Each employee theft investigation I have ever worked on has had its own very specific twists and turns. It sometimes took a lot of creativity on my part to figure out just what they were doing and how they would get away with it. In each case of employee theft there was always one common trait- The Curve.

The Curve is the point that an employee’s thefts swing upward in frequency, severity or both. While this is often the easiest time to identify an internal theft situation, it is also the most costly for a store.

When an employee first starts to steal they do it small. They will pick a low dollar amount of cash, or a single item to pocket or give to a friend. Then they wait. They wait to see if anyone notices, or calls them out on it. Once they realize that no one noticed, they are well onto the second step of employee theft.

This is the stage where they start to work out all the kinks in their plan. A change in how often they feel comfortable stealing. They will gradually increase the dollars of their losses to the stores. Still, they are tentative that someone may notice what is going on. This stage could last for weeks or months depending on how long it took them between their first and second thefts.

If they have yet to be questioned, The Curve is now in effect. This is the dangerous time where employee theft is rampant. They are comfortable in their MO and will steal with reckless abandon. They are confident that since they haven’t been caught yet, they have beaten the system.

It is here that they show up consistently on exception reporting. Their pattern has emerged and they are now the low hanging fruit of employee theft investigations.

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

One of the biggest issues a business can encounter is rampant employee theft. Most small businesses do not factor in shrink losses into their business plan when laying out a strategy for hopeful success. These same excited business owners can’t wait to flip on the “open” sign but many do not and have not any idea the problems internal theft can and more likely will cause them.

Having a shoplifter enter your business who steals $50.00 in product on one occasion is a scary enough thought ; imagine, when you do the math, how much you have to actually sell to make up that $50.00 loss. Now hypothetically envision you hired that shoplifter, gave them keys to your business, your stockroom and your registers. Visualize that every shift that “employee” works they steal $50.00. Would you have any idea how to conduct an employee theft investigation? Would you have any idea that it was internal theft? Would you be blind in trust of your employees that you would not even think to consider the losses could be a result of employee theft? Let that soak in a bit because this is what happens to business owners everyday and many never recover. As stated earlier employee theft is the biggest business killer on the block.

So what can you do? Preferably you start your business plan including loss prevention in the initial budget, but what if you didn’t? Can you catch up? Is it too late? The first thing to do is access the controls you currently have in place. Start with your hiring process. Do you have a pre employment screening process? Do you conduct employee/criminal background checks? If not then how do you know you aren’t hiring the “shoplifter” we discussed earlier? Do you ask pertinent questions during the job interview process? Do you take notes and conduct follow up interviews to flesh out any potential issues? Do you have a new hire orientation explaining that your company conducts employee theft investigations and prosecutes anyone caught stealing?

What physical loss prevention tools do you have currently? Do you have cameras? Where are the cameras pointing? Are they set up over the registers to deter internal theft? Are they set up in your stockroom to aid in potential employee theft investigations? Do you have any “pin hole” camera kits to aid in internal theft investigations? Do you have anyone employed who is trained to conduct an employee theft investigation? Do you have daily inventory category counts of product to monitor losses? Do you have daily register audits? Do you ensure employees count in and out on their own registers? Do you conduct bag and pocket checks whenever an employee leaves your business?

It is never to late to take steps to deter employee theft. The key is setting up a strategy that starts with the hiring and orientation, then set up your physical controls (cameras/audits etc). Deterrence does not work on everyone so it is important to ensure that you always consider every loss incurred as being perpetrated by an employee. You should take steps to narrow the focus of when the losses occurred, who was working and who had access to the items stolen. At this point you can utilize your daily reports and cameras to catch the employee who is committing the loss. Once you have gathered the evidence and obtain a confession (I recommend that only a trained interviewer conduct a loss prevention interview). Then it is very important to follow through with conviction and termination. That will also help deter other employees from conducting internal theft.

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

I recently concluded an employee theft investigation. This was a little different than ones I had previously worked on. This case of employee theft wasn’t just about an employee in my store stealing; it was about a partnership between an employee and a vendor.

I was noticing through routine audits that paperwork for some direct from vendor merchandise seemed to be incomplete for a very long time. The policy was within 24 hours, but this manager waited for weeks to complete it. After questioning the manager as to why it took so long, and reiterating the 24-hour policy, it still wasn’t completed.

After the first month or so, I noticed serious discrepancies in what we had for inventory and what we had in invoiced amounts. There was an increase in the orders, but no increase in sales or stock levels in the store. I immediately started an employee theft investigation on the manager.

One of the first steps I took to determine if it was an employee theft case was to watch the deliveries on CCTV. Sure enough, this manager greeted the same delivery guy for each order. Then the delivery guy loaded up cases of the product in question. Under normal circumstances, it would not be unusual for this vendor to remove any “old” product. Since the manger did not record and charge the vendor back for these cases (per policy), I knew I had a case of employee theft.

The end result of this employee theft investigation was that the manager let the vendor take out cases of product but never charged them back to the company. This way the vendor kept his high commission of the product. The manager later met up with the vendor and took the cases home with her for personal use.

This was a case where the paper led a trail in an unexpected way to employee theft.

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

There are many ways that we as retailer can take losses due to internal theft (also called employee theft).  We are vulnerable to the obvious theft of cash.  Also, like shoplifters, employees can steal merchandise as well.  A surprising cause of internal theft is what we call “sweethearting”.  This is where employees steal by giving breaks to others.  These breaks can come in the form of extra discounts and can also be done by pass-offs.  Pass-offs are when the employee bags the merchandise and “passes it off” without scanning it for purchase.  These instances of “sweethearting” can be done to aid co-workers, friends and family members.

The only way to find out if this is going on in your store is to conduct an employee theft investigation.  An employee theft investigation into pass-offs can be hard to do.  Personally, I suggest using a trained Loss Prevention Professional as they are skilled at performing this type of complex investigation.  However, if you choose to look into this on your own, here are some tips I suggest.

First, keep an eye out for cashiers or associates who always have friends and family members hanging around.  Since most theft is a crime of opportunity, these individuals would be a high risk category.  Another thing to look for are customers who are adamant about going through a particular line.  There may be a shorter line available, but they decline to move.  I know that some customers develop a relationship with certain employees, but it is odd that a customer declines a faster checkout experience.  They may be getting hook-ups from the employee whose line they are in and that is why they don’t want to move.  Finally, look at employees who have high amounts of markdowns.  All of these things can help you root out employee theft in your store.

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

Employee theft is unfortunately part of the reality of operating a small or large business.  Employee theft is measured at being responsible for over half of all retail industry shortage.  Any business owner should be aware of this activity and take the appropriate measure to address it.   Employee theft can manifest itself through internal collusion or assisting in the theft by an external party.  Most often though internal theft is the primary form of employee theft that impacts businesses.

Internal theft happens in many different ways.  Most retail businesses have cashiers.  These cashiers have access to many assets.  Retail cashiers have access to the register funds.  Their access to this and the level of direct supervision often create and environment that is conducive to internal theft.  It is just not a business’s cashiers that can cause a loss.  Any employee in your organization has access to assets.  The stock workers have access to your inventory, the facilities staff often work unsupervised and afterhours, and the management staff has direct access to the safe and reserve funds.  As demonstrated, every employee could potentially cause a loss.

If a business is experiencing employee theft, the next step should be to begin employee theft investigations.  An employee theft investigation should begin when an owner or leader notices that a loss has occurred or as a routine measure.   The employee theft investigation’s goal should be to uncover and resolve internal theft issues.  The employee theft investigation can employ the use of loss prevention personnel, interviewers, CCTV systems, personnel surveillance, and controlled auditing.  Whatever the leaders choice, the end goal should not only be removing the guilty party, but also identify any control or supervision issues.   The employee theft investigation can also support an course correction that might be needed.

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

Businesses are facing the growing problem of employees taking advantage of their employers.  In my extensive experience in the retail sector, I have seen some brazen acts of internal theft perpetrated against employers.  Internal theft or employee theft occurs when an agent or employee of a company steals from the company.  Internal theft was by far one of the most costly forms of theft I have seen in all my years working as a loss prevention manager.

I remember a case of employee theft where I began an employee theft investigation based on a tip I received from another associate.  The employee theft investigation focused on cash shortages.  I noticed that there was a pattern of small cash shortages occurring every time a specific associate worked.  During the employee theft investigation I learned that the associate would always do a no sale and open the drawer just before leaving to go to lunch.  I decided to conduct video surveillance of the associate and saw that when she did the no sale, she would remove cash from the drawer.

Once I had concluded the employee theft investigation and brought the associate in for an interview the associate was told that they was seen removing money from the register and not placing it back into the register.  The associate admitted that they were taking the money out of the register and they used the money to buy their lunch.  The associate said they started doing this shortly after they began working.  The associate admitted to employee theft in the amount $300.00 in cash.  The associate had only been with the company a couple of months and was well on their way of costing the company thousands in cash losses.  It is unlikely that the associate would have not escalated the theft to begin taking merchandise as well.

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

There is a new trend of employee theft (also known as internal theft) that I am finding in my stores.  This internal theft concerns gift cards.  Generally gift cards are hard to steal since most don’t have any value until rung in the POS system.  If a cashier tries to ring up a gift card and does not put money in the register then the till will show short and the theft is obvious so this does not happen often.  I completed an employee theft investigation a few months ago that has yielded a new twist and turned into several internal theft investigations.

What I found during this employee theft investigation was that the cashier used coupons to “pay” for the gift card.  Here is how this theft is occurring.  Many stores (especially as we approach the holidays) carry gift cards to a variety of other stores.  Most all stores have in house gift cards available for purchase as well.  The cashier will ring up the gift card when no one is around and then use coupons that have already been redeemed by other customers to “pay” for that gift card.  The register thinks the card was paid for so no shortage occurs in the till.  It is not until you reconcile the coupons that you find that you do not physically have as many as the system shows were redeemed.  In many stores that take in mass quantity of coupons (such as grocery stores) those coupons get sent to a third party and the store may never see the chargeback that hit their cash line when the coupons are “redeemed” with the vendor.

In order to pick up on this type of employee theft I suggest looking at a few things.  First, keep an eye for gift cards and coupons lying around the registers that don’t belong.  Also, look at employee purchases with gift cards and then trace the origin of that card to see how it was valuated.

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

Tis the season for greetings, gifts and theft.  As hard as it is to swallow, the holidays seem to bring out the worst in employees, especially those seasonal employees we hire to handle the increase in customer traffic.  Employee theft (also known as internal theft) between now and the new year will be the highest of the year so I recommend you start now keeping a close eye on your workers.

When I conduct an employee theft investigation I always try to find out “why” the theft occurred.  Here is what I have found about holiday theft.  One, everyone is under increased pressure to come up with extra money for Christmas gifts.  Many individuals (especially now) are living paycheck to paycheck so this increase in funds may not be readily available.  With that said kids expect a visit from Santa and the spouse deserves something nice under the tree so that forces generally honest employees into a tough spot.

The second major theme is that seasonal help has no loyalty to a company.  Our regular employees need the company to perform well so they keep jobs, benefits, 401K’s, etc.  Seasonal help has no such long term use for the company.  They are there to get their holiday money and whatever else they can get away with.  Now I realize this is a little jaded of a view and there are, in fact, some great seasonal workers.  What I am trying to illustrate is that as a whole the need to care for the company’s well-being is not the goal, but personal gain is so this causes the trend to be higher that employee theft will come from seasonal help.  Finally, the ability to conduct an employee theft investigation is hampered by increased business and short time frames before the seasonal positions end. Internal theft is a real fact of business so be ready to protect your profits this holiday season.

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

There are many ways that internal theft (or employee theft) can cut into our profits.  Employees have access to many things that shoplifters don’t.  For example, employees can access large amounts of backstock merchandise while shoplifters can only steal the small quantities we put on the shelves.  Many high dollar items are locked in cases so shoplifters can’t steal them.  Guess who has the keys?  The employees do.  We keep our cash locked tight in registers, safes and use armed guards to transport it to the bank.  But … Employees have to touch the money first.  All statistics show that employee theft is the main way retailers take losses.

One of the main things stolen from a business is its cash.  Product is great, but cash can be used anywhere and for anything.  With the economy in the pits, the need for help paying the mortgage and car note are greater than they have been in the last 50 years.  In fact, many are struggling to put food on the table.  I did a recent employee theft investigation where the person was stealing small dollar amounts each day so they could eat food from the vending machine in order to buy real food for her kids.  It was one of the many heartbreaking realities I have come across recently.

With the holidays approaching internal theft of cash becomes an even bigger concern.  For one, there is increased pressure to come up with cash to buy Christmas presents for everyone you know.  To add to that, many companies will be bringing on seasonal help so you now have more employees and you have employees who don’t have much loyalty to the company as they know their time is limited.  Remember to do an employee theft investigation as soon as you find money missing.  It may just be an error, but at this time you need to be prepared for all possibilities.

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

That is a question that I have come across many times during my career; companies that I have worked for sometimes doubt that they even have an employee theft problem in their business. The biggest time of the year where internal theft should be of major concern is during the holiday season. I conducted an employee theft investigation at one of my job sites where the store manager refused to acknowledge that he had a major employee theft problem.

The manager just refused to look at the bigger picture that employee theft is not the cause for the entire theft problem, but internal theft is a part of the problem.

When my investigation started uncovering internal theft issues, I made sure the manager sat in during an interrogation. During this employee theft investigation I interviewed the employee who had been employed by the store for over ten years. The manager was dumb founded at how easily the employee told us how the theft occurred and even named other individuals that were stealing from the company. At the end of the employee theft investigation the manager had finally come to the realization that anyone even those employee’s with long term seniority could be an internal theft risk.

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