Employee theft of gift cards. Have you considered it??

Recently I had to conduct an employee theft investigation involving gift cards.  Gift cards are great, but they are just one more way we as retailers can lose money.  Generally gift card theft is an internal theft (or employee theft) problem more than an external theft (shoplifting) problem.  The reason is simple.  Most all gift cards have to be rung into the register in order to be active and shoplifters cannot do this, but employees can.

Here is one internal theft gift card case I just wrapped up today.  A few days ago I got a call from a store manager informing me of a cash shortage of $100.  As we all know, mistakes usually don’t come in even dollar amounts like this.  This typically means someone stole Big Ben.  I started the employee theft investigation like normal and went straight to the “No Sales” and watched the video looking for cash theft.  When I did not find any I looked at the “Opening” and “Closing” of that till for cash theft.  Still nothing.  Here is where cash investigations get fun – NOT!!  I started looking at each transaction on the Electronic Journal to see if anything stuck out. 

I noticed a $50 gift card paid for with $50 in cash.  That struck me as a little odd because usually I see a birthday card or something else in the purchase.  I made the mental note and kept going.  Several transactions later I saw another $50 gift card for the same store.  This too was paid in even cash and no other purchases.  Now we’re getting somewhere.

Sure enough when I watched video I saw the employee on both cases scan a gift card with no customer present, pocket the card and put no money in the drawer.  Cash theft is a major employee theft problem, but when doing an employee theft investigation don’t forget about the other tender types as well.

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