Fraudulent retail returns have become “a growing and troubling trend in e-commerce,” according to The Wall Street Journal, which reports that criminal gangs are exploiting retailers’ returns processes to steal goods and money.

As online retail purchases inch back to close to nearly 20% of all retail sales, a peak last reached during the pandemic, e-tailers have struggled to keep up with the flood of returns, and have often loosened rules for consumers making them. The return rate for items purchased online currently tops 17%, three times more than the rate for in-store purchases, adding up to a current estimated value oft more than $247 billion.

Read More: Taming the Dragon of Returns

The WSJ says the practice has accelerated under messaging apps and websites that guide users through seams in the returns process and trigger high-volume, high-cost fraud. Some even operate like small businesses, with names like Simple Refunds that promise their own users easy money.

In a January 2024 survey by Appriss Retail and the National Retail Federation, reported by CNBC, retailers said they expected 16.5%, or $24.5 billion worth, of holiday returns to be fraudulent.