Small Charities Group – East of England Wednesday 16 May 2018
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• Medium sized outsourced security provider • Family run business, established in 1919 • £30 million annual turnover • 5,000 employees worldwide • 38 offices throughout Europe & South Africa
The Lodge Service ‘Loss Prevention Tool Box’ Security Compliance Loss Prevention Awareness Training audits Risk Assessments Mystery Shopping CCTV POS Test Purchasing Staff searches Gift Aid Audits Cash & stock loss investigations
Retail crime cost UK retailers £700 million during 2016 – 17, an increase of 12% compared to the previous year Customer theft accounted for 75% of all retail crime Theft by employees fell to 6% Once an employee starts stealing, they will continue until their crime is detected Source: British Retail Crime Survey 2016
No precise figures available for charity retail sector Lodge Service have carried out 96 investigations since Jan 2018 Prevalent offences involve cash at the point of sale theft, refund fraud and theft of stock
10% of people will never steal 10% of people will always steal 80% of people will steal if they have the opportunity (and think they’ll get away with it!) ‘ 4 out 5 people think it’s okay to steal from the workplace’ Daily Mail Survey
Motive / Desire Opportunity Risk of Detection
Risk of being Motive / Desire Opportunity caught Need What barriers are in place to Proactive managers and staff – ‘shrink reduce the opportunity for theft? awareness’ Greed Culture within the business How easy is it to Low morale commit the theft? Effective policies and procedures Measurement to ensure compliance Revenge / grudge against What is the ability of the with agreed routines employer individual to commit the offence? Robust investigation of identified non- Physchological (‘Kleptomania’) compliance
Lodge Service have carried out 96 investigations since Jan 2018 Under ringing Last item void 6% 11% Refund fraud 38% 8% Theft of stock Gift Aid fraud 24% 8% Sweethearting 5% Banking discrepancies
The Case of the Missing Stock An Area Manager was concerned about the quality of donated items & the store takings were down. It was suspected that the Shop Manager had been stealing stock A staff search caught the Manager removing 15 items of jewellery & glass ornaments; she was found to have been running an e-Bay site for 18 months
The Case of the Missing Money A small charity were concerned that a member of staff was under- ringing items at the till point. Lodge Service carried out a series of Test Purchases and discovered the ASM was pocketing the cash on a regular basis. He admitted the theft during interview - the charity decided to dismiss him but not to prosecute
The Case of the Mysterious Refunds A routine audit revealed that a furniture shop manager was processing an unusually high volume of customer refunds An investigation revealed that the manager was using discarded customer receipts to process fraudulent refunds – worth over £13,000 over the last 4 years
To Gift Aid or Not to Gift Aid A shop was found to be claiming Gift Aid take up of over 85%, compared to the company average of 34% Spot checks and a further investigation established that the shop manager was claiming Gift Aid on the majority of donated stock, irrespective of the tax status of the donor
CUSTOMER THEFT Theft –‘the intention to dishonestly and permanently deprive you (and your shop!) of its property’ A thief will want to enter a shop with 3 things in mind: To be unnoticed To leave the shop To be able to without conceal stock confrontation 90% of customer theft in small shops is carried out by amateurs ‘opportunist theft’
Are they………… Attempting to avoid attention? Being overly friendly – are they distracting the staff? Sweating or looking flushed – excited or nervous? Repeated browsing, picking up and putting back the same item, loitering at displays, eyes wandering, paying little attention to the product Looking around the shop rather than at the items on the shelves? Wearing clothes that are not appropriate for the weather?
Aim – to deter shoplifters from entering the shop and to reduce the opportunity for the theft to occur Good customer service = good crime prevention Shop floor vigilance Being seen on the shop floor Watching out for abnormal or suspicious behaviour Engaging with your customers Consider merchandise layout - keep valuable items furthest from the exit Use display cabinets for small, attractive and valuable items Use mirrors to reduce blind spots Closely monitor the use of changing rooms
Ways of Reducing Opportunities for Staff and Customer Theft Issue till receipts Staff presence on shop floor Greet customers Till logged of when not in use High levels of customer Monitor use of changing rooms service Till not left unattended Regular banking Loss prevention awareness Staff lockers Store layout Codewords Goods removed process Crime partnerships Staff purchase process PCSO liaison
Small Charities Group – East of England Wednesday 16 May 2018
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