Crimes Against Jewelers Fell Last Year, Though Losses Rose

By Rob Bates | May 22, 2025

The Jewelers’ Security Alliance (JSA) annual crime report for 2024 has both good and news for the industry—a change from recent years when the news was almost all bad.

First, the good news: Crimes against U.S. jewelry firms fell 12.4% from 2023. JSA logged 1,420 such crimes last year—which also represents a 34% decrease from 2022, when reported jewelry crimes hit an all-time high.

Off-premises crimes dropped sharply in 2024—by 53%, to 47 incidents, compared with 100 in 2023.

On the negative side, there was a rise in burglaries, grab-and-runs, and transnational distraction thefts, JSA executive vice president Scott Guginsky tells JCK.

Four industry members were killed during crimes in 2024. That’s the largest number since 2017, when five were killed.

“The circumstances in last year’s homicides were very unusual and tragic compared to what we’ve seen in the past,” says Guginsky, noting that the alleged perpetrators in two of the incidents were known to be customers of the victims.

To date, no homicides have been reported in 2025, Guginsky says. The only year when nobody was killed in a jewelry business–related crime was 2019.

While crime was down overall for the industry last year, dollar losses in the crimes that did occur increased 7% from 2023, totaling $142.5 million in 2024.

“We are seeing more elaborate tech-savvy burglaries, against high-end, established business, and these hits are doing big numbers,” Guginsky says. “They are hitting the elite of the elite of the industry.”

Gang crime against jewelers has also gotten more elaborate. Guginsky says that in 2023, only one case where a burglary crew disguised themselves (as construction workers) was reported. In 2024, JSA recorded 20 such incidents.

Criminals are also taking advantage of the latest technology, Guginsky says.

“They use mobile hunting cameras to do remote surveillance on the store before the hit. Then, when they’re in there, they use WiFi jammers to block the signals to the alarm companies, and torches and angle grinders to cut the safes. These losses can have a devastating effect on the jeweler, and affect overall insurance rates.”

Other nuggets from the JSA’s 2024 report:

– The most active months for robberies was January. The least active, April.

– The most common hour of the day for robberies was between 5 and 6 p.m. The second most common time: from noon to 1 p.m.

– Robberies occurred most frequently on Thursday, followed by Saturday. Robberies were least likely to occur on Tuesday.

– In 2024, 16.9% of robberies involved some form of violence, compared with 24.3% in 2023.

Jewelers can get crime prevention tips from JSA’s website and its text alerts.

On Thursday, June 5, at the JCK show in Las Vegas, the author of this article will host a seminar on safeguarding your business, featuring speakers from JSA and leading insurance companies.

(Photo: Getty Images)