Employee Theft Investigation – Atlanta Georgia

Not every part of the employee theft investigation is going to be filled with edge-of-your-seat excitement. Parts of it can be truly tedious, but extremely necessary in order to build a case against an employee that you believe to be involved in some sort of wrong-doing. A short time ago one of my detectives came to me information on a cashier. An ex-employee had come into the store and apparently waited for the cashier’s line to come open. The ex-employee had several items tucked underneath her shopping cart; a fact that the cashier obviously saw but made no mention of. She allowed the ex-employee to pay for a few items then exit without paying for the items under the cart.

Of course my detective approached the ex-employee before she exited and recovered the merchandise, but that’s when the employee theft investigation began. It appeared to me to be a clear case of sweethearting, but I needed to be sure. Sweethearting is defined as “the granting of special favors or privileges, especially to friends or family; in retail, the giving of unauthorized discounts or the abetting of shoplifting or other theft”. So the burden of proof was on me to prove collusion; that the cashier was aware of the hidden merchandise and allowed the ex-employee to take the merchandise.

I spent countless hours staring at two computer screens. One was a CCTV shot which was focused clearly on the cashier and could see everything piece of merchandise she handled. The other was on a duplicate screen of her cash register; this allowed me to see exactly what she was actually ringing in. Almost 2 weeks past before the ex-employee came back in, but when she did she went directly to the cashier in question. This time, probably spooked from their last close call, they didn’t bother with the bottom of the basket trick. The cashier simply took all the merchandise, pretended to swipe several pieces and just place them into the bag. Upon exiting the ex-employee was apprehended and subsequently arrested. The cashier was arrested and terminated. It was a long and un-exciting battle but in the end a successful employee theft investigation .

For more information about employee theft , internal theft or corporate fraud investigation contact us at employee theft investigation or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia