Brien Heideman

With some shoppers resorting to “creative ways” to snag free gifts for their friends and families this past holiday season, retailers were once again confronted by an age-old problem: return or “friendly” fraud. Credit card chargebacks and fraudulent returns cost the retail industry an estimated $2.7 billion this holiday season, and around $9.6 billion in 2009, according to the latest annual Return Fraud Survey from the National Retail Federation.