It can be quite exhilarating to uncover the occasional employee theft case.  It can become so thrilling for some that tunnel vision replaces logic and common sense when pursuing a case of internal theft. Let me give an example…

I had a cash register with more than a hundred dollar shortage back in the day. It was quite uncommon to be short more than five dollars in a day. We didn’t bother keeping a tracking log for less than five dollars for that very reason.

My heart sank when I discovered the shortage; just as quickly, I took a deep breath and decided it could be an error instead of internal theft and with a little research I would find the error.

I was on my way to disprove what appeared to be internal theft. It took very little time to comprehend how flawed I was in my assumption. The first cash transaction clearly indicated employee theft, or at least that’s what I thought at the time.

What actually happened in this scenario was that my employee rang up a low dollar transaction for a customer. The customer then handed her a hundred dollar bill. She tendered the transaction, handed him his change, and the hundred dollar bill.

I was shocked that my manager didn’t want to interview right away when I approached her to conduct the employee theft investigation. I could not understand delaying because the video was crystal clear and we had suffered a huge loss.

I soon learned that I needed to step back and consider that although the transaction had resulted in a loss, this loss did not inevitably mean that the employee was deliberately stealing. If we could not prove intent, we had no employee theft case.

For months I watched her like a hawk and discovered not even a single penny short in all that time. Perhaps she intended to return the hundred dollars; or perhaps she made a bad decision.

Either way, we could never prove it was employee theft and we were left with the situation unresolved because we could not develop a case against her with one solitary situation.  

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can halt employee theft and internal theft problems and assist with employee theft investigation.

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

Employee theft investigations require time. Internal theft is unlike the immediacy of watching your high shrink merchandise walk out the door with a shoplifter and subsequent apprehension.

When one observes a dishonest employee taking product or conducting a fraudulent refund on live surveillance, it is only the beginning of the process and one must move forward with patience and caution.

The true exposure or scope of internal theft is most often revealed through detailed exception based and statistical reporting. I have had many conversations regarding the importance and practicality of these reports.

On the one hand, reports should be the road map directing the employee theft investigation from point to point. The investigation may lead to further refunds or pass offs of merchandise. The reports may also indicate if other employees or outside parties are involved in the internal theft.

There really should be no surprises when running these reports if you truly have a pulse on your store and inventory. If employee theft has targeted a specific item, there should be no surprise that this particular item is on a high shrink list.

The employee theft investigation should reiterate the findings of statistical reports like excessive refunds or inventory losses. These reports should indicate specific areas of concern where employee theft likely is the culprit. Sudden spikes in the losses from certain product groups are good examples of this trend.

Reports will ultimately enhance and solidify every employee theft investigation, although the results could well become an example of what came first – the chicken or the egg.

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.

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

One of the more complicated employee theft incidents I investigated was tricky because I could find no clear-cut explanation that made sense to the associate in order to explain the fact that they were indeed stealing.

Ordinarily when I conduct the interview for employee theft, the employee being questioned is aware of their wrongdoing. They may attempt to justify, or deny, or blame someone else, but in their conscience, the employee knows what they are doing is wrong.

This particular store had a cosmetics department with testers for eye shadow, lipsticks, and of course, perfume at the different manufacturer’s counters. It wasn’t uncommon to see an employee occasionally walk by and give a little spritz as they walked to their selling department.

Sometimes an employee would try a new shade of lipstick on a break. The employees were respectful for the most part and often purchased the items they tested. We stayed out of the way because this was no different from how we would treat a customer doing the same thing.

An employee came fuming to me one day because another employee made a habit of applying their full makeup every day from the testers. This employee would then take the lipsticks and eyeliners with them.

It was a hard sell when I talked to this employee because the makeup had no actual retail value. I explained moderation, I explained respect for other associates, and I explained employee theft and company property. Nothing resonated with this employee.

While this employee is no longer employed with the store, I think she still wants to believe that it is OK to take something that doesn’t belong to her, as long as it doesn’t have a price tag.

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

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

Not every store had a good CCTV camera system in place when I started working in Loss Prevention many years ago. One store in particular had what I call the “Frankenstein System”. Our new service vendor would not work on it because of how patched together it was from so many different systems.

To their extreme misfortune, this store firmly believed that an eyewitness account was far superior to anything, including a good CCTV camera system. They believed that no one can contest an eyewitness account because there is no evidence to the contrary.

They were absolutely right for some situations. Unfortunately that leaves room for error in other situations as I quickly discovered upon concluding one of my earliest memories of an employee theft investigation.

My store was beginning to recognize what they had been missing – literally – $54,000 admitted dollars later. They were missing not only live instances of theft without a usable CCTV system; they also had absolutely no way to review and determine the scope of where a proper employee theft investigation would take them in the discovery and verification of internal theft.

They had been relying on eye witness accounts for employee theft apprehension. What they failed to realize was – the employer can potentially seek restitution if an employee theft investigation produces previous instances of theft.  Unfortunately in this instance, the only way to produce that information is with a comprehensive CCTV system that not only allows you to see the live action, but also a recordable set up as well.

I recommend a digital system. A digital system provides larger storage capacity, longer retention, clearer recordings, and no one has to remember to change out each day’s VHS tape.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that help eliminate employee theft and internal theft problems as well as facilitate employee theft investigation.

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

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 employee theft. It might not the best idea to leave them unsupervised at night. I think you are just asking to start an 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 employee theft. You see, it is not just about keeping a door locked or having retail anti-theft devices that prevent internal theft. It is having another set of eyes on them to keep an employee honest.

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.

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.

Most of the shrink in the average retail store is a result of employee theft – simply because employees have more access to company assets. Associates exhibit the same telling behaviors as shoplifters do when engaged in illegal activities. Close observation of both shoppers and employees is imperative in the ongoing battle to thwart “sticky fingers”.

Any sudden changes in an associate’s behavior should definitely warrant suspicion that internal theft is a distinct possibility. Other suspicious behaviors that should wave a red flag include an employee who seems overly friendly, complains about their financial situation or that they are underpaid, as well as an associate who has frequent visits from friends and family at the store.

I once encountered an associate while I was working as an LP professional who frequently complained to fellow coworkers and everyone who would listen that he was unhappy at home and couldn’t make ends meet. One day this same associate came into work with a high-end set of $200 headphones and a new MP3 player.  He continued to complain about his financial situation. Within the same week, he was gloating about a designer belt and showing everyone the receipt for $400 cash.

I decided to conduct the employee theft investigation when this information triggered awareness of the contradiction of words and actions. We posted a covert CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) camera above the register in the department in which he usually worked.

We caught the associate red-handed stealing cash from the register after a few weeks of surveillance.  He admitted making duplicate receipts for customers who were paying with large amounts of cash when questioned about the theft. He used those receipts to void the transactions later at his register and pocketed the money at the end of his shift.

Being observant of associate behaviors may lead to an employee theft discovery. Having a reliable CCTV system in your store can play an integral role in initiating, conducting, and facilitating the successful employee theft investigation to rid your business of undesirable associates as well as serve a warning to others.

Visit the Loss Prevention Store to purchase CCTV Systems that can help you halt employee theft and internal theft challenges and facilitate an employee theft investigation.

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

I ran a store that did a thriving mail order business. It was a great way to capture sales from customers not only in the area, but also some of the tourist shoppers as well. It was a little too late when I found out that one of my employees was committing internal theft through our postal process.

I didn’t have any real indication that while it was going on that I should have started an employee theft investigation. In fact, this employee stayed so far under the radar that the only reason I had any suspicions was because of another employee.

The employee that was running the mail orders had quit to find a job somewhere else. He had gone out with one of my other employees and had confided in them how much product he had taken and how easy it was to get away with it.

He had been shipping orders out to his home address and to the addresses of his friends. These orders were never paid for. Because we didn’t do an audit on 100% of the packages, his employee theft was undetected. He would hold his personal packages behind until the mailman was about to come by. Then he would slip his packages in with everything else.

There was no record of the packages, and there was only a slight influx in postage. It would have been the perfect crime had he only kept his mouth shut.

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.

If you have a cash shortage problem, then you have an employee theft problem. While it does happen, it is very rare that someone who does not work in your store causes cash shortage.

One of the first things that should be done is to maintain a daily cash over and short log. It is the first at a glance look at what is going on with your cash. You have to have a handle on when and where you are missing cash, as well as tracking any overages.

To be accurate, you need to create a chart that lists the sales date, the dollar amount short or over, and the employees who had access to that register on that day. They could be cashiers, or managers that might have a key to the drawer, or someone who reconciles the drawer either at opening or closing.

You might decide to only track discrepancies over a certain dollar amount – say plus or minus five dollars.

Now that you have your chart made, you need to document all of your cash discrepancies. Over time, perhaps a week or maybe even a month, you should start to see a pattern emerge. If the same cashier is working on every day there is a discrepancy, or maybe there is a pattern (cash shortages on Fridays when there isn’t a paycheck) you probably have an issue with internal theft.

Start an employee theft investigation by monitoring that employee’s activities. You might find that they are stealing, or it might just be a simple training issue.

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 sometimes do loss prevention consultations for small business owners. Usually I don’t go in as loss prevention specifically.  Generally I go in as an overall operational consultant. It is easier to offer my services that way rather than saying I am here to see who is stealing from you. No owner wants to hear they have employee theft.

The most recent consultation I did was for a little convenience market. There were very few policies in place, which made it that much easier for internal theft to take place. The owner was too insecure about being a tough boss. He wanted to be easy going, and easy to work with. I think he was afraid that if he acted too much like a boss, his employees would leave, or he would not find anyone who wanted to be hired for his shop.

Unfortunately, because of his lack of policies, his employees took advantage of him. They arrived late for work and frequently called in unable to work. This caused animosity to the other employees who were held up waiting for replacements to show up and relieve them of their shifts.

The employees were also allowed to ring themselves up. Several employees again took advantage of the situation. Knowing no one would check their purchases; they started adding extra, unpaid items to their bags.

My employee theft investigation ended with the termination of half of his staff for theft. It also opened his eyes to the importance of having policies in place.

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 love exception based reporting. It is one of the best resources I have when I conduct an employee theft investigation. What is exception based reporting? Well the definition is probably sounds a bit more complicated than what it really is.  Article has moved – Read full article here

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.