Unfortunately, since the dawn of time people have cheated, lied and stolen, and, whether you own a major corporation or small business, you may well end up with employee theft in many forms affecting your balance sheet.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut businesses down overnight has destroyed our economy, and though many are now doing business as usual, it stands to reason that economic crimes are even greater today and the losses businesses have yet to face could be catastrophic as they try to get back on their feet.

No company can afford the kind of losses that are being experienced in business, and when figures like R1.2-million in losses per year are being thrown around, on the heels of a surge in economic crime hitting the 77% mark since 2016, it’s time to become proactive about protection from these crimes.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, in their Global economic and fraud survey 2018 South Africa, two in every three organisations have been, and still are, victims of economic crime. If ever there was a time for businesses to take proactive steps about economic crime and the need to implement active strategies in order to protect the interests of the business, it is now!

At some time, every business in South Africa will face losses through white collar crime, whether internally or externally driven, and, up to 50% of economic crimes have been attributed to employees, meaning that ‘inside jobs’ are responsible for a major percentage of loss experienced by most businesses today.

What to be on the lookout for in your company to protect your business interests

Misappropriation of assets.

Asset misappropriation is fraud at its very worst and most diverse. It can involve anything from theft of money or goods, as well as diverting company funds into the bank account of an employee, which costs businesses millions of Rands every year.

Fraud in accounting departments

Fraud in accounting departments is huge today, and ranges from covering up the fact that company products are stolen to covering up money that should reflect in the company account.

Fraud in payroll departments

Creating fictitious employees or even fictitious overtime for employees by those working in payroll departments gives employees the perfect way to line their own pockets and siphon company money into their own bank accounts.

Sadly, in desperate times such as we find ourselves today, even an employee in charge of the payroll, that may have been with the company for many years and is therefore above suspicion, can be tempted to manipulate timesheets or inflate overtime.

Theft of valuable data

Data theft has become a very lucrative side-line for employees, especially with the increase in organised crime syndicates today, and your customer databases and trade secrets can earn these employees a tidy sum from outside traders!

Outright corruption

Corruption is rife in our country, from the lowliest of employees to government officials, and, there is a huge amount of money to be made from making up false amounts on invoices to suppliers, or accepting kickbacks of any kind that is to the detriment of your business. No matter how the corruption is carried out, it is always going to cause you the greatest loss, and more often than not, it won’t be discovered until it’s too late to do anything about it without professional help.

Let King Investigators in South Africa help you to take a proactive approach to economic crime in your business

The highly experienced team at King Investigators are actively involved with many businesses in South Africa in combating economic crime, whether on the level of Business Intelligence Services, undercover surveillance in your business, polygraph testing to provide proof of a punishable offence or carrying out in-depth background checks on potential new employees.

As one the most trusted investigative firm in South Africa, King Investigators produce in-depth results, which range from investigations into employee fraud and theft of products, theft of trade secrets, internal or external embezzlement and any other form of economic crime you may be open to facing.

Let King Investigators be you professional ally, ready to find those guilty of crimes in your business, making it possible for you to take appropriate steps to stem small losses that become major losses over a period of a year!

Contact owner Jacques Botha today for a confidential discussion about how to either uncover economic crimes in your business, or to protect your business interests by taking a proactive approach to rooting out possible trouble spots!