Liability

Employee theft and employee dishonesty cases can follow similar patterns. Employees often steal merchandise, cash, or make personal purchases using company credit cards. But some cases stand out either because of the amount of loss or the method of misappropriation. Here are five over-the-top examples of in-house theft and employee fraud:

High-end jewelry and precious gems top the list of targets for organized and opportunistic criminals. Grab-and-run losses are all too common in the jewelry industry.  Jewel thieves typically use overt and covert surveillance to gather intelligence before committing their crime. They rely on speed, distraction, store layout, and lax security procedures. While it may be...

On March 8, 2017, the Wall Street Journal published an article about KPMG being under fire for scandals in the U.S., South Africa, and the U.K. Although KPMG does face trouble on three fronts, the scandals involve three legally separate firms:

• KPMG, LLP, a New York-based U.S. partnership, is dealing with the indictment of...

When a company’s inventory count comes up short, the hunt for the missing inventory begins. Are employees are stealing from the warehouse in the middle of the night? Is a dishonest bookkeeper recording fictitious purchases and pocketing the difference? Possibly. But while employee theft may be the reason, less nefarious causes might be...

Facebook, Bluetooth, the iPod, “smart” televisions: innovations in the past few years have transformed the way we live. Nearly two-thirds of Americans own a smartphone. By 2020, it is expected each person worldwide will have more than six connected devices on average.

The “internet of things” is a technological...

Richard Hy, a New York policeman, found out the hard way that joking on social media about stealing cocaine from the evidence room was a bad idea. Hy was suspended without pay. A waitress was recently fired for posting complaints about a customer on Facebook. A woman lost a job offer at  Cisco because of...

Crime tends to require three elements: motive, desire and opportunity. Employee theft is no different. Being aware of the reasons leading up to employee theft and learning to identify likely perpetrators can give employers a leg up on protecting their companies from theft.

Motive & Desire

Employees who steal usually have their motives. For example,...

Cyber Liability & Prevention

In April 2011, Sony’s online gaming network was hacked, compromising the personal and credit card information of 77 million users. The network outage lasted 23 days and cost Sony $171 million. A class action suit has charged Sony with negligent data security, unauthorized storage and retention of data, and failure to...