There are literally hundreds of methods employee theft will occur in the workplace. Here is a listing of the top 5 employee theft items large to small employers will face, cash, merchandise, hours, expenses, and office supplies.
Cash – If you have a retail operation, it’s very important that employees do not use the same cash register. It’s extremely difficult if they are all lumped together to find the responsible party if cash comes up missing. Cash theft can encompass company credit cards, tips from other employees, return/exchange theft from transactions and a variety of other schemes.
Merchandise – It is amazing but data shows that management employees of retail stores are more likely to partake in employee theft than lower level store employees. Retailers have been known to lose even large articles, such as televisions or computers.
Hours – There are many companies out there still using manual time cards. The pen and paper method makes it easy for employees to pad their hours, showing more time than they actually worked.
Expenses – Expense reports are a little harder to fake due to attaching receipts, however there are several ways to get around that. For instance, an employee can add mileage to trips or additional tip percentages to meals. Some companies do not require receipts for under $25.00 purchases, this leaves a huge transaction opportunity for employee theft.
Office Supplies – This seems like an insignificant issue that increases employee theft problems, however if you have a very large company it can become quite costly. On the flip side, if you are a small employer and you only purchase one box of pens, all of them are “borrowed”, your expenses double for office supplies for that item.
Have theft issues in the workplace? For more information contact us at employee theft or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia
Ever hear of Fred Tokars? He was an expert white collar crime money launderer. We hear that term, money laundering, associated with white collar crime on the news and in crime reports but does the average person actually know what it means?
Mr. Tokars, an attorney in the 1990’s in metro Atlanta, seemed to think it was necessary to have a hit man kill his wife in front of their children. Apparently she found out that he was laundering money. Dirty criminal money.
In the white collar crime world money laundering is very prevalent because most of the money that is laundered is gained illegally. (It wouldn’t need laundering if it wasn’t illegally obtained) People want to cover their tracks.
Money laundering is defined as the practice of engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity, source and/or destination of illegally gained money. Tax evasion and false accounting make up many of the white collar crime accusations in the money laundering world.
So how do white collar crime experts launder money? Say a business, such as a gas station, has a long standing relationship with a bank. If they have made consistent deposits for years, then the opportunity may arise to make a “larger” than normal deposit every now and then. This doesn’t look criminal, can be attributed to the business and the money launderer can now pull their money out of the bank all nice and clean. There is a limit on deposits however, anything over $10000 is bank monitored.
People can also use shell companies that show income on the books but actually don’t make any money. The income is reported, taxes are paid and the money is laundered. This is white collar crime at its best.
Do you suspect white collar crime in your business? Contact us or call 770.426.0547.
In order to be a successful corporate fraud investigator, you may need skills you aren’t aware of. It takes more than private investigator criminal catching know-how to be on the team that investigates corporate fraud. There are a variety of crimes investigated by these individuals that range from tax evasion to embezzlement.
Corporate fraud crimes have a different scope, complexity and magnitude than your common everyday theft or fraud case contains. The ramifications can have economic consequences for employees and communities and can often affect the entire investment market.
A corporate fraud investigator needs to have accounting expertise. Corporate accounting can have infinite intricacies in the book keeping methods they use. Not only does the investigator need accounting know how, but a vase computer knowledge is needed to be able to manipulate complicated accounting software.
The corporate fraud investigator will also need to be a bit of a computer “hacker”. Often important documents have been password protected or encrypted to prevent detection.
According to several online sources and our own peoples experience, corporate fraud investigators will have anywhere between five and twenty-five years of experience. Rates are dependent on the experience level of the individual.
Want an expert corporate fraud investigator? Contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
