Employee theft in retail: It can’t be them; they’re family

From the data captured from point-of-sale software from my software company being used in their business, I was able to show Harry and June that their business was being stolen from to the tune of at least $2,000 a week, that it had been going on for two years, and that it was only happening four specific days a week.

A few years ago, Harry, June and I were sitting in a coffee shop near their business. They brought the shop employee roster with them, as I had asked. There was only one person who worked the days and specific hours in which I was interested.

I targeted specific hours because I could see from data captured by the software that certain adjustments were made in an attempt to hide theft, adjustments Harry and June had neglected to track.

‘It can’t be; they’re family,’ June said, looking across at Harry.

‘She’s my niece,’ said Harry. ‘She’s amazing in the shop. Customers love her.’

‘We couldn’t run the business without her,’ June chipped in.

‘Yeah, it’s got to be a mistake,’ Harry said, looking at the roster.

Harry had reached out to me a couple of weeks earlier, as their accountant had advised him that the business was not making the type of money that it should. The accountant had said to him, ‘Something’s not right.’

Harry thought there was something wrong with the software. That’s why he called me. he wanted me to fix what he considered to be my problem.

I asked for a copy of their data and did a deep dive into a hidden set of encrypted sales records stored by the software to enable this type of investigation of possible employee fraud.

Having done this type of research many times in the past and having worked with police and prosecutors as an expert witness, I knew for certain that Harry and June’s niece was stealing from by them.

However, they left the coffee shop meeting still convinced that the problem was with the software. It was another year before Harry and June followed my advice, installed hidden cameras, and got the evidence to implicate their niece.

The day they confronted their niece, she walked out. They never recovered the money. They feared a split in the family and didn’t pursue criminal charges.

In all, Harry and June lost over $300,000. They sold the business soon after and have not bought a retail business since.

If you run a retail business be sure to understand and use the tools in the software that can help mitigate the cost of employee theft.