Shoplifters have set fire to two Walmarts and a Target in Atlanta to create diversions while they steal

• Fires at two Walmarts in December and a Target on Monday are being investigated as arson.
• Officials tell local media the blazes appear to have been used as diversions for shoplifting.

Retail thieves appear to be using ever more brazen methods to steal merchandise.

Officials in Atlanta confirmed to local media Tuesday that a fire at a Target on Monday was being investigated as arson, along with a pair of similar incidents at local Walmarts in December.

The three blazes appear to have been set by shoplifters in order to distract attention from their heists, the Atlanta Fire Department said.

"Arson is an extremely violent crime that not only destroys property but also places firefighters, first responders and the general public at great risk," Henry Countryman, an arson supervisor with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, said in a statement.

The National Retail Federation says that retail theft is a significant portion of a nearly $95 billion inventory shrinkage problem each year — and that's before property damage and other costs are factored in.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in December that the company would have to close stores across the country if the problem doesn't begin to turn around.

"Theft is an issue," he told CNBC at the time. "It is higher than what it has historically been."

Similar theft-related fires have broken out in cities and towns across the US, mostly at big-box stores including Walmart, Target, and Home Depot.

One California man was charged last year with setting a Home Depot on fire while stealing thousands of dollars worth of power tools. The resulting blaze reportedly required 100 first responders, destroyed $17 million in inventory, and was detected by a satellite orbiting the earth.