A New Form of Internal Theft – Atlanta Georgia

Just this past week I was introduced to a new form of internal theft. This particular kind involves 2 people: the employee, of course, and a customer/ counterfeiter. That’s right. We all know counterfeiting exists and just about any retailer with good sense has invested in a continuous supply of counterfeit detector pens by now. What happens when one slips through the cracks though? We don’t normally prosecute the cashier who accepted the counterfeit bill, do we? No. Even in the most extreme cases that employee is usually reprimanded or written up and they return to work immediately.

I was recently made aware of a counterfeit $20 bill that was taken at one of my stores. No biggie, right? However, it is routine to review the footage to try to determine where the bill came from so I did just that. Turns out that the cashier that accepted the bill was one that I have had my eye on for some time. This prompted me to probe deeper into the incident. I found that the bill had been passed to the cashier by someone known to be an associate of hers. She never used the counterfeit detector pen or even held the bill to the light to check for the magnetic strip. This alone only proved negligence, not internal theft.

The negligence, however, gave me a reason to talk to her. In the subsequent interview the cashier admitted to knowingly accepting the counterfeit bill. She believed that since she did not manufacture or pass the bill that she was not guilty of a crime. The authorities saw it differently and she is now in a jail cell awaiting prosecution. Be aware, crooks are going to new extremes to commit crimes these days and they may use some of your less intelligent employees to help them do so. Make no mistake, knowingly accepting a counterfeit bill is a form of internal theft.

For more information about employee theft investigation or employee theft or corporate fraud investigator or corporate fraud investigation contact us at Internal Theft or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia