Prevent Shoplifting This Year

January 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting3The shoplifting figures in the United States are nothing to laugh about. Billions of dollars are lost to shoplifters every year and the detrimental effect they have on business is serious. Loss prevention personnel are at risk every time they stop a shoplifter, and the solution to this problem has evaded the retail industry with costly consequences. Retailers spend millions of dollars in loss prevention systems, and studies show that these businesses benefit from the investment. The shoplifting is still there, but retailers are able to maintain and keep track of the inventory more easily. For more news about shoplifting, follow the links below.

Shoplifters Costing Businesses Billions

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Shoplifting is a crime police say affects all types of businesses, and it’s costing a fortune.

WFMY News 2 went to several Triad businesses Friday. Owners at those businesses said shoplifters are crippling their day-to-day operations.

One Greensboro store manager said shoplifters cost his business anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 each year.

“If somebody really wants to steal something, they’re going to steal it,” he said, “Ain’t nothing you can do about it.”

He’s frustrated, and he’s not alone.

Nationwide, shoplifters steal about $13 billion in merchandise every year, according to the National Association of Shoplifting Prevention. The same organization reports one in 11, or 27 million people in the U.S., are regular shoplifters.

KCSO shoplifting task force makes record number of arrests

KNOXVILLE — A Knox County Sheriff’s Office holiday shoplifting task force made a record number of arrests for 2014.

KCSO’s Safe Holiday Task Force made 372 arrests between Nov. 24 and Dec. 29, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The team was credited with 342 arrests during the same time period in 2013.

While the majority of the 2014 arrests were for shoplifting, they also included 35 felony theft charges, 12 DUI arrests and two fugitive captures.

The annual operation also recovered a record amount of stolen merchandise, totaling $65,614 worth of goods, and located two stolen vehicles. About $50,000 worth of stolen items were recovered in 2013.

Drug habit fuels shoplifting ring in Richmond and around Macomb County

A shoplifting ring has targeted Richmond stores for more than two years, according to a detective with the Richmond Police Department. Thieves steal easily marketable goods to fuel drug addictions, particularly heroin addiction, the detective said.

“What we have seen — and what our counterparts in Chesterfield and at the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department have seen — is a loose ring of individuals shoplifting certain high-priced items like Enfamil baby formula, Red Bull and Crest White Strips, and then either taking these directly to the drug house and trading them for drugs or selling them back-door to another store for cash to buy drugs,” said Det. Julia Frantz.

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Post Christmas Blues

January 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

theft (10)Well, the 2014 Holiday Season is over; now we are dealing with the post-Christmas issues, returns, inventory and tallying up how we did! Even without official numbers you probably have an idea. Are returns higher than what you expected? Did shoplifters get more than what you were prepared to lose? One of the problems, we as business owners face, is that we get ramped up for sales but we tend to put off preparing for loses. We tell ourselves that we will get to it later. Then when that B or C priority rises to the level of serious loss, it is too late. But we all do that, with many things. It is part of running a business.

Eventually we get tired of dealing with something over and over again and decide to break the cycle. What is the saying? “Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity”. Thieves will not go away, in fact they will only get worse unless you deal with them head on with real business solutions. Shoplifting and employee theft are actually very simple issues to address. You will never eliminate them completely, however, you can reduce them to an expected level balancing the cost and effect.

Many retailers do not realize that they can and should attack both issues internally first. Take a look at your procedures. Step back and look at them – I mean truly LOOK at them, hard. Why are you doing something the way it is done? Is that the reason for your losses? A good example may be your cash handling procedures.  Is your till generally short? How much? Why? If your policy is that you do not make an issue out of a drawer that is $15 or less short, then you have sent the message to your employees that they can steal or be careless up to $15. Fifteen dollars multiplied by 365 days a year is A LOT of money to any retailer, large or small. All of this because of your “procedure” or attitude.

How about shoplifters? Do you really know how to prevent and stop them? Do you teach this to your employees? If you don’t you can never expect to be as profitable as you can and should be. Shoplifters will react to your efforts by going elsewhere. That is what you want. This allows you to spend more of your resources and human capital on your paying customers. Sell more, lose less should be your motto!

If you want help, we are here for you. If you do not, that is OK also. But you can fix your losses.

We wish you a great and prosperous 2015!

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Building Partnerships

January 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

law-3Every store should have a way to build reliable partnerships with local law enforcement. For some jurisdictions, that could mean the sheriff’s department, city or county police. In some rural areas, that might even mean the state police department. There are many was to build these partnerships, and your store’s safety and security will benefit greatly from those partnerships.

What you are looking for is to have periodic visits from these law enforcement officers. Ever wonder why you see police at a donut shop? For one, the shop owners frequently give free or reduced prices on coffee to these officers. It is a nice gesture to these officers, but also an incentive to get them to frequent the shop. The more often police are in the shop chatting, drinking coffee etc, the less likely the shop is to be robbed.

Coffee and donut shops are often open late, and have only one or two people working. This makes them prime targets for robberies. Having an increased police presence helps to reduce the risk. If something were to happen, the police would quickly respond not just because that is their job, but also because they are probably on a first name basis with that shop owner and its employees. For these businesses, a cup of free coffee is a small price to pay for that kind of security and peace of mind.

Depending on the kind of store you have, giving product out for free or at a discount may not be feasible. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it worth it for local law enforcement to stop by periodically. Even though most departments shy away from case quotas, officers who do produce cases are given raises and promotions over those who don’t. By building partnerships with officers you can get some extra help with your suspected shoplifters, reduce losses, and help out your local community by giving local law enforcement tips on suspected criminal activity in your store.

Most law enforcement agencies have a community resource officer. They would be one of the first points contact to start building a relationship with. Asking if they would be willing to do a safety or security presentation for an employee meeting is a good way to break the ice. It is the first step in letting the local police know they are welcome in your store.

One of the next ways is to see if there is a retail anti theft task force set up. If so, ask if they would be interested in putting your store on their list. These task forces go into local businesses, in particular around busy holiday shopping seasons, and look for shoplifters, credit fraud, and other criminal scams. The task force will send officers into stores, generally in plainclothes, to watch cameras or do floor surveillance to spot any criminal activity.

These task forces are a free service to their retail community. While these officers are in your store, you can talk to them about what kinds of thefts you are experiencing. It also gives you an opportunity to connect with the officers and get to know who they are. These officers can become invaluable resources even after the task force is done for the season.

You now have specific officers that you can call if you have a shoplifter in your custody, or experienced a high dollar theft. The officers might be more willing to do some investigative legwork on your case, if you have built a partnership with them. Of course, part of the partnership is showing restraint and professionalism to these officers.

It is not suggested that you call them for every low dollar shortage that walk out your door, or for people who “seem suspicious” but you have no corroborating evidence. There are still laws that must be upheld regarding liable and slander. If you consistently show poor decisions about which cases to call on, you will tarnish your reputation negating any usefulness of your partnership. Remember, there is a difference between offering viable leads to confirmed inventory losses, and crying wolf over every gut feeling you have.

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Is Shoplifting Becoming More Violent?

December 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting5The detrimental effect that shoplifting has on profitability in a retail business is monumental. While businesses compete by keeping prices low, shoplifting makes it difficult for those businesses to compete at any level. Retail businesses struggle to survive in any economy, and adding shoplifting issues into their struggle make it almost impossible to be profitable. Spending millions of dollars in security cuts into their profits as well and they do not get rid of shoplifting or employee theft by doing this. All these issues make it impossible for retail stores to offers prices that can be competitive with other stores, or make sense to the consumer. Follow the stories below for more news about shoplifting.

Shoplifters caught on tape fleeing Macy’s

SARASOTA, FLA — Detectives with the Sarasota Police Department are attempting to identify two women who were caught on camera stealing merchandise from Macy’s at Westfield Southgate Mall in Sarasota.

Officers were dispatched to Macy’s on Dec. 20, 2014 in reference to two women shoplifting. The loss prevention officer for the store observed the two women taking items off shelves and concealing them in a purse and other shopping bags. The loss prevention officer called the Sarasota Police Department as soon as he noticed the two women from the office, on camera, all while keeping dispatchers on the phone updated.

When the two women attempted to leave Macy’s, the loss prevention officer asked them to come back into the store and they took off running. No subjects were located but the two women shoplifting were caught on camera. When one of the women started running, she dropped a bag of items worth nearly $1,100.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Detective Kim Laster at 941-364-7327 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers by calling 941-366-TIPS (8477) or online at www.sarasotacrimestoppers.com

1 suspect still at large after Christmas Eve robbery, assault

Eighteen-year-old Hunter Thompsin Ackerman and 19-year-old Eden Araque were booked into Metro Corrections Monday night after police said they were caught on surveillance video shoplifting at JC Penney.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) — Two of three people wanted in connection with a robbery and beating at the Mall St. Matthews are now behind bars.

Eighteen-year-old Hunter Thompsin Ackerman and 19-year-old Eden Araque were booked into Metro Corrections Monday night after police said they were caught on surveillance video shoplifting at JC Penney.

Police said the trio stole nearly $400 worth of merchandise and assaulted a loss prevention officer when she tried to stop them Dec. 24. According to police records, the employee suffered a broken nose during the assault..

APD reports string of violent shoplifting cases

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —As the holiday shopping season comes to a close, Albuquerque police say they’ve seen a substantial increase in shoplifting cases this December with offenders brandishing deadly weapons.

Officer Tanner Tixier couldn’t provide specific numbers, but says shoplifting cases where an offender threatens a store employee with a weapon have become all too common this holiday season.

“These attacks are becoming more and more prevalent,” Tixier said. During these attacks, Tixier says loss prevention officers who are trained to spot and confront shoplifters are being threatened.

“These criminals have the ability to escalate their violence very rapidly,” Tixier said.

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Loss Prevention

December 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting3During this time of year the number of shoplifters visiting your store is more than at any other time of the year. Stores across our nation invest millions of dollars in loss prevention, and still billions of dollars are lost due to this crime. Some of the measures retail stores use to prevent shoplifting are the use of video surveillance, security guards, and special tags that are attached to the merchandise and are set off when leaving the store without paying. These are some of the many other prevention measures that help retailers deterred shoplifters from entering their stores. Are your loss prevention measures adequate? Do you need to do more to prevent loses? Read the articles below for more news about shoplifting.

Police conduct holiday shoplifting operation, 19 arrests

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. —

Yesterday plain clothed detectives with the Department’s Economic Crimes and

C.O.T.A. Units conducted a one day operation with loss prevention officers at

the Wal-Mart Store located at 201 34th Street North.

The purpose of the operation was to address the problem of shoplifting that increases during the holiday season.

A total of 19 individuals were arrested, mostly on charges of retail theft although several had outstanding warrants and one juvenile was in violation of court ordered home detention for a previous burglary charge. Of those arrested, 9 were adults and 10 were juveniles.

Great Falls merchants go on guard against shoplifting

Downtown Great Falls’ Amazing Toys owner Dave Campbell said his staff noticed that a $350 Legos set was missing from its perch. They searched the store and found the valuable toy stashed near the front door where a thief planned to retrieve it later.

Dragonfly Dry Goods owner Alison Fried said her staff warmly greets customers, which most shoppers welcome. But some folks, possibly with bad intentions, turn around and walk out the door. She said she has a good camera system inside and outside the store that videotapes 24 hours a day. Fried lets other downtown merchants know who to look for if her store has been hit by a shoplifter.

“We use the team approach,” she said. “We’re a cooperative community downtown.”

“Shrink,” a business concept that includes shoplifting, employee or supplier fraud and administrative errors, cost the retail industry around $42 billion in sales in the United States last year, according to the latest Global Retail Theft Barometer. Worldwide, those factors cost businesses $128 billion.

Man Accused Of Abandoning Child While Shoplifting Speaks Out

A Lexington couple who allegedly abandoned their child while fleeing from loss prevention officers at Walmart say that the police have it all wrong.

Eric Powell and his girlfriend Samantha Barker are accused of shoplifting and taking off leaving behind their 9-month-old child.

Powell says that is not at all what happened.

“We was at Walmart shopping she was at the store shopping and I was by myself looking at magazines and stuff,” says Powell.
He says when they went to check out, he realized he couldn’t pay for the diapers they were trying to buy.

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Conceptualize Dishonesty Using the Fraud Triangle

December 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting7Honest people can have a hard time perceiving and understanding dishonesty in others. Because they have a difficult time conceptualizing it they have a difficult time detecting it. A common lament among managers who have discovered fraud among their employees, vendors and clients is, “I don’t understand how he could do this to me. I had no idea it was happening. I’m just too trusting.”

People too often identify themselves as being trusting, when they’re really being naive. Don’t be naive, protecting your business is vital, many small businesses have been closed due to the fraudulent behavior of their employees, venders or clients. If you don’t want to be taken advantage of it’s important to understand the 3 key factors of the Fraud Triangle.

Before discussing these factors it’s helpful to define fraud, people often have misconceptions about it. According to “Black’s Law Dictionary” fraud is “a generic term, embracing all multifarious means, which human ingenuity can devise, and which are resorted to by one individual to get advantage over another by false suggestions or by suppression of truth, and includes all surprise, trickery, cunning, dissembling, and any unfair way by which another is cheated.”

The 3 factors, which make up the Triangle, are typically present when someone commits fraud. Understanding these elements will help a manager spot dishonesty easier and earlier, because a person who exhibits these thoughts and characteristics is at great risk for deceitfulness.

1. The perceived pressures the person believes they are under.

2. The perceived opportunity the person has to commit fraud.

3. The person’s rationalizations for committing the fraud counter-act their innate integrity.

Here’s an example of how the Fraud Triangle works. Mrs. K has never stolen from her employer and is indigent when others do. She wants to take her immediate family to an expensive reunion. She can’t afford it, but all of her extended family are attending. Mrs. K perceives this as a personal and financial crisis (1st side). She’s the company’s bookkeeper and there are no fiscal controls in place (2nd side). Mrs. K rationalizes that she’ll “only borrow” the money for the trip and then pay it back (3rd side).

She embezzles the money, gets away with it and keeps on stealing. Because usually, once all 3 components are present, when people commit and get away with fraudulent acts they continue the behavior. Also, they may continue behaving dishonestly if they get caught but have no or too few consequences. This is why many managers have found that giving someone “a break” usually backfires on them.

When you understand the Fraud Triangle, and use it as a touchstone for conceptualizing people’s dishonesty, it becomes easier to formulate a defense against deceit. There are many ways to mitigate each of the 3 factors, which can greatly reduce or eliminate the possibility of being taken advantage of. After all, your honesty should be an asset to your business not a liability.

Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist

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Holiday Help

December 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (13)The Help Wanted signs, advertisements, and postings are already popping up across the country. Retailers nationwide are starting the process of hiring their holiday help. By hiring them in October and Early November, retailers anticipate that these employees will be trained and ready for the big day after Thanksgiving sales, and throughout the holiday shopping season.

The plus side to hiring temporary help, whether it is during the winter holidays, or the summer garden season, is that the employees are there for the hours and days only when the store actually needs them. Hiring on a seasonal or temporary basis allows the retailers to terminate the employment at the end of the season with little future responsibility in the form of unemployment or severance benefits. This doesn’t mean that it is a one-sided employment relationship.

These temporary jobs are a great solution for people looking to make some extra money to pay for holiday gifts or toys. Teachers who have the summer off can pick up additional work that will not interfere when the school year starts back up. Many temporary workers are hard working, and enjoy the freedom that a temporary position gives them. Other temporary workers do so in the hopes of proving themselves worthy of a permanent position after the season is over.

The downside to hiring temporary help, regardless of time of year, is that many of these employees will not have a sense of ownership or loyalty for the company they are working for. In particular, near the end of their employment these disengaged employees who are about to be let go might try to take a little extra for themselves on their way out the door.

Just as with any other employee theft case where the employee steals because they feel they are owed additional compensation, temporary employees can fall into this same mentality. Perhaps it is because they were not offered a permanent position, or perhaps they feel like they gave up more of their holidays than what they realized they would working these seasonal hours, it is easy for a temporary employee to decide they want more.

With no ownership, a limited time frame of their employments, and a sense of entitlement, many seasonal employees historically end up in employee theft situations. These losses cut into very critical profits, as seasonal/ holiday sales often make or break a store’s financial success for the year. It is also problematic due to the short time frame that these crimes are executed within.

Typically, employees who steal do not want to leave their jobs. They might stay at a particular employer for years, building their safety net and refining their methods. They will usually escalate over a period of time, starting with very small thefts to see what they can get away with. This gives anyone investigating a pattern of shortages discovered over a period of time to look for and follow.

When a seasonal hire decides to steal, they know that they might only have a matter of a few months, or only a few weeks to take all that they can. They might decide to only make one large theft, or multiple small thefts that might not pop up on anyone’s radar. From an investigative standpoint, it is often too late to determine who is causing these shortages. By the time the losses are discovered, or a pattern of theft appears, the employee could have already left their employment.

One of the best ways to prevent these losses is to execute all policies and procedures at 100%, especially during these overly busy times. Any breech of policy is more likely to quickly red flag. Seasonal hires should not be given access to keys, codes, alarms, etc. Leave those to a permanent employee. Finally, conducting mini investigations during the season will help uncover any potential theft risks while they are happening, instead of waiting to find evidence after the fact.

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Conducting A Security Self Audit

December 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting4Part of your internal auditing process should be a section devoted specifically to your store’s safety and security measures. Some points should be audited on a daily basis, while others can be less frequently, such as once a month. When you monitor your store’s security measures consistently, you are able to respond more quickly to any malfunctions or procedural breakdowns.

One of the easiest security features to audit on a daily basis is your EAS and security tags. These are the anti theft devices put onto your merchandise that provide a visual deterrent to potential shoplifters. Ensuring 100% compliance is not only a stronger deterrent, but also reinforces the concept of operational accuracy and a check and balance system internally. Employees who are held accountable to stringent operational standards are less likely to look for opportunities to steal from their employer.

A daily audit of EAS tags consists of a department rotation and a spot check of those items. There is no need to check every single item, unless there is a pattern of under performance in those areas. The best way to do the daily audit is to only audit 20 or so items on a given day. From there, it is easy to determine the percentage of accuracy. If out of 20 items only ten have the appropriate tagging, you have 50% compliance. You can do more or less based upon your actual needs, but a similar process will be the most time efficient, with the most accurate results.

Along the same lines is auditing the EAS alarms at your doors. These alarm activations should be reviewed by CCTV whenever possible. You need to understand why you are having alarm activations, and how your employees are responding to them. You can bet that the shoplifters coming into your store are watching for this, so don’t give them the advantage by being oblivious to what is going on in your stores.

If an EAS alarm is activated, your employees should respond to the person going out the door and offer their assistance to deactivate any tags that were missed during checkout. You should look to see if you have a specific employee who is not deactivating tags properly, causing unnecessary alarms. You should also review to see if you have the same person setting off alarms, they might be a shoplifter to watch out for. These audits can be done weekly rather than daily and still prove effective.

One area in particular to audit at 100% is alarm activations before and after your store closes. While most of the alarms are likely to be dismissed by stock/ freight movement to replenish selling shelves, you want to watch out for that one that is not. The alarm activation you are looking for is caused by an employee stealing. It is not unheard of for an employee who is stealing from their store to try and take the merchandise out after hours. Fewer people are around to notice, and the employee can take more merchandise out at a time, without arousing suspicion. If no one goes back to review these after hours alarms, the employee can go undetected for months or sometimes even years.

Any reputable alarm company, such as Checkpoint, will give you a daily and weekly listing of alarm activations. The report should include the time and the date, allowing you to cross reference with your CCTV recordings. By looking at the times, you can quickly determine which alarms are after hours. After hours alarms should be conducted as soon as the report is received. If an employee actually is stealing, it needs to be swiftly investigated and dealt with to prevent further financial losses.

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Prevent Shoplifting During This Holiday Season

November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

shoplifting2The security of your retail store during this holiday season is an important part of your business. Shoplifting prevention and employee theft are more critical during this time of year, and having your store prepared for this can be the difference between profits and losses. To read more about this follow the links below.

5 Quick and Low-Tech Tips To Prevent Shoplifting in Your Retail Store

As a small business retailer, it’s not always easy to just throw money at problems like shoplifting and take advantage of all the technology that big box retailers may be privy to. Whether it’s cameras, door scanners, or facial-recognition software, sometimes their big-ticket cost just doesn’t fit with your small business security budget.

But when you recognize facts like shoplifting costing retailers upwards of $13 billion each year, it’s important to identify it as a problem that needs to be dealt with.

So, what’s a boutique owner to do? In this post, I’ll be looking at cost-effective and low-tech tactics that you can start implementing right away.

Let’s dive in.

1. Keep Your Store Organized and Products Well-Placed

How easy should it be to identify whether something has gone “missing” from your store? Empty space on your shelves should be enough of a visual cue to signal something has gone wrong.

Holiday Shopping: More Shoppers, More Theft — Prepare Your Business

The holiday season can be a stressful time for most people, not to mention retailers. With the seasonal shopping season starting earlier and earlier each year, many small businesses are scrambling to order inventory, ensure their shelves are stocked, all the while decorating their storefront in a way that will entice customers to come in and shop local.

While some may complain about the commercialization of the holiday season, there is proof in the “figgy pudding.” According to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales represent approximately 19.2 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 trillion. And that’s not just for the big box stores and e-commerce giants, the upcoming holiday season is extremely important for small business owners. It’s the biggest revenue driver of the year, and can keep a business afloat or sink it. However, the increase in potential shoppers, brings an increase in potential theft. Seasonal shoplifting can be detrimental for small businesses owners, who are trying keep their doors open for another year.

Opiate epidemic

The message, delivered Thursday night to a standing-room-only crowd at the Wood County Educational Service Center, was clear: the opiate epidemic in Ohio, and Wood County, is a community problem.

And the problem must be solved by a community-wide effort.

The Opiate Epidemic Town Hall meeting, presented by the Wood County Opiate Task Force, featured a panel of experts on the subject from a variety of fields.

The issue of opiate addiction has ramped up in Wood County, and nationwide, in recent years. In the U.S., someone dies from an opiate-related overdose every 15 minutes. Some addicts begin with an addiction to prescription painkillers like Oxycontin and Vicodin, obtained legally or illegally, and then move on to heroin – which has become cheaper and easier to obtain.

Heidi Riggs, of the Ohio Attorney General’s Heroin Unit, shared the story of her daughter, Marin, who died in 2012 at age 20 of a heroin overdose. Marin, despite a variety of gifts, dealt with a self-esteem problem that led to her addiction.

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Gambling and Embezzlement – It’s That Time of Year

November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment

theft (2)Anyone with a business knows the holidays bring a distinctive set of challenges. For many owners one of the biggest is the increased risk of loss and fraud through consumer theft. Other owners are relieved that they aren’t in those kinds of businesses and believe that they don’t need to “worry about all that stuff”. But, they forget about or ignore employee theft.

All businesses are subjected to the increased possibility of theft around this time of year. The holidays are exactly the time to monitor employees and financials for signs of embezzlement. There are a few reasons why incidents of embezzlement are more likely to start or increase now. One of them, that’s regularly overlooked, is gambling addiction.

The Marquet Report on Embezzlement is the culmination of a 5 year study which looked into employee misappropriation. It found that gambling addiction is one of the top 2 reasons people embezzle. Therefore, it’s important for an employer to be aware of this issue and to know what to look for, especially now.

For most people increased stress is a given in the months of November and December. Gambling addicts respond to stress by gambling more and when they gamble more they lose more. They then gamble more to try to cover their losses, get back to even, or hit the big score. This leads to more losing and the cycle continuing. Inevitably, they run out of money and accumulate debt they can’t repay.

Because of the season money irregularities can become more pronounced in their domestic situation, triggering more stress, lies and gambling. Gambling addicts will go to drastic measures to cover up their addiction. Now, feeling more pressure, they may embezzle for the first time or steal larger amounts.

But, this doesn’t happen in a vacuum, there’re always signs along the way that something is wrong. Some of the signs to look for include the following.

  • Giving flimsy excuses or lying about absences during the day. This can be more pronounced in areas where there’s a gambling venue.
  • Inappropriately defensive or dishonest when talking about spending habits or income.
  • Asking for advances on pay and/or frequently borrowing money from co-workers.
  • Excessively talking about and showing interest in gambling games, venues, beating the system, odds, etc.
  • Suspiciously guarded and controlling of the company’s financial records.
  • Taking financial work home, even though there’s time to do it during the business day.
  • Insisting on being in charge of bills, invoices, payments, receivables, dealing with vendors, etc.

Embezzlement can emotionally and financially devastate an organization. At best it‘s a violation of trust and at worst it can cause a business to go bankrupt. Nobody likes to think about or have trouble this time of the year, but a good manger doesn’t ignore problems no matter what the season.

Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist

 

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