Fraud or Embezzlement.... It's Personal!!!
A few weeks ago I was in the South Bay Area doing some Forensic Accounting for a client who had a pretty good idea that their employee was padding their time card. I explained that most commonly when employees are embezzling it just isn't in one area and we should inspect other financial arenas. I was assured that this employee was really nice.... and a friend... and the owner felt it was just payroll. After analyzing their accounts, documents and files it unfortunately came to light that the employee indeed had been embezzling. To the tune of close to $30k. The owner was Shocked! And felt Betrayed! And got Mad! And felt like it was their fault for not noticing! And felt Violated!!!
While I was working on their case I went through a Carl's Jr drive thru. When I handed my business debit card over to the young man in the window I thought it was odd that he didn't scan my card at the window. My gut instinct told me something was wrong but the "happy bird" on my other shoulder gave him the benefit of the doubt. 8 days later I noticed charges popping up on my business account for Sports Authority in San Jose for $438.58 and Any Mountain in San Jose for $543.74. They said the person that charged these goods did so with an actual credit card. Little did I know that there is a ring out there that takes pictures of, or scans the front and back of the cards and re-creates cards with their names on it to use. Of course my business account covered the charges, put a stop to the card and reissued a new card but I was MAD!!! After much research I found out the name of the person that used my card and was told to file with the police department. The police department proceeded to tell me that they don't have the manpower to go after these small time amounts but did give me a case number for my bank. Sheesh! Now it's my turn to feel Violated!!!
So, since I always try to find a silver lining.... after all this craziness I have decided to write a series of Blogs and e-books. There are numerous articles out there on credit card fraud and how to prevent it but not much on how a small to mid size company can protect your business from Embezzling.
Continue to follow my Blogs or FaceBook page so you get this information when it's published. If you apply the practices and procedures I will share with you it will make a huge difference in your business security.
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