Profiling and Retail Loss Prevention – Atlanta Georgia

November 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

One of the most useful and frequently used tools in the world of retail loss prevention is profiling. Yeah, I said it, but before you start writing letters let me explain. These days we tend to associate the word “profiling” with negative discriminatory acts or stereotyping. However, the actual definition of profiling is: “Recording a person’s behavior and analyzing psychological characteristics in order to predict or assess their ability in a certain sphere or to identify a particular group of people”. In retail loss prevention the group of people we are trying to identify are shoplifters.

 If it’s 80 degrees outside yet an individual has just walked into your store wearing a long overcoat aren’t you going to watch him/ her? Guess what, you just profiled them. An individual carrying a large, nearly empty purse or backpack is often worth watching for no other reason. It’s not just physical characteristics either; a person’s attitude or behavior can also be profiled. If someone is nervous or fidgety and avoids contact with associates and other customers they are someone you should pay attention to. After all, it’s a department store. How nerve racking can picking out a pair of socks actually be?

Profiling is a great tool in retail loss prevention . However, you must be mindful that the temptation may exist to take it too far. At no time should it ever be acceptable to profile someone on the basis of their race, sex, age, creed or religion. Not only are these practices morally reprehensible, but they will open up your company to a number of lawsuits and probably lost revenue. When used properly profiling can be a great asset in your retail loss prevention efforts.

For more information about loss prevention security or security and loss prevention contact us: retail loss prevention or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Cause and effect of retail shrinkage – Atlanta Georgia

November 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Most business owners understand that retail shrinkage is part of doing business, but many do not realize what actually causes the shrink that they are experiencing.  Knowledge about retail loss helps the business owner battle this profit-eating monster.

A major contributor to retail shrinkage is employee theft.  Many business owners think that shrink is just caused by shoplifting, but studies have shown that employee theft will actually cost the business more lost profit than shoplifting.  Employee cases of theft tend to be higher in value per occurrence than shoplifting.

There are ways that you can help prevent employee theft in your business.  Make sure you have an understanding of your inventory levels so you know when something is missing.  Stop into your business unannounced and at later hours.  Also, do not allow your employees to keep their purses or coats in their immediate work area.  Provide them a locker or an area where these items can be kept so that the opportunity to conceal merchandise is reduced.

Another type of retail loss is employees that help customers steal from your business.  An employee that has access to the cash register might not ring up all the items that the “customer” is paying for.  This is called “underringing”, and is a type of theft that can be difficult to detect.

Watch for customers that loiter near employees, or seem to wait for a certain employee to be available to help them.  These customers and employees may also appear nervous and may be watching other employees or managers.

Retail shrinkage will happen, but to what extent depends on you, the business owner.

For more information contact us: retail shrinkage or retail loss or call 1.770.426.256 – Atlanta Georgia

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CORPORATE FRAUD…HOW COMMON IS IT? – Atlanta Georgia

November 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Corporate fraud schemes cost the United States billions of dollars every year.  With hundreds of different fraud schemes out there it’s hard to determine the exact cost to companies across the nation.  Believe it or not there are two specific types of corporate fraud involving insurance companies that all these schemes fit into…very simply hard versus Soft fraud. Both require a corporate fraud investigation.

Hard fraud schemes are meticulously planned out.  As an example of a “hard” fraud scheme, setting an arson fire to collect insurance money on a building.  Most organized crime rings have some sort of hard fraud scheme game they are into.  It can be setting up auto accidents or even as intricate as an auto theft ring.

Soft fraud is much more common in the scheme of the general world population.  Soft fraud is committed when an individual has an “opportunity” to exploit what might actually be a legitimate insurance claim. A soft fraud also requires a corporate fraud investigation.

Let’s look at an example of soft fraud.  So this giant clunker, rusted, beat up car pulls in behind you in a parking lot.  You don’t see the car.  You back right into it!!  Wow.  Aren’t you surprised when your insurance adjuster informs you that the small dent you thought occurred has turned into replacing the entire rusted front of this jalopy.  The person you hit has taken an “opportunity” to scam more money from your insurance company than is rightfully theirs.  And voila, you have corporate fraud the “soft” way.

Do you think that corporate fraud is occurring in your business?  Contact us at corporate fraud investigation or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Pre employment screening not the commodity it appears to be

November 14, 2010 by

If you do a search on google for pre employment screening you will find there are 1,460,000 results listed.  There are thousands of resources available to employers today to conduct pre employment screening and just about every company out there does background checks on potential hires today.

So how will you know who you should trust to conduct your pre employment screening  background checks?  Look for one who does more than just the county the candidate lives in for a criminal background check.  You will find there are many many options for where to look when conducting a criminal background check, be sure your source is thorough.

Are they offering a social security number trace?  How about a Motor Vehicle report?  And if there is a multi state residence history are they conducting the searches in all states or just the current one?

Typically a background check company who has actual human beings looking over your pre employment screening results before sending them over will find patterns, discrepancies, red flags etc… that an automated click and get instant results sent to your inbox solution will not deliver.  If you are serious about your employee background checks you will want to be sure to interview your source and ensure they have staff people who are experienced in  background checks looking over your candidate files.

Form more information visit: pre employment screening

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Making a Federal Case out of Background Checks

November 14, 2010 by

Making a Federal Case out of Background Checks

Many employers don’t have their background check company look in the federal courts for violations because they feel that if someone has been prosecuted for a crime in Federal Court, surely they must be a career criminal and have other charges in local courts, or they don’t understand the nature of federal courts.

For a federal court to have jurisdiction, the crime must have been created by constitutional authority, or have occurred on property owned or controlled by the federal government.

The constitutional authority is extremely broad as at one time or another interpretations have granted jurisdiction over common law crimes if state boundaries have been crossed in their commission, or occur relating to a regulated agency such as the FAA (on airplanes), Commerce (bank robbery), and Immigration.  And of course tax law violations fall under federal courts as well.

Examples of property owned or controlled by the US include national parks, federal courthouses, buildings, prisons, and military bases (civilians only), and Washington, D.C.

So the reach of the federal court can be wide and encompass a variety of violations and crimes from littering in a national park to terrorism.

Although federal criminal searches are less frequently requested by an employer of their background check company, there is still the possibility that derogatory information may exist outside the more popular searches of county and state records.

Complete background checks should include federal searches.

For more information on this topic and others, call 770-426-0547 or click here.

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How Did a Criminal Background Check Miss That?

November 12, 2010 by

How Did a Criminal Background Check Miss That?

A colleague recently called and said that he had received a telephone call from an anonymous source telling him that one of his recently hired employees was a convicted felon and had served at least ten years in prison for robbery.  The caller offered no further information, but was adamant that the information was correct.

In my colleague’s business, all new hires are subjected to a criminal background check that consists of a “standard” 7-year county criminal search, and the check had turned up nothing.  He wanted to know if this was possible.

It sure is possible, and there a number of reasons how this could occur.  The first clue is that the informant said the employee had spent ten years in prison, so that if the check only goes back seven years, then the conviction wouldn’t be found.  Next, the employee might have been incarcerated in a totally different jurisdiction or state.  An address history or social trace would have revealed addresses used by the employee, and additional jurisdictions could have been searched.

Yet another possibility was that the employee had been convicted and sentenced in federal court and served the sentence in a federal penitentiary.

Another red flag might have been raised by an employment verification.  If a person is serving time, it is difficult to legitimately name former employers, so that verifying previous employment is definitely a means to uncover false claims and to cause further investigation.

When most people think of those who are tried for violating federal crimes they picture hardened felons serving long sentences.  There are plenty of lesser crimes that fall into this category, and result in fines or probation only.  I once saw a background check on an individual who had been cited for littering in a national park and was fined in federal court.

As it turns out, my colleague’s employee had recently been released from prison in an adjoining state, where he had indeed served ten years after being convicted of several violent offenses.

The original criminal background check did in fact “miss” the conviction because its scope had been too narrow.

Be sure your pre employment screening program fits the needs of your business.

To build a pre employment screening program, call 770-426-0547 or follow this link.

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Does your store show signs of internal theft? – Atlanta Georgia

November 12, 2010 by

Internal theft is a nuisance. It is never ending, it is omnipresent.  Loss prevention consultants agree on one thing and that is employees steal merchandise from their employer’s everyday of every month of every year. It is nonstop.

Take a look around or listen to what your employees are saying. They can tell you what is going and in most instances wanna do the right thing and report their co-workers activities. Put your pride away for a week. Talk with your employees openly and directly about theft.  If the need be, consider hiring a loss prevention investigator . A loss prevention investigator can do a thorough review of your store and conduct the necessary investigation to prove theft. Internal theft is not going to simply disappear, it’s gonna take some work.

Consider this; recently I took part in a loss prevention related webinar. Statistics for internal theft were released. In the US alone, this specialist estimates 43.7% or $17.2 billion of losses in these businesses were directly related to employee theft, (Source: The Global Retail Theft Barometer 2010). These numbers are amazing when you really think about it. What does this really mean? It means employees are taking your business to the cleaners and your business is not immune to internal theft.

The solution to this problem: I recommended hiring loss prevention consultants to do a complete survey of your store(s). Loss prevention consultants can make the recommendations to boost your profits and protect them in the future. Loss prevention consultants can and should in most cases recommend a loss prevention agent . Have a loss prevention agent work your stores can help impact the morale aspect of your stores.

When you have a shoplifting problem and management is doing nothing about it because they can’t or won’t, your business will suffer with poor employee performance. Their morale can really be negatively affected by shoplifters.

For more information about loss prevention agent or loss prevention consultants contact us at loss prevention investigator or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

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Prevent shoplifting with technology

November 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There are many ways to prevent shoplifting and a good loss prevention plan will include a multi pronged approach.  If you have ever visited a Best Buy you probably remember seeing a staff member at a station between the entry & exit doors who greets shoppers as they enter and watches them as they exit.  This is a loss prevention security staff member. Staff are expensive and in the down economy employees are likely the first to go due to that being the largest share of overhead expenses.

So how do you use technology to prevent shoplifting from happening?  Installing an EAS system like checkpoint systems will be a major deterrent to shoplifters.  The presence of the system is noticeable from outside most stores since they are installed at the exit entry ways and shoplifters simply would rather move on to a store that is unprotected than wrestle with trying to defeat a system or setting off an alarm.

How the checkpoint system works is by detecting tags that are pinned on to merchandise or labels that are applied to merchandise.  When the security tags enters the antennas the alarm goes off alerting staff to an issue…without having to have a person standing there all store hours.

For more info on how to use technology to prevent shoplifting go to Loss Prevention Systems

 

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WHITE COLLAR CRIME AND THE CELL PHONE BANDITS!! – Atlanta Georgia

November 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

White collar crime usually involves the upper crust of the criminal element.  Typically these offenders are of high social standing, have higher than average paying jobs and commit some sort of crime.

I remember starting in the corporate world and there was no such thing as a computer on everyone’s desk or a cell phone in everyone’s pocket.  Nowadays, with all the technology around us, white collar crime has a whole new set of avenues to venture down.  One of those roads is through cell phone fraud.

What is cell phone fraud?  It’s the unlawful use, tampering or manipulation of a cell phone or the actual cell phone service.  It would never occur to most people but…There are all types of evil criminal things we can do to commit fraud with a cell phone.  The two most prevalent crimes are cell phone cloning and subscriber fraud.

Cloning is based on the fact that every single cell phone in the world has a unique factory set electronic serial number and telephone number.  You can take a phone, “clone” another phone’s electronic serial number and phone number and bam, an unsuspecting user is charged for fraudulent calls.  Where does the white collar crime come in?  It’s easier to work for a cell phone company and obtain the electronic serial numbers to commit the cloning.

Subscriber fraud is when a person or persons signs up for service with fraudulent identity.  Where is the white collar crime in this?  When you are a patron at a store or retail outlet try to keep all your personal information private.  If employees steal your information it can take months or years to straighten out your credit report.

Have you been a victim of white collar crime ?  Contact us at white collar crime or call 1.770.426.0547 for assistance – Atlanta Georgia

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Being proactive, boosting profits and impacting shoplifting

November 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Shoplifting is a relatively old process. For years, retailers have been dealing with the act of shoplifting. This form of retail theft can seriously impact a business, and if left unchallenged, can ruin business.

There are many ways to counter shoplifting, but for this example I’ll use retail anti theft devices as my topic. Retail anti theft devices are a common way retailers protect their merchandise. These devices can be very useful, especially when developing shrink action plans.

A business I worked for wasn’t so completely sold on the benefits of using retail anti theft devices and saw no return on the investment. However, this store was not in-tune with the losses occurring. Shoplifting was an everyday occurrence. There was nothing available to deter theft. Management was more concerned with trying to stock the shelves than paying attention to his associates and customers. As a result, he was underwater.

Loss Prevention Consultants were hired to assess the business. Immediately, the loss prevention consultants recommended retail anti theft devices . The store had a Checkpoint Security system installed. Checkpoint Security systems have been around for many years, and provide a great deterrence to shoplifting. These Checkpoint Security systems work when a tag alarm, affixed to product, is passed through the system.

As an example, a store places Checkpoint tags on a particular line of product. A shoplifter conceals this product and exits the store passing through the Checkpoint Security system . “ALARM!”  An audible alarm is sounded.  This is beneficial in many ways, but most importantly it can dramatically reduce instances of shoplifting and is considered a leader in anti shoplifting .

Checkpoint tags are quickly and easily affixed to merchandise by store associates and if used right, can help protect whatever item it may be stuck to. Typically, Checkpoint tags are small squares tag placed in a conspicuous place on packaging. As an amateur shoplifter looks at the merchandise, he’ll either decide not to take it because of the inconvenience the Checkpoint Security system will offer, or he’ll attempt to remove the Checkpoint labels . Either way, this will interrupt the process of a quick or easy “in and out” shoplifters prefer.

For more information about retail anti theft devices , anti shoplifting , checkpoint labels or checkpoint tags visit us at checkpoint security systems shoplifting or call 1.770.426.0547

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