Auror named Vendor of the Year at Australian Fraud Awards

Auror has been named Vendor of the Year at the 2026 Australian Fraud Awards, an annual program recognising work in retail crime prevention, risk management, and loss prevention.

Hosted by Retail Knowledge, the awards brought together retailers, suppliers, and law enforcement representatives in Sydney. Vendor of the Year sits within the Retail Risk Awards stream, with judging based on integrity, honesty, consistency, innovation, and service to the retail sector.

Auror sells retail crime intelligence software used by retailers and police to share incident information and identify repeat offending patterns. It positions the platform as a way for different parts of the sector to collaborate on shop theft, threats, assaults, and organised retail crime.

Partnerships between retailers and police featured prominently across the categories, with several policing operations recognised alongside corporate loss prevention and risk management teams.

Brett Farley, Auror's Director of Retail Partnerships ANZ, linked the award to that collaboration.

"This recognition belongs just as much to our retail and law enforcement partners, who are collaborating more than ever before to keep stores safe from retail crime," Farley said.

Police operations

Victoria Police's Operation Supernova, led by Box Hill CIU, received the Retail Risk Retailer and Policing Collaboration Award. The operation worked with retailers and used Auror to support information sharing and coordination.

It was credited with dismantling a 19-person organised retail crime gang linked to $10 million in goods, including baby formula and health and beauty products. Organised retail crime has become a growing focus for retailers and police as offending shifts from opportunistic theft to coordinated activity across multiple stores and suburbs.

New South Wales Police Force's Operation Percentile was highly commended in the same category. It forms part of a new statewide retail crime strategy in NSW, with an emphasis on in-store incidents involving assaults, intimidation, and threats as well as theft.

Auror and department store David Jones were also highly commended for the Retail Risk Best Collaboration Award, which recognises joint initiatives between a retailer and a supplier.

Repeat recognition

The latest award extends Auror's run of recognition on the retail risk awards circuit. The company previously won Vendor of the Year at the UK Fraud Awards in 2025 and last won the equivalent award in Australia in 2024.

Auror has expanded alongside heightened attention on retail crime in Australia and other markets, where retailers have reported rising aggression towards staff and growing concerns about safety. Many have strengthened loss prevention teams and sought closer ties with police, industry groups, and technology suppliers.

Farley said Auror wanted a role beyond that of a vendor.

"We always set out to build meaningful partnerships with our retail and law enforcement partners-we're not interested in being just a supplier-but to be an active participant in the sector-wide effort to get on top of retail crime," Farley said.

Industry winners

Other winners included Coles, which received awards for Risk Management Team of the Year and Innovation in Risk Management. Chemist Warehouse's Mo Nagi received the Retail Risk Hall of Fame Award, while Coles' Byron Worthington won Retail Risk Rising Star of the Year.

The mix of awards reflected the breadth of work now tied to retail crime and store safety, spanning frontline incident response, data gathering, staff training, coordination with police, and broader corporate risk management measures.

Auror said it remained focused on a multi-year target set with partners.

"We're really driven-as I know many of our Australian partners are-by our shared mission to reduce violent retail crime by 50 per cent in the next five years. We know this can only be achieved through collaboration, so we're excited to continue finding ways to strengthen these partnerships," Farley said.