The number one biggest surprise found in a corporate fraud investigation

August 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

There are a few common surprises our clients experience when conducting a  corporate fraud investigation and it happens like clockwork.

First just to state the obvious, we are contracted to help businesses figure out what has been going on in their business… what they have not been able to identify.  That alone is a hurdle many business owners and or managers never get over.  Admitting to an outside source that there is something out of control is a very difficult process for many.  Usually this happens only after a very long period of losses occurs and the pain is so great that facing the truth of what is happening hurts less than the pain the issue is inflicting onto the bottom line.

The number one suprise in a  corporate fraud investigation is that usually the person stealing is never the person that is suspected of stealing.  Quite often it is the last person anyone suspects.  Thieves can be very good at their con of winning favor and influence within an organization.  This is the trust they use to steal.  Usually this person is in some form of management that gives them the freedom they need to steal.

If the person stealing is the suspect, at that time it has likely been going on for so long that they got sloppy and left a trail that was obvious.  At this point the case could easily be into the seven figures.

If you suspect you are a victim of corporate fraud you owe it to yourself to consult a professional regarding a  corporate fraud investigation .

The leadership of Loss Prevention Systems has conducted thousands of cases, recovered and prevented millions in damages and has a 100% conviction rate for those clients who pursue that end.

Visit here for more information: corporate fraud investigation

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The Police & Employee Fraud

August 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Many business owners are under the impression that the Police will conduct investigations into employee fraud. While this may be correct in a few situations. The fact is that most law enforcement agencies are busy. Their caseload is overwhelming, and as a former Police Officer I can tell you that most crimes reported do not get investigated. There is simply not enough officers and budget money to handle it all.

Therefore, if you go to them with a mostly unsolved situation of employee fraud they will take a report but in most situations nothing more will be done. Even if they do take the case on the fact is that very few Detectives know how to investigate employee fraud and theft. That is why the retail industry has Loss Prevention Departments. LP professionals are specialists in this type of investigation. A good LP investigator can conduct the average employee fraud or theft investigation in just a day or two.

After the facts are gathered a good LP investigator will interview the subjects and generally obtain a written admission. After putting the necessary elements of the investigation together a presentation can be made to the Police or Prosecutor.

More about employee fraud investigations, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

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Use of Clothing Alarm Tags

August 14, 2010 by

One of the best inventions to protect retail merchandise is the clothing alarm tag. These tags come in many forms but the basic concept is that a hard plastic tag is placed on a piece of clothing. The tag can only be removed by store personal at checkout.

Clothing alarm tags are normally used with an Electronic Article Surveillance System (EAS). If a shoplifter attempts to take the item out of the store it trips the alarm on the EAS system alerting store personnel.

There are also clothing alarm tags that contain vials of permanent ink or dye. This type of tag is called product denial. If the shoplifter attempts to remove the tag forcefully the pressurized vials break and spread ink on the item ruining it. These tags can be used with an EAS system.

Other clothing alarm tags have built in alarm sounders. They have an aircraft cable that can be looped through leather jackets or other expensive coats. If the shoplifter attempts to cut the cable or force the tag open the internal siren goes off. These tags can also be used with an EAS system.

For more information contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

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How to Successfully Solve White Collar Crime

August 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

To successfully solve  white collar crime is just like anything else.  Let’s look at it this way, to fail all you have to do is one thing wrong, to succeed you have to do everything right.

White collar crime is often referred to as  corporate fraud.  Here is an excerpt from the FBI website regarding the issue: “The majority of  corporate fraud cases pursued by the FBI involve accounting schemes designed to deceive investors, auditors, and analysts about the true financial condition of a corporation.”

This problem is getting worse in America due to the increasing pressures felt by the bad economy. Business leaders are bilking their employers out of billions of dollars every year.  This obviously makes its way into the cost of doping business and then the cost of everything.

So how do you solve the issue if you suspect you area victim?

#1 Do not act on your own. Acting too soon will most likely blow your case.

#2 You have to be patient.  You must build a case which will involve collecting evidence. This may take several weeks once you have a team in place, which leads to #3.

#3 You must get help.  To build a case that wins you will need outside help.  Attorneys, Certified Forensic Accountants and professional investigators/ interrogators.

This may all sound expensive and laborious; however, if you follow a successful system you will not only get to the truth, have everything you need to get a criminal conviction if you decide to go that route and you will quite possibly get your money back.  Not following a system will guarantee you will not get the truth or your money and maybe not even be able to prosecute.

The leadership at Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. has solved thousands of cases, prevented and recovered millions in losses and has a 100% conviction rate when taken to that level. To discover what they can do for your  white collar crime issue visit them here.

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Hire a Corporate Fraud Investigator to get the truth and build a rock solid case

August 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Serious employee theft issues require the use of a  corporate fraud investigator to get the best results.

Let’s look at how the FBI defines  corporate fraud :

Corporate fraud investigations involve the following activities:

(1) Falsification of financial information, including:

(a) False accounting entries;
(b) Bogus trades designed to inflate profit or hide losses; and,
(c) False transactions designed to evade regulatory oversight.

(2) Self-dealing by corporate insiders, including:

(a) Insider trading;
(b) Kickbacks;
(c) Backdating of executive stock options;
(d) Misuse of corporate property for personal gain; and,
(e) Individual tax violations related to self-dealing.

(3) Obstruction of justice designed to conceal any of the above-noted types of criminal conduct, particularly when the obstruction impedes the inquiries of the SEC, other regulatory agencies, and/or law enforcement agencies.

Sometimes there is only one employee that commits the corporate fraud and other times there are more involved. Uncovering these issues and building a rock solid case in order to get the truth, a criminal conviction (if desired) and quite possibly even recovering losses  are not something corporations are set up to do themselves.

Typically a  corporate fraud investigator will work as part of a team.  This team will also consist of one or more attorneys and one or more Certified Forensic Examiners (CPA with fraud investigation training).

Go to corporate fraud investigator to learn more.

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Vendor Fraud and Retail Loss?

August 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Yes, vendors the very people that supply you with merchandise have stolen from retailers. We are not saying that every vendor will do this. Most suppliers are hard working and trying to earn and keep your business. But vendor fraud accounts for approximately 5% of a retailers losses.

However, They are a business just like you. If they have employees that are stealing this could affect you. How? Say you are supposed to get 24 items in a carton. But a thief in the vendors facility only packs 23 to a carton in your shipment. They take the lost one out of each and put it in the trash then come back later and get them out of the trash.

Sound outrageous? We have done hundreds of these retail loss investigations in our experience. If you are only checking in the cartons and not piece counting you are putting money in that piggy bank of the vendors thief.

I some cases the vendor them self will short a shipment. If you do not catch it then they get paid in full at your expense. We have caught several very large, well known companies doing this.

How do you stop this? We have proven methods to protect you from this type of retail loss and fraud.

Contact us today: retail loss or call 1.770.426.0547

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Employee Theft Investigation

August 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

An employee theft investigation should be conducted whenever employee theft is suspected. We have seen many business owners that hesitate or simply bury their head in the sand and pretend that theft is not occurring or will go away. Over the years the University of Florida study routinely shows that employee theft accounts for approximately 48% of business losses.

The fact is that if left unchecked employee theft will escalate. If the employee got away with it the first time they will continue to steal. Those who do not attack the issue normally will not prosper. We have even seen businesses tolerate employee theft because they do not want to lose an “important or trusted” employee. That begs the question how important or trusted is that person who is stealing? Leaving this person in place is business suicide.  We have recently conducting an employee theft investigation of a person who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars and was not terminated because the business owner was afraid to let this “important” person go.

No one is that important to a business that employee theft should be ignored. An employee theft investigation is normally a fast simple investigation. Go to the police? No, most law enforcement agencies do not have the expertise or time to do a proper investigation. Use an experienced LP Investigator.

More information on employee theft investigation contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

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More On Retail Shrinkage, Shoplifting

August 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

If shoplifting accounts as the second biggest retail loss area how do you combat it?

Training, Training and still more Training. If you are not training your employees how to prevent shoplifting you will never, ever succeed as a retailer. The key is the type of training. Do not put the main focus on apprehending the shoplifter.

Although this is important prevention is more profitable and will reduce retail loss in this area.

This prevention training involves the actual approach to a suspected shoplifter. It is easy and can be entertaining as you drive the shoplifter crazy and send them down the street to your competitor who is doing nothing but watching their profits walk out the door. The approach is simple and varied by each situation. Every store employee must be trained in this method, which should be made a job duty. Do this and you will decrease your shoplifting losses. You do not need to be a loss prevention or security expert to approach a suspected shoplifter.

Loss Prevention Systems has shoplifting training programs that are proven and effective. Don’t be the guy down the street that is watching their profits drain away.

Want more? Contact us at retail loss or call 1.770.426.0547

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4 Tips before you hire a Loss Prevention Investigator

August 12, 2010 by

There are some things to consider before you hire a  loss prevention investigator.

#1. What is their training?  If their training is completely on the job, they may have one or a narrow view of how to handle loss prevention.  The ideal  loss prevention investigator will have real world on the job training, preferably several years with more than one retailer, as well as secondary education/ professional training.

#2.  Are they a licensed investigator?  Hiring a licensed investigator is not only common sense, but hiring one that is not licensed means they are breaking the law.  Additionally if taken to court, it will get thrown out with a non-licensed investigator building the case.

#3. Ask to see case files. A solid  loss prevention investigator is going to have this resource available in volumes.  It is very easy to look bigger than you are in the world of the Internet.  Get proof.

#4 Get references.  Third party testimonies are a great way to help guide the decision to hire a professional.  You will learn about demeanor, style, efficiency, professionalism and get a feel for how confident their clients are in their abilities.

Bonus tip. Leave the investigation up to the professionals.  Calling the police without a well developed case or acting hastily can eliminate your chance of learning the truth or ever recovering any damages.

For more info visit here:  loss prevention investigator

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Retailers use security tags on clothes to boost profits

August 12, 2010 by

The use of security tags on clothes will boost net profit margins by as much as 10%.  It is simple math.  The less product that is lost to theft, the less the cost of those losses effect bottom line profits.  This may be the most efficient way for retailers to make more money without having to sell more product.

In today’s challenging economy, raising prices to make up for lost profits just doesn’t make sense.  The demand is lower and prices are falling due to large retailers buying power driving the market.

3 out of 6 of the top retail theft targets according to the National Retail Security Survey are clothing segments: women’s, men’s and children’s. So as a clothing retailer,keeping what you have on the racks and shelves through the use of  security tags on clothes will reduce your losses AND increase your profits.

Security tags on clothes are an instant visual deterrent to would be shoplifters and can only be removed with a specific device at the cash register.  Checkpoint Security Systems offers clothing tags in a variety of shapes and sizes both in “hard tag” or “soft tag” varieties.

Checkpoint hard tags are a plastic type of material held on to the clothing with  a pin or a steel string.  Checkpoint soft tags are stickers, called labels with a very aggressive adhesive.  Theses checkpoint labels are applied to the product’s packaging, hidden in the product somewhere or even sewn in place totally out of sight.

Click here to learn more about security tags on clothes 

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