Employee Theft — Page 34

Why Employees Steal In Retail Loss Prevention, Atlanta

June 3, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Over the 30 plus years the thousands of employees I caught during retail loss prevention theft investigations told me the reasons why they stole from their employers. One of the very most common reasons has been something like: “as a favor to help a friend out”. All of us refer to this as peer pressure. What still amazes me to this day is that an employee commits a serious felony that will potentially cause the loss of their freedom and civil penalties to help someone else out.

Many of us loss prevention and security professionals have heard this same reason over and over so many times. Why do they do it? There are several interesting factors. The main one being their age. We hear this a lot from 16 to 22 year olds. I feel this is because they think that fitting in with these so-called “buddies” is more important to them. That thought process is pretty strange to the rest of us until you think back to your own life when you were at that age. You may have started drinking or did something else that you now look back and say, “What in the world was I thinking?” All of this in order to “be friends”.

People in that age bracket also seem to feel like they are immune and they will not get caught. In that situation I always chuckle about the loss prevention investigations I conducted where a younger employee thought that they were the only one that ever thought of void or refund fraud, cash theft or some other retail theft that I had already put 500 people prior to them in jail for.

One retail loss prevention investigation I conducted is a particularly good example. Two 18 year old employees, female and male who had were girlfriend and boyfriend made the decision to steal cash and merchandise in the thousands of dollars. Their belief was that no one knew what they were doing. They thought that they were smarter that the rest of us including the manager.

The manager contacted me to start a loss prevention investigation after she noticed discrepancies in both merchandise and cash. I put the evidence together and it became very clear that it was the girlfriend/boyfriend. During the interviews with each of them I discovered the reason, they were stealing for each other (isn’t love great?) and they didn’t think anyone else would figure it out. They got to spend the next several years on probation paying back the retailer with interest and many hours of community service. They were put into separate community service programs since the Judge thought their love needed a little break.

Your loss prevention program should take these types of reasons into account if you want to keep your merchandise, assets and cash on YOUR bottom line. Make it clear to ALL employees that you will not tolerate any loss or theft. The only thing they are allowed to leave the store with that they did not bring in is the air in their lungs. The rest does not belong to them.

For more information on loss prevention security, retail loss prevention or loss prevention in general please contact us or call 1.770.426.0547

Narcissistic Behaviors

June 2, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Employee theft is probably one of the hardest forms of theft to detect and resolve. The problem is that these employees have an advantage over you. They know your systems, they know who is observant, and they know when the best times to steal are. Employees also have access to different processes and assets that shoplifters do not have.

An employee who is embezzling money, instead of stealing merchandise, typically will not show indicators that would make you initially suspicious. What we have found over years of investigations and interviews is that these employees do show other behavioral patterns. When combined with certain access to accounts, billing, and cash processing, the behavior should be a red flag to their employers.

The first warning sign is the employee displaying any overtly narcissistic behaviors. The textbook definition is that a narcissistic personality is a person who is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process.

Typically these employees will build themselves, their position and their responsibilities up. They withdraw other employee access to their jobs, saying the other employees simply cannot perform the job functions satisfactorily. The other employees are under qualified, and the employee is the only one who can do the job right.

They will then validate and secure their positions by saying they are the only ones who can do their job. What would you do if I left? No one else can do this, I have to be here. They will often change the way processes are done, or have their own filing system. They will do anything they can to simultaneously confuse anyone who attempts to look in on what they are doing, and validate how complicated their job is; in essence creating their own job security.

What they are actually doing is finding ways to keep everyone else out of their paperwork. If they are embezzling, they are siphoning money by creating false invoices or payments, they can be creating write offs, even when a customer pays in full. They can be floating money from one account to another to cover up the cash they are taking.

The solution is to be wary of any employee who is displaying these narcissistic behaviors. They are building themselves up, while pushing blame onto those around them in an attempt to derail you from becoming suspicious of them. Next, make sure you have a check and balance system in place. There should be a standard way to handle all accounting practices. No one should create their own system. This system should also have a periodic audit to ensure compliance and integrity of your books.

Even though it makes more sense financially to hire only one person to do all of your paperwork and accounting, have a second person split the responsibilities. Accounts payable and accounts receivable (sales, receiving, cash management) functions should be split to lessen the likely hood of an employee embezzling money from you.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, loss prevention, Loss Prevention Workshop, Periodic inventory, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

The Last Four Digits

June 2, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

There have been several well-publicized security breaches lately of some major national retailers. The breaches have been in their credit and debit card payment processing servers. Unknown hackers have been able to extract data that should have been encrypted to prevent unauthorized usage of this credit card data.

Anytime a credit or debit card is used at a cash register, the card machine captures the information on the magnetic strip. From there the information is scrambled about (encrypted) as it is sent to the respective banks to make the actual charge on the payment cards.

It was during the transmission of this encrypted information that hackers were able to capture the actual data, not the encrypted version. This left millions of consumers with compromised credit/ debit card information.

Now that this information is out there, the criminal element has access to it. Many underground websites will offer batches of credit card numbers, expiration dates, and often the verification codes on the backs of the cards. All of this information is sold for the right price.

Once the information is in hand, the criminals can make a new credit card. A typical process is to take a blank credit card and emboss the name (or alias) of the person going to use the card. If a cashier were to check the ID, it would then match.
The stolen information is put onto new magnetic strips, and these strips are put onto the card blank. Since the criminals will use the same card blank with multiple stolen card numbers, a generic credit card number is embossed on the card blank. The magnetic strip is the only thing changed out for each new stolen card number.

Since larger retailers are keeping a more watchful eye out for stolen cards, many criminals are going to smaller business that may not have the same level of security in place, but might carry just as desirable merchandise. To protect your business, the easiest way to verify a legitimate credit card vs. a criminal made stolen card is to verify the last four digits of the card being used.

The actual credit card (the stolen card) information is what your cash register will capture. It is extremely unlikely that the last four digits of the stolen card information will match the last four digits of the credit card number embossed into the card being presented. Any discrepancy in the two numbers should immediately be declined.

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Catch All The Steps- Loss Prevention Seminars

June 2, 2014 by Staff Editor

Loss prevention seminars are extremely important if you are going to make shoplifting apprehensions in your store. The elimination of even one step can create a huge lawsuit and liability for your business.

First, you need to see the subject enter the store. The point is to see what they have, what they are wearing or carrying, so you can conversely know what merchandise they are stealing from you.

Secondly, you need to see them enter the area where the merchandise is sold. You absolutely need to see them select (pick up) the merchandise in question.

Again, this ensures you can verify the merchandise is absolutely your property and not theirs.

At this point you need to see them conceal the product or otherwise demonstrate that they are intending to steal.

Maintain constant observation of the merchandise. If you loose contact, can you be sure they did not discard the merchandise somewhere along the way? Some shoplifters do get spooked and drop the product.

Finally they need to exit the store and pass the last point of sales.

Loss prevention training is designed to assist retailers with making decisions to stop shoplifting or not. These loss prevention seminars are out there to further expound on these steps, and explain the subtle nuances that can arise during an actual shoplifting stop. That way the retailer can make a better determination if shoplifting apprehensions would be beneficial to their stores.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems website for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

First, you need to see the subject enter the store. The point is to see what they have, what they are wearing or carrying, so you can conversely know what merchandise they are stealing from you.

Secondly, you need to see them enter the area where the merchandise is sold. You absolutely need to see them select (pick up) the merchandise in question.

Again, this ensures you can verify the merchandise is absolutely your property and not theirs.

At this point you need to see them conceal the product or otherwise demonstrate that they are intending to steal.

Finally they need to exit the store and pass the last point of sales.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Visit the Loss Prevention Systems for more information on Retail Employee Theft and Retail Shoplifting problems and view the Retail Loss Prevention Seminars, Retail Loss Prevention Training and Retail Loss Prevention Workshop we offer to help with your Employee Theft and Shoplifting problems.

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Anti Shoplifting Devices and your ROI

May 30, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

If you have a retail store, regardless of the products you choose to sell, there is always the risk of people walking out with merchandise without paying for it. How do you protect yourself from this happening, and how do you stop shrinkage from recurring in a daily basis? The initial investment you make in anti shoplifting devices can protect your business and offer you a ROI and peace of mind at the same time.

Follow the links below for more news about shoplifting.

The Value Of Anti Shoplifting Devices

Merchants everywhere know how theft impacts their annual revenue. Shop owners lose billions in revenue each year because of shoplifters. The financial damage caused by this crime is felt by retailers and the entire economy. To protect their livelihood, merchants need to install anti shoplifting devices and security systems that are reliable. To find the right system, retailers must understand how each system will work for them.

Security and anti theft tools have been designed specifically for the merchant. There are several different gadgets that are available that can include point of sale and audio monitors, video surveillance, inventory monitoring tools, and cameras. An anti shoplifting tool may be a combination of exit sensors and anti theft tags. The tags must be removed the a clerk during check out. If an item is taken through the door with the tag in place it sensor is triggered and an alarm is sounded.

Every shop has specific needs in regard to its security system. The shops requirements for security will be determined by several things. An example is the actual physical layout of the building. Also, the amount of traffic the establishment attracts daily, and the kind of merchandise the sore offers will influence the type of security that is needed. Stores that sell small digital and electronic items are much harder to monitor than those that sell larger merchandise like furniture.

Suffolk Police looking for Walmart shoplifting suspects

Suffolk Police are looking to identify two suspects involved in a shoplifting incident at the Walmart in the 6200 block of College Drive on May 11th at approximately 1:45 p.m.

Police say surveillance cameras show the suspects scanning items at the self-checkout, but they did not scan all of the items. They also returned to the sales floor and placed additional items in their shopping cart without paying.

Both are described as black males in their mid-30s. They were both wearing white t-shirts, and one suspect was further described as bald with a beard and wearing sunglasses, and the second suspect had a short haircut and small mustache.

One of the suspects left the scene on foot while the other left in a white Dodge pickup truck.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Line at 1-888-Lock-U-Up.

Women accused in East Coast shoplifting ring arrested at NC Target

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Police said two women who helped swipe hundreds of thousands of dollars in items from stores along the East Coast were finally caught in the Charlotte area.

Police told WSOC-TV that a loss prevention agent at a Target store on Bayfield Parkway saw Shiann Johnson and Destiny Williams preparing to steal items from the store Sunday.

He called police, who surrounded the store.

One woman was caught inside. Officials said the other woman made a run for it and was caught at the Buffalo Wild Wings nearby.

Kannapolis police said the agent in Target was familiar with their method emptying a filing cabinet box, stuffing $6,000 of electronics into it, then paying for the just the cabinet and walking out.

Police said the pair is from Brooklyn, New York, and part of a larger theft ring that has been doing the same thing all along the East Coast stealing from Target and CVS stores.

Police said they got thank you calls from both corporate offices after the arrest and they said the group is accused of stealing $200,000 in total from various stores.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-theft devices, anti-theft tags, anti-thefts devices, EAS Devices, Employee Theft, retail security, retail security and monitoring, Shoplifting Prevention

A Larger Audience- Loss Prevention Seminars

May 28, 2014 by Staff Editor

When businesses take a stand against shoplifting losses within their walls, the community takes notice. Instead of going somewhere else, the community comes to you. They begin to share a positive message of your stores, thus growing your business as more customers come to you for their shopping needs.

The question is, however, how do you take that initial stand against shoplifting?

Many larger retailers are encouraging their employees to get their Loss Prevention Certification from the Loss Prevention Foundation. These retailers are ones who have the luxury of employing full time loss prevention personnel.

This formalized training and certification is expensive, too expensive for most small businesses. It would be difficult to get the return on that investment, especially if you were looking for loss prevention training that could be disseminated to your entire team of employees and managers. That doesn’t mean that it is not beneficial to have this kind of training.

By attending more affordable loss prevention seminars, you can get your entire team involved and educated. Benefits to this kind of loss prevention training include better job performance by providing awareness of methods and kinds of losses that retailer’s incur. They can improve competencies needed to resolve shrink losses and implications. They can also improve the perception of your company or business within the community.

When you find loss prevention seminars that are affordable to your entire team, you will get the same information and knowledge that you would through the loss prevention certification. The difference is more employees can attend, and you can gear the loss prevention seminars to the information that you need for your stores specifically.

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

The question is, however, how do you take that initial stand against shoplifting?

For more information on Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, or Loss Prevention Workshop contact us or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia

Filed Under: Seminar Tagged With: Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Seminar, Loss Prevention Seminars, Loss Prevention Training, Loss Prevention Workshop, shoplifting

Is Your Store Protected From Shoplifters?

May 27, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

According to a post by New York magazine 70% of retail stores in the United States have visible CCTV in their stores compared to 40% of stores that have them hidden. Only 33% of retail stores have a plain clothes store detective; that means that for small business owners hiring a full time security guard for their store is just not feasible. Although security devices have come a long way now, many stores owners seek other options for the security of their stores. Do you think your store is protected? Read some of the stories about shoplifting below.

Shoplifting suspects sought after bite attack on Madison store manager

Two women suspected of shoplifting from Burlington Coat Factory in Madison and biting a manager who tried to stop them remained at large Monday.

A manager at the store, 6905 Odana Road, told police she tried to stop two women who were stealing clothes Saturday evening when one of the women became violent, biting her arm and punching her face, according to an incident report.

The women fled in a car. Madison police said Monday they have tentatively identified the primary suspect, but both she and the other suspect remain at large.

Walmart employee charged with stealing from register

Decatur police said a Walmart employee was charged with theft after she stole cash from the register.

On Sunday, Walmart reported to police that one of its employees, identified as 18-year-old Danielle Hyderia Marie Gill, had stolen cash. During the investigation, police said they learned that over a week, Gill stole more than $500 from a register.

Police said that Gill was transported to their department for further investigation later that day. Gill was charged with one count of theft of property in the second degree.

Gill was processed into Decatur City Jail and transferred to Morgan County Jail on a $2,500 bond.

Vacaville man arrested on suspicion of theft of $400,000 worth of wine

AMERICAN CANYON Following the loss of about 350 cases of wine at a local warehouse, Napa Sheriff detectives Tuesday arrested a warehouse employee at his Vacaville apartment, authorities said.

The theft was discovered about 11:40 a.m. Friday when American Canyon police responded to a report of theft at a wine storage facility in the 600 block of Hanna Drive in the industrial area.

The warehouse reported that about 350 cases of wine, worth more than $400,000, was missing and had been, possibly, stolen, according to a Napa Sheriff s press release.

Officers found no signs of forced entry. That, combined with the large volume of wine missing, led law enforcement to suspect an employee might be responsible for the missing wine.

Criminal Prosecution for Employee’s Theft of Employer’s Documents May Proceed, New Jersey Court Rules

An employee who removes or copies her employer’s documents for use in her whistleblower or discrimination case may be prosecuted criminally for stealing, a New Jersey state court has ruled. State v. Saavedra, No. A-1449-12T4 (App. Div. Dec. 24, 2013). The employee had taken highly confidential original documents owned by her employer, contending that she did so to support her employment discrimination suit. The Court’s decision could have serious implications on whistleblower claims in the state.

Facts

The North Bergen Board of Education employed Ivonne Saavedra as a clerk. In November 2009, Saavedra filed a complaint against the Board, her supervisor, an office manager, and a North Bergen Township Commissioner alleging claims of employment discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliatory discharge in violation of the New Jersey’s whistleblower law, the Conscientious Employee Protection Act (“CEPA”), and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”). During pre-trial discovery, the employer learned that Saavedra had possession of hundreds of documents owned by the Board, including 69 originals, a number of which contained highly sensitive information, which she evidently had removed or copied without permission.

Grand Jury

The Board’s general counsel notified the Hudson County prosecutor that Saavedra had the Board’s documents. The prosecutor determined the matter should be presented to a grand jury for possible criminal action.

Filed Under: Shoplifting Prevention Tagged With: anti-thefts devices, Employee Theft, Loss Prevention Training, mobile POS loss prevention, retail security and monitoring, security devices, Shoplifting Prevention, surveillance

Which Way Would Your Employees Go? – Shoplifting

May 21, 2014 by Staff Editor

The best way is to learn the five steps retailers’ use and how to legally approach a shoplifter is to attend a loss prevention workshop. There they can walk you through the steps and answer most of the legal questions you might have when it comes to approaching and apprehending a shoplifter.

While it might seem like common sense as to how to make the approach, it is surprising how many employees make their own deviations and decide what is best at the time. I have seen the following examples happen when employees have accused customers of shoplifting.

You walk up to them, outright accuse them and demand to search their bags to find the (suspected) stolen items.

For others, the answer is to not confront them and to call the police to have them arrested.

The rest of the employees have determined that the best approach is one of denial- “He was a shoplifter? Really? I didn’t notice.”

If you accuse a shoplifter directly, you open yourself up to a variety of scenarios.

The first is an open/ aggressive confrontation can escalate into a potentially dangerous situation. The shoplifter might be armed, or prepared to fight his way out.

If you do not have any proof of the shoplifting act and are relying on your “gut feeling”, you might open yourself and your business up to a wrongful detainment/ accusation lawsuit. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars and potentially negative press. Same thing goes for calling the police without actual proof.

A passive/ non-existent approach can lead to shoplifters coming back because they do not fear getting caught.