In the world of employee theft investigation, a sweetheart deal does not refer to a Valentine’s Day sales event. It refers instead to employee theft in which an employee gives away product or unauthorized discounts at the point of sale. Sweetheart deals are also referred to as pass offs.

When we are reviewing or conducting surveillance during employee theft investigation, there are common scenarios we are looking to discover.  A straight pass off happens when a cashier gives away merchandise to a friend or relative and no sale generated.

A variation occurs when an employee pretends to ring up the transaction. They may scan the items and then later void them out. They might also print out a receipt that shows an estimate of the product, but no sale is actually conducted.

Sometimes employee theft involves only partial payment for the contents of their friend’s shopping cart. The internal theft occurs when the employee rings up a few low dollar items, but slides the expensive ones. I once conducted an employee theft investigation and discovered that the dishonest cashier would “forget” to ring up the large items on the bottom of her boyfriend’s cart.

While this list is not exclusive, these distinctive employee theft situations occur regardless of retail niche or product sold.  In general the techniques are unchanging although we may occasionally discover a creative twist to employee theft.

Since the inception of employee theft investigations, sweetheart deals have been a constant in the execution of internal theft by employees.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that will help end employee theft or internal theft challenges and facilitate employee theft investigation.

For more information about employee theft or employee theft investigation and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

It is not uncommon for an employee who is in charge of receiving merchandise deliveries to be approached by the vendor to steal product. Employee theft investigations revolving around an employee and a vendor are becoming increasingly common.

A common scheme is for the vendor to work with an employee. When the vendor show up with a merchandise delivery, the employee does not verify that all of the merchandise comes off the truck and enters the store.  That creates an overage on this vendor’s delivery truck, and leaves you with an inventory shortage.

Either way, the employee theft has occurred and it is hard to trace since the invoices have been signed off as a full receipt of product.

There are a few ways to combat this kind of internal theft. The first is to conduct random audits of shipments. That means as the vendor is dropping off the merchandise you actually go back and count. Chances are if they were going to short the shipment, they will bring all of the merchandise inside. After a few random audits, it will be too risky for the vendor to try and short your store.

Another way is to set up a regulation with the shipping company that limits the amount of time a vendor has to unload their truck and leave. This helps eliminate the time the vendor has with your employees developing relationships that might allow the confidence to commit employee theft together.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

During an internal theft interview we get a chance to talk more in depth with the dishonest employee. Unfortunately we don’t always get the answers we need to questions like “why does internal theft happen”? I can say that there is one justification that most dishonest employees give us.

They tell us that they stole because they felt like they were owed something.

Sometimes they feel like they were slighted for a promotion. Others feel that the time and effort they put into the job is not adequately compensated.

It doesn’t matter that it might have been their choice and ambition to volunteer to work overtime or undesirable shifts initially. If, over time, they do not get the benefit (raise, promotion, recognition, etc.) they expected, they often ends up being a bitter and resentful employee.

We often discover that through the course of our employee theft investigation quite a few of the employees were at one time some of the best employees in the store or company. This can lead to an open door for employee theft. It is infinitely easier to steal if you have access to keys, alarm or safe codes, or overrides on a register.

One way to deter these thefts is to limit the access to all available resources. Can you put a check and balance into place through processes? Start using bag checks for all employees including yourself and your managers. Make sure the person making deposits is not the only one reconciling bank slips, shortages or overages.

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

Visit the CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

Quite often when we conduct employee theft investigations, we look at their friends who work with them to see if they are stealing as well.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. The same thing goes for employee theft. If you have an employee that is stealing they might have an accomplice in the store that is helping them out. If they found a way to steal independently, they may have shared this knowledge with their friends, to share the wealth, if you will.

When employee theft is occurring, the employee in question builds up their safe zone. This is how they establish their own parameters about when they can steal and how much they can steal. If the employee continues to expand their safe zone, the losses start to multiply exponentially. That means they start to take more and more each time they steal.

If they have involved their friends, they can expand the safe zone by eliminating how many other employees they need to watch out for. The friends might be an accomplice to help them past a register, or not questioning a bag going out the door.

This other employee (who begins to steal) will also develop their own safe zone. Now you have two employees causing you losses. You are also at risk that this employee will also bring one of their work friends into the loop, starting the cycle of employee theft over again.

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

Visit the CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

Over the years, I have seen many employees and managers convince themselves that the only way to really get anything accomplished is to work an overnight shift. They complain that the customers (gasp!) are too needy and prevent them from accomplishing their tasks. While they may rid themselves of any pesky customers, we forget that it also rids them of any security measures that might prevent internal theft.

You see, it is not just about keeping a door locked or having retail anti-theft devices that prevent employee theft. It is having another set of eyes on them to keep an employee honest.

When you have an associate or a manager insisting on working overnights, you might want to look at a few things first. Ask why they are unable to be productive during the day. Are they unmotivated and disgruntled? Well, then that employee probably is a prime candidate for causing internal theft. It might not be the best idea to leave them unsupervised at night.

If you do let them work overnights, make sure you do your best to control the situation. Can you set a perimeter alarm so the building is secured while they are working? That is an alarm that only responds when an exterior door is opened, but not the motion detectors on the inside. That way someone else locks the employee into the store for the night. Barring a medical emergency, they would stay inside until someone unlocks the door the next morning. If anything seems strange along the way, don’t hesitate to start an employee theft investigation.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

There are numerous instances in business when it is necessary to perform the employee theft investigation.  The fact is – employees steal … a lot!! – this is the distressing reality. Research reveals internal theft (also called employee theft) accounts for 50-70% of retail shrink.

One of the most difficult aspects of investigating employees is the trust factor – we want to trust our employees.  It is especially troublesome to accept that one or more employees are stealing from you. Conducting an employee theft investigation is imperative when money and merchandise start missing in order to uncover internal theft.

There are several things to do during the employee theft investigation.  Reviewing reports is first on the agenda.  Many losses can be solved by tracking cash over and cash shorts, reviewing refund and void trends, and researching ordering and inventory change histories. 

Cameras are great instruments for catching and verifying employee theft. We turn to cameras if reviewing reports does not produce results.  Either by standard cameras on the sales floor or covert cameras in offices, cameras can indisputably verify the identity of the thief. 

Unfortunately, there are times when none of these methods work.  I have found myself at wits end on several occasions with strong suspicion of an employee, but no actual proof.  This is where an Integrity Shop can be of great benefit.

The employer can create a circumstance or set of circumstances providing an employee the opportunity to “do the right thing” in order to assess a suspected employee’s integrity; thus demonstrating integrity or lack thereof. 

One may put extra money into the till or drop a gift card by the register and then watch cameras to see what that employee does with the money or gift card.  The employee should turn in the money or gift card since it does not belong to him or her. The employee proves whether he or she can be trusted by what they choose to do with the money or card.

If the employee keeps the money or card, they have given the employer the leverage needed when confronting the dishonesty as well as the other shortages in their work station.

For more information about employee theft investigation, employee theft, and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

The most sought after item that dishonest employees like to steal is cash. Unlike merchandise, cash can be used anywhere and cash is often the easiest item to steal.  It is small and easily hidden, employees handle it all day, and cash has no sensor tags applied.

Do you know if internal theft of cash is taking place at your business?  What are you doing to uncover this distinctively challenging form of employee theft and put an end to it?

There are a variety of situations and circumstances in which employee theft, involving cash, is likely to occur.  There are also a number of considerations when conducting the employee theft investigation around these losses. 

The most uncomplicated scheme is simply taking money directly from the drawer.  The effect of this style of internal theft is blatantly obvious the next day when the accounting department discloses that money is missing from the drawer. 

It is most effective to begin the investigation by reviewing “No Sale” functions when conducting an employee theft investigation.  Most associates do not take cash during an actual transaction because of the witnesses (i.e. the customer) present. 

Instead, the employee waits until it appears that no one is observing to conduct a “No Sale” function, and then pockets the cash.  The employee wrongly believes that the absence of witnesses enables him to hide his or her actions.  In reality this type of theft is usually quite simple to pinpoint.

Another scheme to take cash is conducting voids.  This is more difficult to apprehend, but it can be accomplished with due diligence. The dishonest associate will void a transaction and take the cash in this particular form of employee theft sting.  Because the register now assumes the sale did not happen, it will then not show short since the cash “should not have been there” according to the register. 

Prevention and discovery requires that the employer routinely watch for associates conducting a lot of voids followed by “No Sales”.  Since they voided the transaction the cashier has to use the “No Sale” function to open the drawer and make change for the customer. 

The employer can also pull random voids and review the video to see if the merchandise stays in the store or, if in fact, the customer takes it out of the store.  The cashier is stealing from you if the customer takes the item out of the store.

There is no easy solution for internal theft; however, a thorough employee theft investigation helps eliminate problems and prevent future loss.

For more information about employee theft, employee theft investigation and internal theft please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia.

In fact, we just had a case of employee theft where the employee was ringing up only one chair, but a stack of four chairs were going out the door. They had figured that we would not notice what was going on because he was ringing something up on the register.

He also figured that if we did notice a shortage of chairs, he could say that he didn’t know and it was a mistake. To a certain extent, that was true. When we did notice the shortage, we first thought it was an operational error and not internal theft. Perhaps if we had trained the employee to recognize how to properly sell those chairs, we would have prevented that shortage.

As we continued researching the chair shortages (because there was more than one) we realized that this employee was actually letting more merchandise go out he door unpaid. We knew then that we needed to resolve this by conducting a full on employee theft investigation.

The same “customer” came back for four more chairs, and some dishes, and some napkins, and some candles, all going out the door for the price of one chair. As it turns out, this “customer” was the brother of the employee. They had a new house and were making an outdoor dining area. The employee decided to take advantage of a known operational issue and thought he would slide right under the radar with his employee theft.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.

I recently concluded an internal theft case that revolved around several employees and an unknown customer. I had been researching an unrelated transaction when I stumbled across a customer that seemed up to no good.

I noticed a customer who had been in and out of the store several times during the day. I thought he might have been a shoplifter at first because I never saw him buy anything. Over and over again, I saw the man coming up to the register. He would speak with the employees, who would give him a few loose cigarettes out of a pack that was mostly hidden by the registers. Sometimes the man would hand over cash or sometimes it was something in a bag that I could not identify.

I then suspected that this was internal theft of our cigarettes.  I went out and did a physical count of the cigarettes in question and compared it to what our inventory should have been. We were several cartons short.

As it turned out, the employees were selling loose cigarettes to this man, who in turn, would sell the cigarettes (and other store merchandise) in the parking lot – splitting the cash with the employees. The cigarettes were, of course, stolen from our inventory. The employee theft investigation turned up several thousand dollars worth of losses.

We also figured out that the manager had been covering up the cigarette shortages in her store. While she was not a part of the employee theft, she was terminated for falsification of company documents and poor job performance.

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

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you stop Employee Theft and Internal Theft problems and help with your Employee Theft Investigation.