Policies – Not Police – Stop Employee Theft – Atlanta Georgia

In yet another case of employee theft, our client, a non-profit company, accepts donated items for resale at a chain of thrift stores.  The client asked us to investigate a suspected employee theft committed by a long time office employee who was suspected of accepting donations, converting them to her own use, then selling the items for cash to relatives and friends.  The client had received an anonymous tip, alleging internal theft by the employee.

The employee theft investigation revealed that the employee had recently taken a phone call from someone offering to donate an automobile.  Instead of going through proper channels for accepting donations, she contacted a friend and had him go to the donor’s location and retrieve the car, which was then taken to her residence.  She then sold the car, paid her accomplice, and kept the rest of the money.

After being confronted with the evidence gathered during the employee theft investigation, our investigator interviewed the employee.  During the interview, the employee admitted to prior instances of internal theft, twice involving donated automobiles.  The employee said that she had received payment totaling $3600.00, which she offered to repay as restitution.

She was turned over to the Auto Fraud Unit of the local police department.

Our recommendations to this client included a strict segregation of duties for each employee.  This employee was able to steal these three cars undetected because her duties included both taking telephone calls offering donations, arranging for the pick up of the items, and checking the items in.  We suggested that these duties be allocated to no less than two employees and that regular audits be conducted on incoming donations.

This company was able to stop this employee theft and recover part of its losses because it did not dismiss an anonymous tip as unfounded just because they “trusted” the employee.

In another wise decision, they left the employee theft investigation to the experts.

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