Retailers assume loss from a variety of sources.  Generally speaking, internal theft (AKA employee theft) accounts for the majority of loss incurred by major retailers.  When we talk about shoplifters we find that ORC or Organized Retail Crime networks account for the bulk of our external losses.  So what happens when the ORC rings and employees team up?

The answer is the store will be closing soon unless something is done.  Employee theft and ORC on their own can kill a store, but the combination of the two is devastating.  Something that I have been finding more often when conducting ORC investigations is that they are using an “inside man” (or woman) in order to help them get away with their crime.  The employee can be useful in many ways.  On the surface they can alert the shoplifters when LP or management is not around.  I remember working at one store and it always seemed that within an hour of me leaving the store would call and say they had a grab and run.  It became obvious that they were being tipped off by someone inside.

Other ways that employees can assist ORC groups is by stealing themselves and/or manipulating inventory systems to cover the losses that are going on.  They can also alter prices so that their counterparts pay pennies on the dollar for product and then they can resell them at much higher rates.  Whatever method they use, the employees in our stores can cause a lot of damage.  They only way to prevent this is to use a routine employee theft investigation to rout out the bad apples.  An employee theft investigation can be aimed at a specific employee or can be a wide net cast to see if red flags pop up in the store.  Either way, internal theft and ORC can ruin a business if left unchecked.

For more information on internal theft, employee theft investigation or employee theft contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

It is interesting to try and figure out all the ways employees commit internal theft at their place of work.  Internal theft is rampant in retail organizations.  In one year working as a loss prevention manager I can remember closing four internal theft cases for about $5900.00 within three weeks of accepting a job at a major retailer.

These cases involved four associates who committed internal theft for no other reason than, it was easy.  The associates were stealing in so many ways; it was hard to conduct an investigation as I would have to constantly leave the office to follow the associates.  The employee theft investigation showed that the associates were having cash shortages on their registers.  The associates were also showing up on the exception reports for having lower than average transaction totals and higher than average refund totals.  The employee theft investigation involved and in depth look at the associates registers operations over the past six months.

Once the employee theft investigation was completed, it appeared the associates had given away merchandise, taken cash from the register, switched tickets on merchandise they purchased and conducted fraudulent refunds.  After seeing the extent of the employee theft, I decided to have another loss prevention manager come in and conduct the interviews with me.

During the interview the associates were made aware that they had been the subject of an employee theft investigation and that the investigation found conclusive evidence of employee theft.  The associates were asked to explain the reasons why they committed the employee theft and they responded, because it was easy.  Given the extent of the employee theft, we concluded that the confessed amount was probably about $50000.00 less than what they actually took from the store.  These cases had involved

 For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Throughout my tenure in Loss Prevention, I have seen just about every way that employee theft or internal theft occurs. The nice thing is, once you know the basics, resolving an employee theft investigation is relatively simple. Most dishonest employees are caught because the get bold and think that they are the only ones to have ever tried that method before.

More often than not, the employee will try to find merchandise that does not have any sort of hard RF tag or a soft RF label that will sound the alarm as they leave. They might try to conceal a small item on their person, such as a piece of jewelry or a wallet. They might even try to wear an item out like a jacket. Larger items may go into bags or purses (having mandatory bag checks as employees leave will eliminate most of this sort of internal theft).

If the employee does try to steal an item with an RF tag or Label, they are now faced with the difficult task of trying to remove the tags without destroying the merchandise. I have conducted many employee theft investigations because I saw an employee go to a register, without any customers present, and remove and deactivate these tags. While they thought they were being discreet, they were actually a blinding light to a knowing eye.

Most of the cases with this sort of employee theft admitted that having the tags made it difficult to steal the merchandise. It was so difficult that unless the items were something extremely valuable to them, it was not worth trying to steal. The Checkpoint System helped to keep the honest employees honest, while providing cues to detect the one who weren’t.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia