Employee theft also known as internal theft causes close to 50% of retail business loss. In the thirty years of conducting employee theft investigations it still shocks me what a poor job most businesses do in common sense prevention. A good example of this is an employee theft investigation I did where $5000 in fraudulent business checks were cashed. It turned out that the back stock of checks were unsecured in a storeroom with office supplies. Janitor’s stole twenty some checks from the middle of the stack waited a month and them began to cash them. Those checks should have been secured under lock and key with strict access. The checks should be issued and logged out to the person that processes them.

Every day we drop our guard because it is more “difficult” to do it the right way. Doing it the right way prevents employee theft. That is the key, “prevention”. Or we say, “oh I trust that person, they would never do that”. Those words get more businesses in trouble. When a management person says that they are basically saying that they have no business common sense.

Another employee theft investigation involved employees that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in product from a distribution center they worked in. They were given keys to the facility that had millions of dollars of merchandise in it. The alarm system was not set up to log opens and closes. So coming back at night and loading up a truck was not a problem.

Employee theft or internal theft lurks around every corner. You have to be proactive to prevent it. Internal theft will not go away or stop on its own. In fact, it will get worse. Get your policy manual off the shelf, dust it off, update it and make sure people understand that this is your “business bible”, live it and enforce it. That does not mean that it never changes, far from it. As your business changes your policy and procedures should change. If you don’t then make sure you budget for employee theft investigations.

For more information, contact us about internal theft or call 1.770.426.0547

Simply put waiting to stop employee theft will just cost a business more in the end.

An employee theft investigation was initiated at the request of the Owner of a retail store chain located in the Atlanta metro area. The owner stated that his Accounting department had discovered a loss of cash and merchandise of approximately $28, 308.00. This loss was attributed to the one store.

The owner explained the procedures and operations of the company. In addition, a review of the background of the three employees at the store was conducted.

An interview was conducted with one employee. During the interview the employee admitted to the theft of $ 23, 250.00 in cash from the store. He stated that he needed the money for bills including child support, fuel, food, a car note, clothing and because of garnishments, which decreased his take home pay.

The employee stated that he stole approximately $100 each day he worked. He stated that he did this by not ringing selected transactions into the cash register and pocketing the money.

He admitted that he had been stealing for 14 months. The employee further stated he stole every day he worked, which was five to six days a week. He said that he stole in that manner three out of four weeks. He said that the last time he stole cash was the day before the interview.

The employee also stated that he stole merchandise valued at an average of $40.00 each month by giving it to friends.

The employee incorporated his admissions into a voluntary written statement. As a result of the employee theft investigation criminal charges were filed with a Metro Atlanta area Police Department.

You must be proactive to stop employee theft . I have found that after a business looks back at a typical employee theft investigation they find that they waited entirely too long before taking action.

More info? Contact us in the Atlanta area to stop employee theft or call 1.770.426.0547