Employee Theft
“Faithful souls” have become rarer. Yesterday, the “Huber family” owned the business, today it’s a corporation with an anonymous board of directors.
Globalization and a shift in job attitudes have increasingly led to an identity vacuum within the company. And to a lowering of inhibitions to “take something” when the opportunity arises: “It doesn’t hurt anyone poor.”
Employee offenses are, alongside shoplifting, the main cause of “inventory losses” and have long reached economically significant dimensions, even by cautious estimates.
While with shoplifting at least opportunistic offenders can be somewhat controlled through the combined use of security systems, video surveillance, and detectives, legal frameworks such as the Data Protection Act of 2010 complicate the efficient, preventive combat against employee crime.
However, effective prevention is possible with competent partners by your side. Our principle to prevent inventory differences due to theft, embezzlement, or simple negligence is as simple as it is effective: A preventive action is better than a spectacular reaction. For all parties involved.
850 convicted employees since 1983 speak for themselves.
Focus on the Cash Register
While black sheep alone through theft of goods can rarely cause a business-threatening damage, a single cashier with high criminal energy in a small business can easily achieve this. Our previous record is €114,000 embezzled within a year.
By no means do we want to imply a pronounced tendency to criminal activities among employees in the retail sector in general and cashiers in particular – quite the opposite! Naturally, however, where cash changes hands at a constant rate, the temptation is particularly great. And if someone succumbs to temptation and pulls out all the stops over time, it usually pays off – literally.
Even seemingly sophisticated control systems can be outwitted with creative criminal energy. Apart from “friendly purchases” benefiting close individuals or other collaborations with external accomplices, all tricks serve a constant purpose: to achieve a cash surplus and be able to skim it off in an unobserved moment.
To achieve a consistent accounting, a good memory or a double “bookkeeping” is required: For example, in the form of “tally lists” or with the help of a calculator, the presence of which alone should set off alarm bells. Hence, the saying “most of the money is in the bra – at least for the ladies” is not coincidentally a (sarcastic) insider saying.
The costs of a detective operation usually pay off in the shortest time because the elimination of criminal employee participation leads to an immediate increase in sales. In addition, the detected or admitted damage and the detective fee can be claimed. In the case of a criminal complaint, there is also a tremendous deterrent effect for all other criminally liable employees.
Further specific areas:
- Money and goods theft
- Theft of operating resources (fuel, tools, etc.)
- Test purchases, test consumptions – control of correct billing
- Infiltrations into companies in cases of money or goods loss
Do you have any questions or would you like to arrange a free consultation?
DETECTIVE AGENCY PÖCHHACKER
Your contact point for all kinds of observations and investigations since 1983