One of the fastest growing money makers today is employee theft and fraud of employers, which is estimated to cost small, medium and major business owners in the United States between $20 and $50 billion dollars annually. The more common areas of employee theft center around but are not limited to the following reported behaviors:
• Theft to Grand Theft – skimming cash from retail sales and steal
ing inventory for later sale
• Embezzlement – stealing cash or property by a trusted bookkeeper or business partner
• Vendor Chameleon – secretly shifting employer purchasing by an employee’s straw company
• Houdini Polanski – falsely showing on the clock or working secret side jobs on company time
• Expense Account Abuse – getting reimbursed for personal purchases of goods or services
• Intellectual Property Theft – selling information, redirecting clients or business plans to rivals
Theft by employees and business partners is insidious inasmuch that the losses can ranged from moderate to devastating and go undetected for months and even years. Many discoveries are the results of inadvertent stumbling upon something that just doesn’t seem right and a solitary tip from a loyal employee or outside jilted co-conspirator. Causation varies from the oldest sins to current events, but theft generally must have a motive, an employee who is in a position for opportunity, and a self justification such as theft is common practice by other employees (a bigger problem) who all feel entitled to a bigger share of profits without understanding how a business really operates. The Mercatores (Latin for “merchants”) merchant’s investigative service may be able to forestall the infestation of employee theft, detect employee theft, and ultimately bring an end to employee theft. These outcomes may be achieved as follows:
• Develop and institute a training program internally or contract out for this service
• Install “secret shoppers”
• Insert trained and experienced Undercover Operatives from the Mercatores to investigate
This California Licensed Private Detective Agency has astounding credentials and does not overextend its services into so many areas of private investigations that it cannot specialize in any one aspect of the private investigations industry. Due to the Sub Rosa nature of this private industry, more information may be obtained through in-person meetings during preliminary contract discussions for Operational Security purposes.
