Up in Smoke – Employee Theft Investigation

I recently concluded an employee theft investigation in one of my general merchandise stores. The last time I was in this store, I had noticed a customer who had been in and out of the store several times during the day.  At first, I thought he might have been a shoplifter because I never saw him buy anything.

I then thought differently as this man was awfully friendly with my store employees. I then began to suspect that there might be some employee theft going on. I started to review my recorded video of the cash registers for the last few days.

Over and over again I saw the man coming up to the register. He would speak with the employees, who would give him a few loose cigarettes out of a pack that was mostly hidden by the registers. Sometimes the man would hand over cash or sometimes it was something in a bag that I could not identify.

I then suspected that this was employee theft of our cigarettes.  I went out and did a physical count of the cigarettes in question and compared it to what our inventory should have been. We were several cartons short.

As it turned out, the employees were selling loose cigarettes to this man, who in turn, would sell the cigarettes (and other store merchandise) in the parking lot – splitting the cash with the employees. The cigarettes were, of course, stolen from our inventory.

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.