EAS Devices — Page 30

The Typical Characteristics of Embezzlers

June 23, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The crime of embezzlement is on the rise. There are many reasons for why it’s on the increase. One of the reasons is that business owners and managers don’t envision the embezzler as a potential criminal. The average embezzler doesn’t fit the idea of a stereotypical offender, therefore, supervision becomes lax. This leaves people and situations not monitored as well as they should be.

Embezzlers share more characteristics with the general populace than with other criminals. As a result, it’s important for managers and business owners to understand the profile of the average embezzler. Here are their most typical characteristics.

Age –They’re usually older than other criminals, past 30, and they begin their criminal activity at a much later age. Those who’re classified as major embezzlers often begin in their early 40s. (2011 Marquet Report on Embezzlement).

Family situation – Most are married with traditional family situations. They usually come from intact and stable families of origin.

Education – As a rule, they have higher levels of education than the average criminal.

Race – The majority of perpetrators are white.

Employment/Criminal History – Nearly all of them are first-time offenders with clean employment histories. Over 80% have never been charged with a crime or terminated from a job. (2012 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Report)

Job Responsibility – It’s estimated that professional and managerial staff commit 40%, clerical, bookkeepers and other employees commit 40% and senior officers and owners commit 20% of embezzlements.

The size of the loss is frequently related to the position the perpetrator holds. The median loss committed by owners/executives is $573,000, by managers $180,000 and by employees $60,000. (2012 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Report)

Gender – Until recently 70% of embezzlers were older males who’d attained a position of trust and authority, which provided the chance to commit the crime. But, with more women reaching positions of authority and responsibility, the percentage of female embezzlers has increased to 64% in the last several years. However, men on average steal significantly more than women. (2011 Marquet Report on Embezzlement).

Psychological Issues – Embezzlers usually don’t have an antisocial personality, which is much more common in other criminals. However, they do have mental health issues, most notably gambling problems (30%) and depression and/or anxiety, which may be as high as 80%.

It’s human nature to trust those who we perceive as being like us. Unfortunately, there’ll always be people who’ll take advantage of human nature. Managers can better protect their businesses by educating themselves about the typical characteristics of embezzlers.

Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention

New Shoplifting Videos

June 18, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Preventing shoplifting against the amateur shoplifter and the professional shoplifter should be taken into account when purchasing a shop prevention system for your store. Can one system be as beneficial to guard against amateurs shoplifters as one for a professional? Should you install video camera equipment among other electronic devices for your store? At Loss Prevention Systems we have what you need to make shrinkage in your store something you can prevent. Call us, we will be happy to talk to you.

‘House of Lies’ Hot Chick Ayelet Ben-Shahar — Arrested for Grocery Shoplifting

1:24 A stunning Hollywood actress just got a starring role in a crime drama … she was arrested for shoplifting, but we’re not talking jewelry … we’re talking avocados.

Video catches court employee stealing cash

Police say a video showed a former Cobb County court employee pocketing money from the drug court.

That worker will soon find herself spending time behind bars and ironically reporting to the same drug-testing office where she once worked

For a decade, Tomasita Reavis worked in the drug court office. The 57-year-old woman was a trusted employee, married to a corrections officer.

But when the county’s drug unit planted cameras in the office to investigate missing cash, they almost immediately spotted Reavis sliding some of the cash that was supposed to be deposited in taxpayers’ accounts into her own purse and wallet.

Over just a few days on six occasions, Reavis would count up the cash, sending most to the bank, but keeping a wad for herself.

Reavis refused to tell the judge Wednesday why she did it or what she did with the money. She pleaded guilty to six theft counts.

Her attorney said Reavis was an honest person who simply succumbed to temptation.

Police: Shoplifting ring strikes again

PEABODY — Peabody police arrested one person of a suspected shoplifting ring from Boston yesterday afternoon, but two others managed to escape.

Jadea Duntin, 26, of 79 Rosseter St., Dorchester, was arrested at 2:50 p.m. on charges of shoplifting more than $250 worth of items from J.C. Penney at Northshore Mall, driving with a suspended license, and possession of instruments used for burgling.

Police said Duntin is part of a group of shoplifters known to the store’s loss prevention unit. The unit called police after recognizing three women who were shoplifting more than $1,000 at the time. The report stated that the women recently stole $5,000 worth of items.

Duntin was in possession of wire cutters, police said, which they believe she used to cut tags off items.

The two remaining women fled the scene at high speed with a child in a black Nissan Altima in the direction of the Cheesecake Factory. As of press time, they were still at large.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, Shoplifting Prevention

What are your Loss Prevention Priorities for this year?

June 4, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The workforce in any retail store has to be aware of the policies and procedures that a company or retail store has to deterred shoplifting, and the steps to take when encountering a shoplifting incident. Your management team has to be the most knowledgeable about what to do and how to proceed during such incidents and the steps necessary to take to make certain the safety of the employees are not jeopardized. Shrinkage due to employee theft is very prevalent in retail and the amount they shoplift surpasses that of the amateur shoplifter, being aware of what is going on in your store can lead to less shrinkage and more profits for your store.

Read more news about shoplifting by following the links below.

Retail loss prevention team priorities for 2014

The challenges facing today’s retail loss prevention teams are increasingly complex and serious, from cyber security to active shooter to workforce training, compliance issues and – unfortunately – even armed gunmen inside stores or shopping malls. And with NRF’s annual Loss Prevention Conference and EXPO coming up in June, we wanted to know what’s top of mind for retail LP professionals. We asked a few of our LP Advisory Council members to weigh in on what their top priorities are for 2014. Three different retailers, three different answers. But in our unofficial small survey, we found one common theme — people.

Retailer Keeps Loss Prevention Low and Customer Satisfaction High with DigitalPersona Fingerprint Solution

DigitalPersona, Inc., a trusted partner for biometric identity verification solutions, today announced that New Look, a leading China fashion retailer, has selected a Point-of-Sale (POS) system enabled with DigitalPersona^® fingerprint technology. After a successful trial at six of the retailer’s stores in February 2014, New Look is set to expand their use of biometrics in 16 of its stores by the end of 2014 — with longer-range plans to equip 100 stores by 2017. The retailer initially selected biometric technology as an alternative to passwords for improving time and attendance accuracy, but found it also enhances loss prevention and customer service.

Stupid Criminal: Doomed robbery

Today’s Stupid Criminals were doomed from the beginning.

You would think if you are going to rob a store, you might want to first look into what that store sells.

Well these Stupid Criminals thought it would be a good idea to rob this store in Dallas, Texas but you see that wasn’t the smartest idea.

Why?

Because what does the store sell? Surveillance cameras of course.

The owner of the security business supply store caught both the criminals on no less than 17 cameras.

Now the robbers did have plenty of warning before they tried to rob the store. There were at least four signs outside the store that told them they were being recorded.

They were able to get away with $10,000 worth of equipment.

No word yet if they’ve been caught.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar, Periodic inventory, Perpetual Inventory, Shoplifting Prevention

Narcissistic Behaviors

June 2, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Employee theft is probably one of the hardest forms of theft to detect and resolve. The problem is that these employees have an advantage over you. They know your systems, they know who is observant, and they know when the best times to steal are. Employees also have access to different processes and assets that shoplifters do not have.

An employee who is embezzling money, instead of stealing merchandise, typically will not show indicators that would make you initially suspicious. What we have found over years of investigations and interviews is that these employees do show other behavioral patterns. When combined with certain access to accounts, billing, and cash processing, the behavior should be a red flag to their employers.

The first warning sign is the employee displaying any overtly narcissistic behaviors. The textbook definition is that a narcissistic personality is a person who is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process.

Typically these employees will build themselves, their position and their responsibilities up. They withdraw other employee access to their jobs, saying the other employees simply cannot perform the job functions satisfactorily. The other employees are under qualified, and the employee is the only one who can do the job right.

They will then validate and secure their positions by saying they are the only ones who can do their job. What would you do if I left? No one else can do this, I have to be here. They will often change the way processes are done, or have their own filing system. They will do anything they can to simultaneously confuse anyone who attempts to look in on what they are doing, and validate how complicated their job is; in essence creating their own job security.

What they are actually doing is finding ways to keep everyone else out of their paperwork. If they are embezzling, they are siphoning money by creating false invoices or payments, they can be creating write offs, even when a customer pays in full. They can be floating money from one account to another to cover up the cash they are taking.

The solution is to be wary of any employee who is displaying these narcissistic behaviors. They are building themselves up, while pushing blame onto those around them in an attempt to derail you from becoming suspicious of them. Next, make sure you have a check and balance system in place. There should be a standard way to handle all accounting practices. No one should create their own system. This system should also have a periodic audit to ensure compliance and integrity of your books.

Even though it makes more sense financially to hire only one person to do all of your paperwork and accounting, have a second person split the responsibilities. Accounts payable and accounts receivable (sales, receiving, cash management) functions should be split to lessen the likely hood of an employee embezzling money from you.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

Anti Shoplifting Devices and your ROI

May 30, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

If you have a retail store, regardless of the products you choose to sell, there is always the risk of people walking out with merchandise without paying for it. How do you protect yourself from this happening, and how do you stop shrinkage from recurring in a daily basis? The initial investment you make in anti shoplifting devices can protect your business and offer you a ROI and peace of mind at the same time.

Follow the links below for more news about shoplifting.

The Value Of Anti Shoplifting Devices

Merchants everywhere know how theft impacts their annual revenue. Shop owners lose billions in revenue each year because of shoplifters. The financial damage caused by this crime is felt by retailers and the entire economy. To protect their livelihood, merchants need to install anti shoplifting devices and security systems that are reliable. To find the right system, retailers must understand how each system will work for them.

Security and anti theft tools have been designed specifically for the merchant. There are several different gadgets that are available that can include point of sale and audio monitors, video surveillance, inventory monitoring tools, and cameras. An anti shoplifting tool may be a combination of exit sensors and anti theft tags. The tags must be removed the a clerk during check out. If an item is taken through the door with the tag in place it sensor is triggered and an alarm is sounded.

Every shop has specific needs in regard to its security system. The shops requirements for security will be determined by several things. An example is the actual physical layout of the building. Also, the amount of traffic the establishment attracts daily, and the kind of merchandise the sore offers will influence the type of security that is needed. Stores that sell small digital and electronic items are much harder to monitor than those that sell larger merchandise like furniture.

Suffolk Police looking for Walmart shoplifting suspects

Suffolk Police are looking to identify two suspects involved in a shoplifting incident at the Walmart in the 6200 block of College Drive on May 11th at approximately 1:45 p.m.

Police say surveillance cameras show the suspects scanning items at the self-checkout, but they did not scan all of the items. They also returned to the sales floor and placed additional items in their shopping cart without paying.

Both are described as black males in their mid-30s. They were both wearing white t-shirts, and one suspect was further described as bald with a beard and wearing sunglasses, and the second suspect had a short haircut and small mustache.

One of the suspects left the scene on foot while the other left in a white Dodge pickup truck.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Line at 1-888-Lock-U-Up.

Women accused in East Coast shoplifting ring arrested at NC Target

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Police said two women who helped swipe hundreds of thousands of dollars in items from stores along the East Coast were finally caught in the Charlotte area.

Police told WSOC-TV that a loss prevention agent at a Target store on Bayfield Parkway saw Shiann Johnson and Destiny Williams preparing to steal items from the store Sunday.

He called police, who surrounded the store.

One woman was caught inside. Officials said the other woman made a run for it and was caught at the Buffalo Wild Wings nearby.

Kannapolis police said the agent in Target was familiar with their method emptying a filing cabinet box, stuffing $6,000 of electronics into it, then paying for the just the cabinet and walking out.

Police said the pair is from Brooklyn, New York, and part of a larger theft ring that has been doing the same thing all along the East Coast stealing from Target and CVS stores.

Police said they got thank you calls from both corporate offices after the arrest and they said the group is accused of stealing $200,000 in total from various stores.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, retail security, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

Shoplifting Videos And Funny Jokes

May 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

When people think shoplifting is only for poor people that cannot afford such items, they have to think twice about the facts. Millions of dollars are lost each year due to shoplifting, and it is not only poor people doing the crime. Celebrities, cops, and people in power are too often in the news for shoplifting crimes they commit, and the truth is, that is not because of lack of money. Below are videos about famous people shoplifting and other people not so famous doing the same. Follow the links below.

13 Jameis Winston Shoplifting Crab Legs Jokes in 60 Seconds

FSU Football Quarterback, Baseball Pitcher, and Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston stole crab legs from Publix in Tallahass.

Surveillance Video Released Of East Bay State Senate Candidate Hayashi Shoplifting

The East Bay State Senate race heats up after surveillance tape surfaces of candidate Mary Hayashi’s 2011 shoplifting incident at a Neiman Marcus in San Francisco.

The hour long video shows the former 18th District assemblywoman picking out about $2,500 worth of clothing then going into a dressing room with shopping bags. After she paid for some of the clothing, she was met by two security guards after she walked out the door.

San Leandro Talk blog editor Margarita Lacabe posted the video to her website after obtained the in-store footage from the San Francisco police under a Freedom of Information Act request last week.

Lacabe, who’s active in Democratic politics and is supporting Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski in the race for the state Senate District 10 seat, said she was shocked at how much detail the cameras recorded. “I wasn’t surprised by the actual content because it was described on the police report,” she said. “but I was disturbed watching the security guard staring through the dressing room door.”

Shoplifting suspect rams cars while trying to escape police

Two people are behind bars after trying to shoplift from a Walmart Friday afternoon.

Officers detained Terrell Bailey as he left the store with a cart full of stolen goods, then tried to stop Sandra Jones, who was about to leave in a pick-up.

When an officer approached her vehicle, Jones backed out of the handicap space.

As the officer opened the door, Jones tried to speed away. The officer had to grab the truck to keep from being hit.

Jones hit several vehicles before stopping, with the officer pinned between the open driver’s side door and another vehicle.

Witnesses helped free the officer, and Jones, who was unconscious, was taken to St. Francis Bartlett.

She was later released and booked into the Bartlett City Jail.

The officer was also taken to the hospital as a precaution, and released with no injuries.

The 101 items Bailey and Jones tried to steal were worth $1,156.77.

Police also learned Bailey had an active warrant for theft under $500, and Jones had two active warrants, one for theft under $500 and the other for driving with a suspended license, speeding, and violation of financial law. The vehicles damaged by Jones were logged into a crash report.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, EAS Devices, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Workshop, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Is Your Shoplifting Policy Effectual?

May 8, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Shoplifting affects everyone. Although it is common sense and the statistics about shoplifting are there to prove the severity of this crime, many retailers still fail to implement rigorous anti shoplifting policies that deterred the shoplifter from entering their store. Last year Wal-Mart implemented the policy that its employees not stop shoplifters if the items are $25 or less. Although Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton believed that shoplifting was one of the biggest enemies of the retail industry, the policy may just demoralize Wal-Mart’s workforce.

Read more about this and other news about shoplifting.

Jameis Winston suspended from Florida State baseball team over alleged crab leg theft

When Oklahoma State faces defending champion Florida State in the Cowboys’ season opener in August, will FSU have its starting quarterback?

Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston has been suspended from the Florida State baseball team after being issued a civil citation Tuesday for allegedly shoplifting crab legs from a Publix grocery store. The citation was first reported by Tomahawk Nation.

The two-sport superstar is currently the closer for the Seminoles’ No. 6-ranked baseball team.

“As a result of his citation last night, we are suspending Jameis Winston from the baseball team,” Seminole baseball coach Mike Martin said in a statement issued by the university. “I am confident he will complete his community service obligation and the situation will be resolved soon.”

“I fully support Coach Martin’s decision and will also make sure that Jameis meets all obligations, which I know he will,” Jimbo Fisher said in the statement.

Shoplifting suspect charged with faking receipt

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — A retail theft suspect has been jailed and now faces a new charge after a prosecutor says the Pennsylvania man brought a bogus receipt for the merchandise to his preliminary hearing.

The defense attorney for 34-year-old Adam Arena, of Richeyville, could not immediately be reached Thursday for comment on a new charge of records tampering.

According to the (Washington) Observer-Reporter (http://bit.ly/1hgPBG8 ) Washington County Assistant District Attorney Josh Carroll asked police to arrest Arena after he presented the bogus Wal-Mart receipt Tuesday.

Arena was in court on charges he stole $289 worth of video game and electronics equipment from a store in South Strabane Township on March 19.

Arena presented the receipt — which a store employee said was fake — in attempting to claim he paid for the merchandise.

Shoplifting charges dropped against Muslim woman held in Macy’s detention center for hours

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Juweria Khalid said she was a frequent Macy’s shopper, never missed their popular one day sales and this past October was no different, but little did she know how that day would change her life.

Khalid said after she already purchased a bracelet from the jewelry department, she spotted some earrings she also liked. Since she was already headed to the children’s department to shop for her two-year-old and 10-month-old, Khalid decided to pay for all of her items together on the 7th floor.

With her arms were full of bags from previous purchases, Khalid said she placed the earrings in her purse, fully intending she insists, to pay for her items. That’s when she was stopped by Macy’s loss prevention guards.

“I took out the jewelry and said to them I’m not stealing it. I’m going to buy it on the 7th floor. They never listened to me,” said Khalid.

Khalid was taken to the now infamous detention area of Macy’s, which she described to us as nothing short of a jail with bars. The Muslim woman, who wears a hijab, a Muslim head scarf, was forced to remove it.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Seminar

Out Of Your League

May 6, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

A Professional Shoplifter is the hardest category of thief to thwart. The professional shoplifter is well equipped and has the ability to create a devastating financial loss in a single incident of theft. After evaluating how the professional works, some solutions will be provided.

The professional shoplifter is one that is seen as looking to steal specifically to make a profit off of their heist. These are the criminals that do this for a living. It is a full time job for them, so don’t even think you can wait them out to make them go away. Professionals are often well connected. They are frequently part of a larger organized crime ring. That means that the person inside your store is simply an employee of a larger organization of criminals.

These thieves can be addicts or homeless people paid to do the dirty work of stealing. It can also be people who have been doing this for years and have no fear of getting caught. Either way, each theft is big, quick, and the merchandise is selected ahead of time since they know how or where they will sell it later.

Professionals typically commit, grab and run. It is a simple but effective scheme. The shoplifter loads up bags or carts of merchandise. They linger by exit doors and wait till the coast is clear. Then they run out the door, into a getaway car that is waiting for them.

Professionals will also use tools like foil lined bags to thwart EAS devices and prevent the alarms from registering. They might use other boosters such as secret linings inside a coat or other clothing to hide large quantities of merchandise.

Beyond the industry standard of EAS tags and labels there are a few other ways to reduce your losses if you have a group of professional thieves targeting you. One way is to determine if there is a pattern to which items you are loosing. If every time you get a shipment of toothpaste in, you loose the entire shelf’s worth, the obvious solution is to limit the quantity of toothpaste you put on the shelf at any time. It sends a message that you are aware of the theft and are working out plans to mitigate them.

The next way to stop professionals is through constant vigilance. Talk to neighboring retailers and local law enforcement to develop a community network. Share ideas and insight to bring an end to the theft. In the mean time find ways to identify your product. You can use EAS labels that have your store’s name and contact information on them. You can even take a marker and write your store number or another indicator next to the bar code. Even something as simple as an “X” will push the thieves down the road to unidentifiable merchandise.

Call us today at 1-770-426-0547 if you would like help fixing your loss Prevention problems.

Sell More, Lose Less!

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, Shoplifting Prevention