Corporate Investigations - Salgado are specialist corporate investigators

September 16th, 2008

Do you suspect that your business may already be suffering as a result of staff theft? Have you been a victim of employee theft or fraud before and want to ensure that your next new staff member is honest?

The Stark Facts

* Nearly a quarter of UK small businesses will suffer employee theft or fraud.
* 53% of unexplained losses are actually the result of staff theft.

Don’t forget that staff dishonesty may have many guises. In the modern technological age it might not be the classic “fingers in the till”. Examples of crimes committed, which we have successfully investigated include the theft of customer data and/or the sale of of the data to third parties. In the case of customer data, it is the business owner who has to demonstrate that they have stringent security measures in place, in line with the Data Protection Act.

Our corporate Investigations department investigators are specialists in preventing employee fraud or theft and if the worst has happened, successfully investigating theft or fraud and ensuring you have sufficient evidence to take appropriate action.

Our specialist corporate investigators can help by;

1 - Thoroughly verifying a new employees employment history.
2 - Supplying covert surveillance services and undercover operatives to establish evidence of theft.
3 - Supplying suitably qualified investigative interviewers to establish the facts in a case.
4 - And ensuring that you have collected evidence in a legal, ethical and effective manner in line with your companies terms and conditions of employment.

We can work closely with your HR department or offer a Human Resource specialist from within our own team to ensure that each employee, and your own business, is treated fairly and ethically.

Lets hope that you never need our services in this respect. But if you do, call us, Salgado Investigations for confidential, effective and fast action.

Posted in Human Resources, Retail Fraud Prevention, Staff Theft, Surveillance | No Comments »

Should we keep tabs on our staff?

August 25th, 2008

A culture of zero tolerance towards staff theft is sweeping its way through the country’s leading retail firms. Action to stamp out stock theft, theft from tills and growing levels of refund fraud is being taken by leading retailers.

Retailers are losing billions every year through theft, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium and about a third of this sum is attributed to dishonest staff.

As a result, retail companies are turning their attentions to internal problems, says Salgado Investigations’ senior corporate investigator Jorge Salgado-Reyes. A starting point is for companies to improve their vetting procedures during recruitment” he says. “The reality is that every major retailer has internal theft problems”.

New opportunities for staff to commit internal theft have emerged, thanks to the nature of modern retailing. For example, credit card technology gives internal scammers the ability to perform a refund transaction on their own or a friends credit card in‐store and later share the spoils. There is no physical movement of product or cash. And dishonest staff who, according to research, tend to be part‐time workers or those employed with a company for less than 12 months are ‐ searching out new ways of helping themselves. “I have investigated staff who have clocked up loyalty points on their own loyalty cards, when processing a customer’s purchases,” says Jorge Salgado-Reyes.

Retail fraud investigation specialist Jorge Salgado-Reyes says retailers must understand where such problems take place in their store.

“Technological solutions that link CCTV with EPOS or enable data mining of EPOS information to alert managers to till fraud are more common. For example, if a member of staff is carrying out an unusual number of refunds, but the CCTV shows no product being passed back, you can take action.
Similarly, clocking up fewer scans per minute than the average, managers are alerted to watch out for items being passed out for free. You might then use CCTV to investigate further.”

Jorge Salgado-Reyes urges retailers to take a holistic approach to investigations, looking beyond traditional shrinkage, because it often unearths wider operational problems that, when rectified, can save the company significant sums. “Profits may be down, but shrinkage is a constant, so losses take a larger percentage off the bottom line,” he says.

“Implanting a culture of zero tolerance needs to start with company‐wide adherence to robust company procedures,” he says. “It’s no good having woolly guidelines about when tills should be opened and how refunds are processed and recorded, because this plants the seed of opportunity in the minds of the staff. To minimise temptation, all staff need to be aware that procedures are set in stone and any straying from the rules will be investigated.”

Jorge Salgado-Reyes is also a strong advocate of properly supported systems of whistle‐blowing within the company. This involves staff being given an incentive to report suspected dishonest behaviour using a confidential helpline. Zero tolerance means dismissing and prosecuting dishonest employees wherever possible and communicating these actions back to the staff.

Posted in Retail Fraud Prevention, Staff Theft | No Comments »

To catch a thief

August 25th, 2008

Whether it is customer or staff theft, credit card fraud or products damaged in the supply chain, shrinkage is a major blight on the balance sheet of all retailers.

No doubt technology is the front line in the war on shrinkage, but there is no substitute for strict corporate policies and training staff to be vigilant in the quest to cut shrinkage.

According to Jorge Salgado-Reyes, MD of Archangel Research Limited, an investigative company specialising in corporate investigations, retailers continue to be stung by staff simply dipping their hands in the till or engaging in sweethearting. “Sweethearting is where members of the public and members of staff in retail collude. Typically, one item is scanned and several items are not,” says retail fraud investigator Jorge Salgado-Reyes.

Another major problem is fraudulent refunds of products. Jorge says: “The natural assumption about refunds is that someone is coming back into a store to ask for a cash refund. But when a member of staff fraudulently refunds an item, that staff member is telling the stock control system that one item has come back into stock when in fact nothing has come back in. He then steals the money from the till that the item is worth. The till will balance and it will not be discovered until there is a stock audit.

Ultimately, human nature dictates that retailers will never stamp out all forms of fraudulent activity. What they can do is to keep striving to integrate new technology with a culture of zero tolerance and stringent refund and stock control policies with a method of auditing the same.

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When CCTV doesn’t help

March 5th, 2008

I was reading my local paper today and couldn’t help but notice the headline “Businesses hit by catalytic crimes”. Apparently there has been a string of thefts involving catalytic converters. One business captured the thieves on CCTV but unfortunately for them, the group of thieves were all wearing “hoodies”.

This was always the main weakness of a security strategy based solely on CCTV. Of course they will only conceal their faces during the actual commission of the crime but probably not on their way to the premises or on their from the premises.

It seems to me that a simple review of the CCTV in the immediate area might reveal the faces of the suspects. Case closed!

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INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING - The PI’s Perspective

January 24th, 2008

It is essential to recognise that the key purpose in conducting an interview is to obtain facts/evidence, and to search for the truth, from the interviewee in a fair and proper manner.

Best practice is a method called the PEACE model. Planning & Preparation, Engage & Explain, Account, Closure & Evaluation. At the centre of this model is a commitment to best practice, communication skills, control, structure and flexibility.

Planning & Preparation:Planning is the mental process of getting ready. In planning the interviewer must understand;

· The object of the interview

· The relevant rules, regulations or points to prove

· What evidence is already to hand

· What deficiencies exist and what might be done about them

· How to prepare a flexible approach

· What rules must be followed

· What is known about the interviewee

In Preparation, interviewers must think about such things as the location of the interview, the environment and the administrative side e.g. should you have female witness present.

Engage & Explain: All interviews must start somewhere. There are two elements – the human side and the administrative side.

The engage element deals with the human side, set within the principle that first impressions are very important and set the tone for the interview. The explain element deals with the formalities required by law, rules or regulations or best practice and describing to the interviewee how the interview will be conducted.

Account: Having planned, prepared and opened the interview correctly, we come to the core of the interview. There are two styles of interviewing that can be followed at this point depending upon the application.

· The Cognitive Interview technique is designed for witnesses and has at its heart a process that allows the interviewee to relive the event about which you want information.

· In the Conversation Management technique, the interviewee is asked to provide an account of what happened – the interviewer sub-divides this account into parts and probes for more detail, linking each sub-divided part to the next. Using this technique, it is essential that the interviewer be in control of the interview. He or she directs the interview and determines when specific areas are to be probed. This style is appropriate when the witness or suspect is unwilling to be totally frank or honest.

Closure: Before the formal closure of an interview, the interviewers should accurately summarise what has been said, and check that what has been said by each is correctly understood.

Evaluation: The post interview evaluation should look at three areas:

· The information obtained during the interview

· The evidence accumulated during the entire investigation

· The interviewers reflection on his/her own performance during the interview

A review of the information obtained is essential, if admissions were made, what checks might be made to corroborate these? If denials, what checks might be made to prove or disprove these?

The PEACE model is universally acknowledged as current best practice.

Posted in Retail Fraud Prevention, Staff Theft | No Comments »