Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Tuesday 26 March 2019
A25

Breach of trust: Business owners deal with worker thefts

By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG cases in federal courts in
Associated Press 2016, said 68 percent oc-
NEW YORK (AP) — After curred at companies with
Suelyn Farel got an email fewer than 500 employees.
alert that someone had Those companies lost a
downloaded her entire median $289,864.
customer database, she Misplaced trust can be a
learned that two former problem for business own-
employees had conspired ers who find it hard to imag-
to steal from her beauty ine that a staffer, especially
products company. one who’s been with the
Farel had allowed the staff- company for years, would
ers to keep working after steal, says Doug Karpp, a
they each gave notice in senior vice president with
late 2017; when they left Hiscox.
the New York-based Julien “When you have five or 10
Farel Group, their pass- people in an office, you
words for its system were trust each other like family
still active. The theft led the members,” he says. Own-
company’s database pro- ers may feel so secure that
vider to block Farel’s ac- they focus too little on what
cess for four months while staffers are doing — allow-
the incident was being ing thefts to continue over
investigated, costing the In this Wednesday, March 13, 2019 photo, with Deb Durken in the background, Kevin Durken an extended time, Karpp
firm an estimated $70,000 poses for a photo in their boot store The Boot Shack in St. Cloud, Minn. says.
to $80,000 in business. Farel Associated Press The bookkeeper for Deb
felt betrayed. ances that make it harder New York. If a current staff- an internet service provider and Kevin Durken’s store,
“It was a huge eye opener. to steal. The more familiar er is suspected of stealing, in Brooklyn, so Farel knew The Boot Shack, forged
I’m someone who’s very atmosphere at some com- bosses should still “cut off the theft didn’t take place checks and stole an esti-
trusting and I love our em- panies may make it easier access and stop the bleed- at her office. She was also mated $225,000 over 10
ployees,” she says. “It really for employees to plan and ing,” Forman says. able to find out that the years starting in 1999, Deb
reminded me that I have to conceal a crime and keep “One approach might be download occurred at the Durken says. The book-
be careful, that possibly my on committing it. to put the employee on new employer of one of keeper was able to keep
judgment of the charac- Farel has since changed leave while you investigate, the ex-staffers. Farel report- stealing because she was
ter of people around me is her policies. The day staff- and have any kind of data ed the theft to the district trusted to do her work un-
wrong.” ers give notice is usually access frozen while you do attorney’s office; the case supervised. Deb Durken
Employees may steal from their last and they lose their that,” she says. has not yet been resolved. wasn’t working at the St.
companies of any size, access to company email It’s a good idea, wheth- There aren’t definitive sta- Cloud, Minnesota, store
but small and mid-sized and the rest of the com- er an owner suspects or tistics showing how many during that time, but she
businesses can be more puter system. She keeps a knows for sure that a staffer companies have expe- noticed discrepancies
vulnerable because they list of everyone’s passwords has stolen, to get legal ad- rienced employee theft when she checked invoic-
lack practices and sys- and makes sure they are vice on how to proceed, because many cases go es and bank statements.
tems designed to prevent disabled. Forman says. unreported. Owners may However, the couple dis-
wrongdoing. Their technol- Farel has taken steps that In the case of a theft via feel embarrassment and agreed about what to do,
ogy may not be as secure should be standard operat- computer, owners need shame, and don’t want to and they didn’t investigate
as at a larger company, ing procedure at all com- an electronic paper trail. bring negative attention to further. It wasn’t until 2009
and they may not have panies, says Shira Forman, The initial email from Farel’s their companies. But insur- that the bank called, ques-
the staffing to provide the an employment attorney database provider said the er Hiscox, which analyzed tioning a check that had
kind of checks and bal- with Sheppard Mullin in download was made from nearly 400 employee theft no payee.q