure
Live-shopping and social-commerce fraud workup
BOPIS/curbside fraud workup
AI-generated fake-review and content workup
Where Retail Meets the Rest of the Catalog
Retail investigations regularly cross into adjacent sectors. The volumes listed below carry the framework and playbooks that most often surface alongside a retail matter. Tier 2 subscribers have access to every volume; the cross-references identify where to look first.
Volume II · Banking
Retail payment fraud coordination, BEC and wire diversion on retail finance operations, chargeback recovery, gift-card program compromise
Volume IX · Manufacturing
Counterfeit merchandise source tracing, gray-market diversion, private-label knockoff investigations, supplier authenticity verification
Volume XI · Transportation and Logistics
Cargo theft, distribution-center and warehouse theft, delivery-driver theft, supply-chain diversion
Volume XV · Insurance
Retail property claims, retail crime and theft claims, business-interruption claims, general-liability and product-liability recoveries
Volume XIX · Real Estate
Premises-liability crossover on shopping centers and standalone retail sites, property claims on retail real estate holdings
Volume XXIX · Fashion
Counterfeit apparel and accessories, luxury-goods authentication, brand-adjacent counterfeit rings
What Ships & How
Two Documents Per Case Request
Operational Playbook
The doctrinal chapter: case overview, business and practice framework, investigative blueprint with step cards covering purpose, actions, output, restrictions, and gates, evidence considerations, interview strategy, report considerations, common mistakes, a tabletop exercise with worked answers, closing take, and the case-specific Client Communication Pack of email templates for every touchpoint from proposal through invoicing.
TALON Brief
The actor model for the case typology, the artifact map, and the reverse-trace sequence. This is the doctrine layer that tells the investigator not just what to do, but why those steps in that order, grounded in how actors in that typology actually operate.
Universal Forms
25 universal forms are provided separately as a one-time subscriber download.
Delivery Framework
Case requests → secure email
Dispatch → within 24–36 hours
Maximum → 3 playbooks / rolling 7 days
Monthly reports → scheduled delivery
Quarterly report → scheduled delivery
On-Demand Reports → separate purchase