Employee Fraud – A sample of Loss Prevention in Atlanta

Let’s talk a little about corporate fraud , a sometimes underestimated and misunderstood factor of internal theft.

Employee fraud is a very much relevant dishonest trend amongst all levels of employees. From corporate fraud , white collar crime to the store associates ringing on the registers for 8 hours a shift. All subject to it, some fall into it. Now corporate fraud and white collar crime are a true threat, the instances are not as common as the young full time employee ringing on the register. They are not faced with the same daily temptations. Both are equally destructive, yet one stands out as the true indicator of employee fraud.

As an example, we had a cashier. He was a young, part-time man…about 19 years old. He discovered a unique feature of our cash register systems. The system allowed him to use multiple coupons for items he wanted to purchase. On his lunch break, he took a handful of the store’s ads from the front display and went to the Break room. Over the next 45 minutes, he cut out various and multiple coupons of items he thought he could sell at his uncles’ shop in the downtown area.

Using his employee discount along with several coupons, the employee would ring the items for just about free, and at times would get some cash back. He scanned multiple coupons, multiple times. He had discovered competitors coupons with our company’s endorsement and in-house coupons (those created by our corporate office) were not flagged for multiple use in our stores register system. So an electronic toothbrush for $50 retail was sold to him using 5 $10 off coupons. What a deal.

After a loss prevention investigation, I was able to discover the trend of the employee fraud and identified several fraudulent transactions that later caused problems for him and his uncles’ side business.

The retailer subsequently made changes to their register system and advertisements to impose disclaimers on usage.

Employee fraud may not be the easiest to identify, but it is a regular occurrence amongst retailers.

For information on employee fraud or white collar crime in Atlanta please contact us at employee fraud or call 1.770.426.0547