It is interesting to try and figure out all the ways employees commit internal theft at their place of work.  Internal theft is rampant in retail organizations.  In one year working as a loss prevention manager I can remember closing four internal theft cases for about $5900.00 within three weeks of accepting a job at a major retailer.

These cases involved four associates who committed internal theft for no other reason than, it was easy.  The associates were stealing in so many ways; it was hard to conduct an investigation as I would have to constantly leave the office to follow the associates.  The employee theft investigation showed that the associates were having cash shortages on their registers.  The associates were also showing up on the exception reports for having lower than average transaction totals and higher than average refund totals.  The employee theft investigation involved and in depth look at the associates registers operations over the past six months.

Once the employee theft investigation was completed, it appeared the associates had given away merchandise, taken cash from the register, switched tickets on merchandise they purchased and conducted fraudulent refunds.  After seeing the extent of the employee theft, I decided to have another loss prevention manager come in and conduct the interviews with me.

During the interview the associates were made aware that they had been the subject of an employee theft investigation and that the investigation found conclusive evidence of employee theft.  The associates were asked to explain the reasons why they committed the employee theft and they responded, because it was easy.  Given the extent of the employee theft, we concluded that the confessed amount was probably about $50000.00 less than what they actually took from the store.  These cases had involved

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Throughout my tenure in Loss Prevention, I have seen just about every way that employee theft or internal theft occurs. The nice thing is, once you know the basics, resolving an employee theft investigation is relatively simple. Most dishonest employees are caught because the get bold and think that they are the only ones to have ever tried that method before.

More often than not, the employee will try to find merchandise that does not have any sort of hard RF tag or a soft RF label that will sound the alarm as they leave. They might try to conceal a small item on their person, such as a piece of jewelry or a wallet. They might even try to wear an item out like a jacket. Larger items may go into bags or purses (having mandatory bag checks as employees leave will eliminate most of this sort of internal theft).

If the employee does try to steal an item with an RF tag or Label, they are now faced with the difficult task of trying to remove the tags without destroying the merchandise. I have conducted many employee theft investigations because I saw an employee go to a register, without any customers present, and remove and deactivate these tags. While they thought they were being discreet, they were actually a blinding light to a knowing eye.

Most of the cases with this sort of employee theft admitted that having the tags made it difficult to steal the merchandise. It was so difficult that unless the items were something extremely valuable to them, it was not worth trying to steal. The Checkpoint System helped to keep the honest employees honest, while providing cues to detect the one who weren’t.

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

It’s hard enough to think that one of your own employees has been stealing from you. It’s even harder to think that often, employee theft involves either multiple employees or an employee working with someone outside the company like a friend, a relative, or even a vendor.

Benjamin Franklin once said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is so true when you are trying to prevent internal theft from happening. One of the most common forms of prevention is to use inventory control products like Checkpoint’s RF tags and labels. Their use sends a clear message to your employees that you are watching and you will not tolerate internal theft.

I remember an employee theft investigation where a cashier was ringing up her boyfriend. Underneath his cart was about $300 dollars in product that she did not charge him for. Because she did not want to draw attention to the items, she left them under the cart, and did not realize that the items had RF tags on them. When the boyfriend tried to leave, he set off the alarms at the door alerting everyone around to the situation.

Another employee theft investigation I resolved started out by watching an employee going up to a register with his arms full of merchandise and started to deactivate the clothing RF tags. The clue that made me realize I was looking at a case of employee theft was that there were no customers around. He then bagged up the merchandise and walked out the door. Had there not been tags to remove, I may not have been able to detect his activity.

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

It is a well known fact in the retail community that employee theft can result in major losses long before it is discovered.  Retailers go to great lengths to insulate themselves from becoming victims of employee theft.  Background checks and drug screening are some of the measures retailers’ employee to ensure that they hire honest and talented individuals.  However, even with the utilization of these measures, employee theft still persists in the retail environment causing millions in loss revenue to employers.

Internal theft has consistently accounted for the majority of retail losses.  The only way to effectively combat this pervasive problem is to employ the help of dedicated loss prevention professionals.  The use of an expert trained in loss prevention, allows a business owner to focus on their bottom line, while ensuring that if there is an issue of internal theft, they have an experienced professional conducting the employee theft investigation.  Conducting an employee theft investigation is a complicated process.  Employees who have come to a business to steal from that business are aware of the many ways in which their employers are vulnerable to theft.

Investigating employee theft may consist of dedicated surveillance or exception report analysis.  To the untrained eye the employee may appear to be working normally when in fact they are robbing the business blind.  An experienced loss prevention professional is able to look beyond what is seen and determine what is actually going on.  In this economy internal theft is on the rise.  Many employees are staying on jobs they would rather leave, but with choices being limited they are resigned to make the most out of where they are at, or take the most from where they are at.  Every employer must have a reliable partner that knows how to conduct an effective employee theft investigation.

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

The benefit of stopping employee theft as soon as it is suspected is enormous for the retailer or business owner.  Employee theft depletes profits and also the morale of associates who are aware of the theft, but choose not to get involve or notify their supervisor.  In my past experience I have seen entire work teams improve their performance simply by seeing a dishonest associate finally get caught.  Employee theft is not isolated to just monetary profits.  Poor morale and a poorly performing work team can also be a consequence of internal theft.

Internal theft places honest employees in a rather awkward position.  Many hard working and honest associates do not want to get involved and allow dishonest associates to continue to steal from the company.  Sometimes these associates are afraid or do not think they will be taken seriously by management if they come forth.  Internal theft is often seen by other employees before it is ever brought to the attention of management.  Associates in an organization need to know that every report of theft will be taken seriously and handled confidentially. An employer should start an employee theft investigation at once to determine the validity of the report and the scope of the associate dishonesty.

An employee theft investigation is first begun as an answer to a question about a specific incident or transaction.  The purpose of an employee theft investigation is to answer those questions and to determine whether suspicions of theft are validated based on the evidence.  As a loss prevention professional, I have solved many dishonest associate theft cases because I had honest employees share their suspicions and concerns. I have never had an employee theft investigation that I conducted based on employee tip to not identify theft or a training issue. It is imperative that a retailer have a program in place to help honest associates feel they can share their concerns about their fellow employees and it be handled confidentially.

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

Unfortunately, many retailers are asking the question, “Where did it all go?”.  The answer is disturbing but true, you paid someone to take it.  Employee theft is one of the primary reasons retailers experience millions in losses each year.  It seems comical really to think you actually pay someone to take advantage of your business.  Employee theft can be devastating and often the extent of the damage is not known unto it is too late to correct.  In my experience employee theft has caused many stores to go out of business as they were simply not able to produce profits amid the extensive and enormous amount of internal theft.

It is an elaborate game of cops and robbers and unfortunately there are more robbers than cops.  Internal theft continues to rise at an alarming rate.  Employers are using every opportunity they can find to take from their employers.  In an environment where consumers are spending less, business can not allow profit to simply walk out of their stores.  Internal theft has to be addressed and corrected, if a business is going to continue to be viable.  Employers must become aware of the many ways in which employees choose to take from their employers. The way in which transactions are conducted at the point of sale registers allow employees to take what they want without being noticed.

An effective employee theft investigation can help set an employer’s mind at ease and all without alarming a suspected dishonest employee.  Loss prevention professionals conduct thousands of internal investigations every month and are able to identify theft and resolve the matter quickly. An effective and well handled employee theft investigation does more than identify a dishonest employee; it helps prevent other employees from thinking that they can take from their employer. It is imperative if an employer has a suspicion that employee theft may be occurring at their business that they begin an employee theft investigation immediately. This will prevent you from having to answer the unfortunate question of, “Where did it all go?”

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

In the retail industry external theft or shoplifting as it is commonly known is a part of doing business. Anyone who has worked in the retail industry has dealt with or actually seen a shoplifting incident during their career.  But the one problem that every retail industry dreads is internal theft. This issue causes retailer to deal now with employee theft problems. It is bad enough to worry about those individuals that come from the outside to steal, but now you have to conduct Employee theft investigation inside your organization.

You now have the employee’s that you count on to give proper customer service and represent your organization are now the subject of Employee theft investigation. During my career I have conducted hundreds on internal theft investigations. Most of the employee theft subjects are new employee’s that have just started, but you have those employees that have been with the organization for many years. So the first question that I always ask is why? Why after so many years would you steal from the company the answer varies? But the one constant during the employee theft investigation is that they didn’t think they would get caught.

Many internal theft issues can be prevented by following the safeguards that have been put in place. The minute these policies are not followed the chance for an employee theft incident to happen is imminent. So anytime you think that you can break protocol to finish your job faster. When you don’t take the time to log down who enters a security cage or who has the keys to that cage. How much money have you just cost your organization by not following policy.

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

Employee theft like external theft is an unfortunate reality for the retail professional.  Many small business owners and large corporations are looking to new and traditional methods to reduce their exposure to internal theft.   Although, technology increases and new methods of detecting employee theft are developed, traditional employee theft investigations can be an effective method of removing this element from you business.

The traditional employee theft investigation aims to not only remove the individual form your operation, but also attempts to identify any control failures or preventable loopholes in your business.  These employee theft investigations usually involve the work of the entire loss prevention and management teams.  The investigations most often begin with a tip, an observed behavior, a cash shortage or just general suspicion of an employee.  When the loss prevention department receives this information they begin their employee theft investigation.  Commonly, the in store loss prevention team begins by monitoring and working with the store management team to effectively schedule the employee in question.  This gives the team the opportunity to watch the employee and identify how they are causing a loss to the organization.  This not only provides the method, but also what controls the store needs to change to prevent these actions in the future.  Once the internal theft is identified, the employee theft investigation moves on to the interview.

The internal theft interview is a controlled employee theft discussion.  This allows the loss prevention professional to discuss the situation surrounding the loss and allows the individual engaged in the employee theft to provide a reason why.  The interview often results in corrective action, up to and including termination or prosecution.

While most large organization have a department that is solely dedicated to deal with the internal theft issues, smaller businesses do not.  So what is the small business owner to do?  There are many organizations that can provide this service and an effect price.  This service can have a large impact on your business and improve your general moral.

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 retailers can incur internal theft (also known as employee theft).  A popular way for internal theft to occur is by “hook-ups” or what we often call “sweet-hearting”.  As I have worked 12 years in Loss Prevention I have encountered numerous instances of this type of employee theft.

We all like to think about peer pressure being kids and drinking.  The reality is that we can all be susceptible to peer pressure.  Through conducting an employee theft investigation I talk to many associates who would never have dreamed of stealing had it not been for someone else.  That someone else can be another employee, a friend or a family member.  Sometimes that other person can be just a regular customer.  One of the warning signs to internal theft by sweet-hearting is employees who have a lot of friends and family members around.  If you stop and think I’m sure everyone reading this can picture an associate who seems to always be hanging out with friends while on the clock.  I would conduct an employee theft investigation on that person and look to see did all items get scanned at the register and also check to make sure the prices were not reduced.  These are prime ways to hook friends up.

Something that can be harder to spot is when the sweet-hearting happens between two employees.  Many associates develop friendships with one another.  Often this can lead to quid-pro-quo sweet-hearting.  One associate will pass off (which is bag without scanning the product) or under-ring for another associate and then later that person will return the favor.  When doing an employee theft investigation I generally look at employee purchase first.  You can find a lot of internal theft activity by just routinely reviewing employee purchases.  Sweet-hearting can be hard to catch, but it happens often so stay on high alert.

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

I have been involved in the security industry for over twenty years. During those years I have conducted hundreds of Employee theft investigation s and have heard every excuse or reason why the internal theft happened. But who are the actual victims from employee theft?

The first obvious victims are the retailers. Retailers suffer millions of dollars a year in theft and a large portion of that loss comes from employee theft. The second victim is the consumer, many companies offset their prices due to the amount of loss they suffer from theft. The next victim is the employee that works for the retailer every day and performs their job properly every day. These employees eventually suffer by losing their jobs when companies have to lay off staff or retailers close their doors because financially the company can no longer operate.

But there are many programs that retailers can use to help combat employee theft. One is to include a security orientation with all new employees to assure them of how serious the company takes employee theft. The second is to provide a method for employees to report internal theft issues and remain anonymous. Some of my previous clients even offered a reward to employee that come forward and report internal theft issues anonymously. Once an employee theft investigation is conducted and if the information is correct the employee would received the reward. Retailers have to use any and all tools available to them to assure that employee theft can be stopped before it gets started.

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