Employee Theft This Holiday Season

Billions of dollars are lost every year due to shoplifting every year in the United States. Many retails stores prosecute every incident and some others choose not to contact the police. According to research, 64% of small businesses that have experienced employee theft, only 16% have reported the incident to authorities. One of the main reasons not to prosecute the employee according to the research is because the expense of hiring attorneys outweighs the theft committed by the employee. You can read more news about shoplifting by following the links below.

Shoplifters pepper spray Walmart employee during attempted toy theft

SAND SPRINGS — Police are searching for two women who used pepper spray on a Walmart employee while attempting to steal toys from the store Monday morning.

The robbery attempt happened about 1:30 a.m. when two women tried to leave the store with several toys, Sand Springs Deputy Police Chief Mike Carter said.

One of the women used pepper spray on an employee who intervened before they fled the area in a black or navy blue Chrysler PT Cruiser, Carter said.

Detailed descriptions of the shoplifters were not provided.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Sand Springs Police Department at 918-245-8777.

5 ways to avoid employee theft and fraud at Christmas

Christmas: a time when many businesses celebrate the harmony between carols and cash registers. But while Christmas may be a cash cow for some, the combination of temporary staff, increased business activity and financial pressure on staff can move your business from booming to busted.

Employee fraud and theft have fast become a major problem for small businesses in Australia. According to KPMG, workplace fraud more than trebled between 1997 and 2012, costing businesses millions of dollars.

While employee fraud and theft happen all year round, the hectic nature of Christmas produces the perfect environment for staff, both long-standing and new, to become opportunistic.

You see, opportunity is one of the key drivers of employee theft. In a recent global survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 85 per cent of respondents admitted that they would commit a fraud if the ‘right’ circumstances existed.

Employee Theft Is More Widespread Than You Think

Think of all the ways stores lose money.

Pricing Errors. Damaged Goods. But what about when employees steal merchandise? It’s actually a lot more common than you would think.

There’s a reason your average shopper doesn’t know about this problem.

“It’s kind of an embarrassing topic,” says Richard Hollinger. He’s a criminology professor at the University of Florida and he’s been studying why and how employees steal for more than 25 years.

It all started when he was 16. He was working at a small grocery store just south of Macon, Georgia.

“Some of the guys around me, they would graze or eat their way through the store. And I asked them: ‘Stealing food and eating it while you’re at work: isn’t that theft?’ And they go, ‘No, that’s part of your fringe benefits package.’”