As French protesters took to the street this week over the country’s escalating debt crisis, poor school conditions, and political gridlock, retailers were caught in the crossfire.
More than 3,000 businesses were looted or damaged over the weekend, according to Commerce Minister Serge Papin, including shops in Paris’s Les Halles district. Those shops included Hermes, North Face, and Louis Vuitton. Just hours after looters rummaged through stores at the sites of demonstrations, online listings of cosmetic and skincare products and handbags began popping up on e-commerce platforms, raising concerns of widespread resale of stolen goods.
By Monday evening, Papin and digital minister Anne Le Hénanff had summoned Vinted, French secondhand marketplace Leboncoin, Amazon, eBay, Meta, and TikTok to a videoconference to demand the listings come down.
Vinted, Europe’s leading online secondhand marketplace, said it had taken steps to mitigate suspicious listings on its platform.
“The sale of stolen goods, or soliciting them, is strictly prohibited on Vinted, and we have zero tolerance for it,” a Vinted spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. “We are actively collaborating with law enforcement and the French authorities, and we continually adapt our processes to detect and counter emerging risks and malicious behaviour.”
“We’re seeing a clear spike in listings for luxury items,” a Vinted spokesperson previously told trade outlet RetailDetail, adding that such items don’t normally appear in those volumes.
Retail theft has become a growing problem as organized retail crime becomes more sophisticated, ballooning from a $45 billion problem in 2024 to a projected $53 billion, according to security firm Pinkerton. Retailers report organized crime groups increasingly using a complex system of gift card fraud, phone scams, and supply chain theft, according to the National Retail Federation. The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) said in 2024 that it estimates about 60% of items shoplifted from member companies are eventually sold online.
The economic impact of business vandalism in France extends the economic consequences of retail theft. Rating agency Morningstar DBRS estimates insured losses from the unrest could reach €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion), assuming no further violence, and France’s main retail federation, the Fédération du commerce et de la distribution, puts direct damage at several hundred million euros.
On Tuesday, French grocer Carrefour slashed its fiscal 2026 profit outlook, attributing the losses from riot-related damage. The announcement wiped out 15% of the company’s share price, equivalent to €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) in market capitalization.
“Around 50 of our stores were hit on day one, many were looted and the damage is considerable,” CEO Alexandre Bompard said. The company put the hit at €80 million to €200 million of operating income. Its shares fell as much as 15% on Wednesday, wiping out about €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) in market value.
At Monday’s meeting, the platforms committed to report suspicious listings to investigators; watch for abnormally low prices, bulk lots of new goods, and items still carrying anti-theft tags; warn buyers that buying stolen goods is also a crime; and publish how many listings they remove, with a first tally due within 48 hours, according to French tech site NeozOne. None of the e-commerce platforms responded to Fortune’s inquiry about whether there were stolen items listed on the respective sites.
French President Emmanuel Macron gave a warning this week that thieves would be apprehended. In France, handling stolen goods is punishable by up to five years in prison and a €375,000 ($420,000) fine.
“Those who looted will have to pay back, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” he said.
The French Senate begins debating a so-called “casseurs-payeurs” (“rioters pay”) bill on Oct. 27 that would hold everyone who took part in a gathering that caused damage collectively liable for it.
How e-commerce sites are combatting retail theft
Reselling stolen goods are appealing to retail criminals because many of the listed items are luxury cosmetics, fragrances, and electronics, which are small, easy to photograph, and in high demand.
“Looted items are often sold quickly, in bulk and below market price, and the proceeds move through payment accounts that are themselves a fraud problem,” Serpil Hall, a strategic advisor at Datos Insights specializing in financial crime, told Fortune in an email.
To e-commence platforms, however, the signs of stolen goods being resold on their marketplaces are clear. Items are often sold in bulk, priced below normal retail costs, described as being in great condition, and are often uploaded online within hours of a looting event. While finding hard proof of resold stolen goods is difficult, platforms can mitigate these listings by monitoring keywords and checking accounts, she said. Cybernews reported that the hashtag “October 17,” the date of many of the demonstrations, was trending on Vinted last week, but its use tapered off following increased reports of theft.
Government and platforms have both worked to crack down on retail theft. The European Union requires marketplaces to collect and check trader details before they can trade, as well as to conduct random checks to assess if products were listed illegally. EU law also mandates marketplaces to tell buyers if it learns an illegally listed product was sold.
According to TikTok, TikTok Shop does not allow consumer-to-consumer sales, and registered businesses must provide proof their products were legitimately purchased, including brand authorization or wholesaler certification. The platform has created a designated taskforce to conduct checks and remove suspicious listings and videos.
An eBay spokesperson told Fortune the platform forbids the sale of stolen property.
“We proactively use advanced technology, including algorithms and data-driven tools designed to identify suspicious patterns and potentially stolen merchandise, supported by dedicated teams that investigate and disrupt illicit activity,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We also work closely with local, national and international law enforcement agencies, sharing information and supporting investigations to identify bad actors and prevent the sale of stolen goods.”
Hall’s concerns go beyond just the resale of stolen goods, however. Revenue from illegal digital sales are often part of intricate money laundering schemes, she noted. Money from illegal sales moves through bank accounts, payment processors, and credit cards. Europol’s European Money Mule Action identified 10,759 “money mules,” or individuals who transfer money from accounts illegally, and 474 recruiters in 2023. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority found in a September report that firms closed 238,396 suspected mule accounts in 2025, an increase from 233,269 the year before.
The prevalence of money laundering schemes is an indication to Hall that more regulations are needed to address retail theft.
“Put simply, the resale of stolen goods is often the final step of a payment fraud,” she said.