Employee Theft In Atlanta It Cant Happen To Me!?!

I conducted an employee theft investigation here in the Atlanta area recently where our client was hit by a long term Assistant Manager (AM) who stole approximately $48,000 in cash. The AM did this by manipulating the clients accounting systems and POS.

Employee theft which is also referred to as internal theft or white collar crime impacted this client very hard. This person was a trusted individual that had been given quite a bit of authority. In fact the client now realizes that the AM was given too much unchecked authority.

It turns out that the AM has a gambling problem. The owners of the company suspected this. What is concerning is that this did not raise a red flag. When we guide the client through a review of the employee theft investigation once we are done and the employee is on his way to jail the response is almost always the same, “why didn’t I see this? It is so clear now”. The reasons they didn’t see it are many:

They include a desire that we all have to see the best in people.

We do not want to think that a person we hired and like could betray us.

We can get blinders on and do not pay attention because we are “busy”.

We also use personal trust instead of business trust (this person is considered a friend).

Employee theft is not an important part of the business decision-making process.

It boils down to this. If you do not have a loss prevention mindset and consider employee theft something that can’t happen to you then you will experience employee theft or internal theft first hand. Wake up and see what is going on around you. This is not personal it is a business. There are a segment of employees (1 in 10) that WILL commit employee theft in your business.

So what are you doing about it? Do you have a business mind set in loss prevention policy and procedure? Are you making hiring decisions with loss prevention as part of the process? Do you have a loss prevention audit in place (loss prevention audits are designed to expose employee fraud , internal theft , corporate fraud and white collar crime )?

You must have check and balance in your business operations otherwise you will be seeing employee theft up front and personal. If you have blinders on or think it cant happen to me, chances are it is happening to you now.

For more information about employee fraud , internal theft , white collar crime or employee theft investigation in Atlanta contact us about employee fraud or call 1.770.426.0547

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