Out of Necessity, Not greed – Internal Theft

Quite frequently, we hold the mindset that internal theft comes from greed. We see employees living beyond their means to have the latest fashions or electronics, or simply to have disposable cash.

In the latest employee theft investigation, we had a sharp reality that sometimes, people simply steal because they need it and don’t know any other option.

We saw an employee eating a bag of chips and had wondered if she had paid for it. When we reviewed the journal transactions, we saw that she did in fact ring up the bag of chips. However, she had paid for those chips with a store credit.

When we went back and reviewed the refund that generated the store credit, we discovered that the employee had created a fraudulent refund. This employee rang up an item that was sitting close to the register for the return.

It was not her item to refund, nor did a customer initiate it. We knew right then that the internal theft was not from the chips, but from a fake refund transaction conducted by the employee.

We questioned the employee about the transaction and she admitted that she needed the money to buy food for her and her son. She decided that her only option was to steal to make ends meet.

No internal theft is excusable, but this was a reality check that sometimes theft is not about greed, but simply about survival.

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

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