Corporate Investigative Services Save Time, Money & Stress

According to CareerBuilder.com, nearly 60% of employers have caught an applicant in a lie. The most common parts of a resume that people fabricate or embellish include :

• Skill sets
• Education
• Employment history

That’s just about everything most people want to know about someone they might hire. And these statistics only cover the ones who got caught. It’s very possible that you have someone working for you now who lied to you during the application process. Linked Investigations offers corporate investigative services that can help

Employee Theft Costs Big Bucks

What is the impact of hiring people who lie on their resumes? Sometimes, it’s employee theft. Employee theft accounted for more than $18 billion in lost revenue among U.S. retailers in 2013. Employees stole even more than shoplifters did—shoplifting accounted for 37% of retail theft that year, while 43% of theft came at the hands of employees. For non-retail companies, rates of employee theft may be as high as 72%. Our corporate investigative services have helped many companies deal with this issue.

Who Is Doing It?

Lower-level employees are more likely to steal merchandise from a retail store, but you may be surprised to learn that 55% of business theft is perpetrated by managers. Younger workers are more likely to commit employee theft, but when older workers do it, they steal much more, perhaps because they aren't as closely supervised.

Employee theft doesn’t always happen in the office or store. Home health aides, nannies, and other in-home caregivers can also be tempted to take what’s in front of them.

How Are They Doing It?

There are six main ways that employees steal from their employers:

• Embezzling, which is the theft of money by someone in a trusted and often high-level position
• Committing larceny, which is the theft of property or cash
• Adding false expenses to reimbursement requests
• Setting up a false vendor and then taking the money that is supposed to be paid to the vendor
• Selling business information to a competitor
• Doing personal business on company time.

How Can You Avoid It?

If you’re not a sole proprietor, you’re vulnerable to employee theft. But there are ways you can reduce your vulnerability.

• Stop It Before It Starts. Your hiring process should go beyond a cursory resume review and a reference check or two. Pre-employment screening and complete background checks can identify red flags.
• Hire a private investigator to do a criminal background check. This will tell you not only if the potential employee has committed any fraud or theft crimes, but it can also tell you if the applicant has been convicted of a violent crime. Workplace violence is both a safety issue and a liability issue.

Linked Investigations Corporate Investigative Services

Private investigators can go beyond an applicant’s criminal history. They can examine public records to discover whether an applicant has a history of financial or other legal problems that may make them tempted to steal from you. Have they recently gotten divorced or filed for bankruptcy? If so, they may still be a great hire, but one worth keeping a closer eye on.

A private investigator can also verify employment history and educational background. While it’s tempting to rely on Google and social media to find this information about prospective candidates, not all the information you need can be found online.  And it’s just as easy to falsify your educational background online as it is to do on paper.

What If You Suspect an Employee?

Your first instinct may be to confront the employee, but that’s probably not the best way to go. You might have some evidence of theft, but there could be more that you don’t know about. Without a thorough investigation by a professional, you may never know the true extent of the theft.

A private investigator can conduct surveillance on the employee to find out where they’re going, what they’re doing, and whether they’re involved in activities that are potentially damaging to your business. An investigator can also interview the employee about your suspicions. An experienced private investigator will know the right questions to ask—some of which you probably wouldn’t think of.

Mike Garroutte has more than 30 years of experience as a private investigator, including pre-employment background checks, surveillance, interviews of suspected employees, and other corporate investigative services. Call us at 714-432-9911 to speak with an experienced Orange County Private Investigator who can assist you with your background check or investigation, or contact us for more information.