The biggest killer of small businesses is employee theft. Most small business owners have little or no experience in the field of Loss Prevention thus never seeing first hand the ravages employee theft can wreak upon a business if left unchecked. There are many tools that can both deter and catch a thieving employee. A business owner’s main goal should be to deter internal theft. There are several ways to deter employees from stealing but nothing is guaranteed to work 100%.

If an employee has their mind set to steal then losses will occur, it then becomes a cat and mouse game to catch this employee. Once again most small business owners have never conducted a quality employee theft investigation. One of the best ways to either deter or catch a employee stealing is purchasing a quality CCTV system. Once again, you can but the best camera system in town but you have to set it up so as to be able maximize the deterrence value and to be able to catch the employee stealing either product or cash.

I have performed many LP consultations for small business owners who had unfortunately never gave a thought to internal theft believing that they had the best employees on the planet since they were mostly either family or friends. Many times the consultation started off with me conducting an employee theft investigation and catching their employees “red handed” stealing from their businesses. At that point we had to discuss what mistakes they had made in setting up their business and how we could change it to deter further internal theft. Numerous times it started with the purchase and set up of a good CCTV system. I always ensured the registers were adequately covered to catch any “till taps” or product pass off’s known as “sweet hearting”. The next area I would ensure was covered was the stockroom where shipping and receiving occurred, a lot of product can disappear out the back door or be concealed in the stockroom. I would also suggest the owners implement a bag/pocket check to be conducted and logged every time an employee left the premises for any reason.

These few changes in a small business owner’s mindset and strategy saved their businesses. Purchasing and implementing the right tools allowed them to deter theft and conduct quality employee theft investigations. Deterrence is the key however when losses occur having the capability to switch to investigation mode will benefit any business owner.

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.

Any time I have ever worked on an employee theft investigation, there is always a series of “What Ifs” to go through. What if we had better controls in place? What if we hadn’t trusted them with the keys? What if we had noticed / paid attention to their personal problems? The list can go on and on.

It would be easy to let all those little what ifs slow you down. I know my store managers have a harder time with them because they take cases of employee theft personally. I tend to look at it as an unfortunate reality of the retail industry.

It is hard to get other managers and owners to become aware that statistically 2% of employees are stealing at any given point in time. Most managers, and especially small business owners have a hard time believing that an employee could be stealing from them.

If you have put your heart and soul and often your personal finances on the line as a small business owner, you tend to imagine that all of your employees (that you personally hired) are doing the same.

When I am called in for cases that revolve around high inventory costs, one of the last things an owner expects to hear is that I need to start an employee theft investigation.

When they see the end results, they are in shock and start to second-guess themselves with what ifs. While there are ways to prevent employee theft, sometimes you just have to realize that they would have found a way to steal, and it is time to move on.

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.

A common focus for businesses is to find and stop shoplifters from stealing merchandise, but they aren’t the only people who you have to keep an eye on. An employee, who know the in and outs, patterns and schedules could be your biggest trouble.

As a Loss Prevention Agent I’ve conducted internal theft investigations with great success. I have found greatest tool to stopping employee theft are not my eyes but the many eyes above. At anytime I can review tapes of high shrink and cash areas. This has assisted me from stopping internal theft at the cash registers. Most recently an employee would not ring up multiple items and pocket the cash. This was only caught by reviewing the camera tapes above their register.

A technique my store uses to scare off any shoplifters is a monitor above the front entrance that lets everybody know you are being watched and recorded. This monitor shows the front entrance and main cashier where most merchandise is being handled.

Another type of theft that is unfortunately common among workers is employee theft of one another. Most of the time it will happen in the break room, it will have low traffic thus leading some employees to believe this is a safe area for leaving their possessions on top of lockers or on tables. Prevention is the best solution, lock up all your possessions and don’t forget that new MP3 player in your jacket pocket.

For more information on employee theft, employee theft investigation or internal 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.

My most recent case of employee theft came about as a policy violation. I had a floating manager go lend a hand in one of my stores a few weeks ago. The Store’s manager, I guess, had forgotten that she was going to be there. As soon as she walked in the door, the SM suddenly realized that she had forgot to have someone ring up a pack of gum that she had clearly chewed most of.

While that didn’t seem like a huge red flag at the time, after my SM had left for the day, my visiting manger noticed that an employee was snacking up at the front registers. When asked, the employee said that they always do this and then whenever the SM has a chance, she comes by and rings them up.

By now, my visiting manger was starting to suspect that the door for employee theft was wide open. They called me to let me know that some things were not adding up.

The last clue came later on that night when they started taking the trash out. The store employees were putting everything into black, opaque trash bags instead of clear ones. Upon asking why they were being used, the employees said that it was what the SM used, so they did too.

It was clear that an employee theft investigation needed to begin. We were right too. The SM and a few other employees were all stealing. While we never did figure out how much was actually taken out of the store in those trash bags, we do know that it won’t happen again.

For more information on employee theft , employee theft investigation or internal 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.

When I first started in Loss Prevention many years ago, not every store had a good CCTV camera system in place. One store in particular had the Frankenstein system. It was pieced together from so many different system that our new service vendor would not work on it because of how patched together it was.

This store firmly believed that an eyewitness testimony was still far superior to anything else. No one can contest an eyewitness account because there isn’t any other evidence on the contrary.

For some situations, they were absolutely right. That is until I brought my first employee theft investigation to a close.

$54,000 admitted dollars later; my store was starting to realize what they had been missing, literally. Without a usable CCTV system, they were missing not only live instances of theft, but they had no way to review to see how far the scope of an employee theft investigation could take them.

They had been relying on live shots of employee theft. They didn’t realize that if the employee theft investigation produces previous instances of theft, than you can potentially seek restitution.  The only way to get that is to have 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. Bigger storage capacity, longer retention, clearer recordings and no one had to remember to change out a day’s VHS tape.

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.

The longer I work in retail the more I believe the phrase, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat”, was directed at theft.  There are two things to steal in retail.  One is money and the other is merchandise.  Even still there are dozens of ways to go about stealing both.  This is perhaps why internal theft (also called employee theft) is the number one loss category every year.  It is not easy to conduct an employee theft investigation, but it sure is necessary.

I have had to conduct an employee theft investigation at numerous gas stations recently.  One similarity between this internal theft is the clerks using voids to help them steal cash.  Here is how the activity works:

Customer comes to pay for merchandise like food or drinks and pulls out cash.

1. The clerk scans the merchandise so that the customer and the cameras show normal ringing activity.
2. The clerk then voids the sale.
3. The clerk then conducts a “No Sale” function to open the drawer, takes the customers money and gives them change (they do have to do the math in their head).
4. The clerk now has unaccounted for funds that he/she is free to take.

By voiding the sale the money taken in from the customer is not recognized by the register.  The employee can take this cash and the register will still show even.  This type of employee theft happens in most retail environments so I suggest checking your void reports and associates who trend higher than the rest are likely candidates for an employee theft investigation.

For more information on employee theft investigation, employee theft 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.

 

When it comes to employee theft there is nothing more irritating, more troublesome, than the theft of supplies.  Many employees do it; some deliberately, some accidentally, but it is so commonplace it is almost universally accepted as a simple fact of life regardless of the business.  The problem with it being so ‘accepted’ is that it is almost always disregarded and usually goes completely unpunished.  It is that kind of mentality that forces companies to waste millions of dollars on supplies.

Not only is there the waste factor, but there is the inherent frustration aspect of your business being short, or completely out of, a supply when it really needs it.  I can recall numerous instances where pens, paper towels, cleaning supplies, and even toilet paper has suddenly gone missing only to be discovered later that another employee had pilfered an obscene amount for their personal use.

A recent incident involved our warehouse becoming short on the store supplies of paper towels and water jugs for the water coolers.  At first it was just once in a while, but eventually entire stockpiles were going missing within days of shipments coming in.  After a lengthy stake-out and employee theft investigation we found that a ten-year veteran of the company had been moving large amounts of supplies to his vehicle over the course of his shifts at the beginning of each week and stockpiling them at his personal residence.  When it was acknowledged as a case of employee theft and he was brought in for an interview he denied any wrongdoing even when confronted with hard video evidence.  Eventually he admitted that he had been stealing supplies for years but claimed that he shouldn’t be punished since ‘everyone did it’.

Don’t allow your employees to think ANY kind of internal theft is okay.  Send them a message that stealing is wrong even if everyone does it.

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

 

An unfortunate reality of the retail business is that internal theft will occur.  By some estimates, internal theft accounts for over half of all loses across the retail sector.  Many companies are well equipped with teams of investigators to deal with employee theft.  For many smaller retailers this investment is not a reality.  Fortunately, there are companies out there are available for employee theft investigations.

These companies can provide your business with a thorough and conclusive employee theft investigation.  The process used is standard across the retail industry.  It has been developed and honed to produce consistent and measureable results.  When internal theft occurs, it is most often discovered after the fact.  This is why it is important to have a well-trained investigator complete the employee theft investigation.  The investigation should produce key information.  The first being who is responsible and the second being how the internal theft occurred.  These two pieces are invaluable to have when investigating employee theft.

These two pieces of investigative information are essential in developing a strategy for the interrogation/interview of the subject causing the employee theft.  It is during this phase of the employee theft investigation that it is discovered why the employee theft has occurred.  This is an important part of the overall process, as it allows the owner to discover what areas of their business are lacking.  Finally, at the end of the interview, the investigator can elicit information as to who else is involved in internal theft.  This gives the owner a greater return on their investment.  This is a proven process that is used by the industry leaders in the retail to investigate employee theft and internal theft.

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

Often I find that my team is focusing too much of their time and efforts on employee theft investigations into things like fraudulent discounts and other types of abuse at point of sale and they forget about the biggest kind of loss, merchandise theft. Don’t get me wrong, discount abuse and other fraudulent activity are important to identify and resolve. They can also be easy to find through some dedicated research, and the hard evidence is usually right there in front of you. This can lead to some solid cases and after a rigorous interview process it can frequently lead to admissions of merchandise theft, cash theft, and other dishonest activity as well. But what about those people who are only taking merchandise?

We catch an enormous amount of shoplifters in contrast to the few internal theft cases that we identify each year. Comparing the amount of time that a shoplifter spends in our building versus the time an average employee spends in our building, the employee has far greater opportunity to steal than the shoplifter does. While we are talking about time, how much of our time do we spend on cameras watching for employee theft opposed to the time we spend hunting for shoplifters? I know for us the difference is huge. So the question begs, how many more internal theft cases could we identify if we focused a little more of our time and surveillance on our employees. Recent surveys have found that 48% of losses are contributed to employee theft, and it has steadily been on the rise since 2008 surveys which contributed about 44% of losses to employee theft. The numbers are staggering. It makes me think we should probably be focusing a little more time and energy on our employee theft investigations.

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

This doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone company out there, but if your store or company possesses an employee run satellite property like a warehouse or shipping site you may want to give this a read.

Catching employee theft in your immediate vicinity is tough enough as it is.  If you give said employees a building all to themselves with nothing but product and time they will figure out a way to fleece you good.  Even if you implement standard methods of catching internal theft like installing cameras or making random inventory counts they will still find some way to get around it.

My store in particular has an off-site warehouse which is manned for eight hours out of the day by two members of the stock team.  It is a dull post and the warehouse is filled to the rafters with expensive product ranging from appliances to overstock clothing.  After a few reports of large quantities of items going missing my team conducted a full inventory of the property and found the stock levels were all wrong in comparison to what was in the system.  We tried reviewing the tapes from the warehouse cameras but came up with nothing.  Instead we used a more ‘old fashioned’ employee theft investigation to uncover the truth.

With an agreement from a nearby fast-food restaurant we established a rotation of stake-outs.  It is just as it sounds.  A member of my team, armed with a pad and a long zoom camera would sit in the parking lot across from the warehouse and watch it.

It took only two days of this to catch someone in the act.  It amounted to was a massive internal theft case that resulted in the prosecution of three employees because of their parts in the matter.  Sometimes it takes a more traditional approach to employee theft investigation to get results.

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