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When Your Employees are Stealing From Your Customers

Few things are more damaging to a business than the recognition that your employees are stealing from your customers.   This is not only an embarrassing situation, but the fact that your customers may be putting their sensitive data in what amounts to the hands of thieves will almost certainly cause them to shy away.    In this economy, especially, no customer needs to be chasing around, cleaning up a mess because someone stole their credit card information.   It’s tough enough to make a living, yet alone to waste time and incur losses for no other reason than you trusted the wrong party.

In Washington, D.C. , Federal authorities are investigating three servers at a Cheesecake Factory who allegedly stole customer credit card identification.   According to the article in the Washington Post, Secret Services investigators believe the food services were part of a larger fraud ring.  The servers allegedly used electronic devices to glean the credit card numbers.  the credit card numbers were later used to make up bogus credit cards that were given to ring member for various shopping sprees.   In all, the scam artists rang up an approximate $120 thousand dollar bill in an approximate one year period.

Background checks may not be the total solution to preventing employees from stealing your customer’s sensitive information, or, for that matter, your money and proprietary data.  but background checks are cost effect and do go along way to red flag the job applicants who may be susceptible to cash and data theft.   Reference verifications should be included with criminal records checks in order to fill out a viable pre-employment screening program.   Simply put, the more background checks you conduct, the better picture you will have.

Check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

One reply on “When Your Employees are Stealing From Your Customers”

You’re right about this, Gordon! This is something that employers should look at when hiring a new individual in their companies. There are some scary stories that employers experience about hiring new employees with good credit scores but in truth the identity was stolen. There should be some thorough checking on the employer’s part.