Loss Prevention Group investigates employee theft, fraud and embezzlement, then puts a program in place to keep it from coming back. Most investigations are finished in a day, with little or no interruption to your business.
Interviews, forensic accounting and signed, videotaped confessions you can act on.
About investigationsOur Be Alert program builds a zero loss workplace your honest employees will welcome.
About Be AlertCommercial grade cameras tied into your registers and back office to flag theft.
About CCTV systemsBackground checks, forensic accounting, consulting and loss prevention presentations.
About support servicesStatistically, 75% of internal theft goes undetected. Many owners don’t know they have a problem until the margins say so. We work on all three sides of it.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Our inexpensive theft prevention programs have stopped the majority of internal theft for our clients for well over a decade. Employees know the price they will pay for stealing, and the honest ones will thank you for it.
We interview staff and obtain signed, videotaped confessions, and we arrest and prosecute when you direct us to. We do this every week, so we can guide you through each step while your business keeps running.
Proof of loss and a signed confession are usually what an insurer needs to pay a theft claim. We provide the confession, help you document the loss, and write the policies and procedures that prevent the next one.
These are real cases from our files. The businesses differ. The pattern doesn’t: margins slip, nobody can say why, and the answer turns out to be on the payroll.
In convenience stores, 30% to 50% of employees typically admit to stealing cash or product once we interview the staff.
In one afternoon all four clerks admitted to theft. Customers knew Saturdays were “cash only, half price”. Two felony convictions, and insurance covered the vast majority of the loss.
Servers and hosts were under suspicion. Forensic accounting pointed to the trusted bookkeeper instead. Signed and videotaped confession, a conviction, and a profitable restaurant again.
Thousands in inventory went missing every month. Eight of fourteen employees interviewed gave signed, videotaped confessions. A Zero-Loss program now runs in every store.
Cash disappeared from an office safe four people could open. One signed confession later, the case ended in prosecution and termination.
A Shell station owner called about low profit margins. One day of interviews found that his most trusted, best liked employee had embezzled $160,000 over four years by not ringing up cash sales. He volunteered to work on his days off. He bought gifts for the store manager.
The tip-off came on a flight to the manager’s wedding in Las Vegas. The owner couldn’t find him on the plane and called his cell. “I’m on board already,” he said. He was sitting in first class.
Trust, but verify.
Most business owners don’t know their insurance policy likely has a theft clause. A successful claim usually takes two things: proof of loss, such as cash shortages, inventory shrink or low margins, and a signed confession. The confession is where we come in.
This coverage is very inexpensive, because most employers simply fire a dishonest employee and insurers seldom see a claim. Call your agent this week, whether or not you ever call us.
We are a Pacific Northwest firm with clients throughout the country, from single independent stores to nationwide corporations. Our team comes out of law enforcement, retail loss prevention and banking.
“I wish we would have known about you guys years ago.”
CEO, founder, fraud investigator
Vice president, senior fraud investigator
Office manager
Systems integration manager
Fraud investigator, theft prevention trainer
Tell us what you’re seeing. We’ll tell you what we think is going on and what it would take to find out.
Loss Prevention Group