Internal Gift Card theft has spiked

Gift Cards are being stolen by employees

Low level employees are stealing gift cards

The New York Times just put out a fantastic article about a rash of theft by low level employees at some ver large companies. Many cashiers at companies like target and toys R Us have found ways to trick their systems and steal money by using gift cards. Many are getting away with the theft that revolves around gift cards but many are also being caught.

These gift card thefts are usually done by cashiers who ring up false returns and then credit them to gift cards that they own. A 23 year old employee of Saks was just discovered using this tactic to credit himself with $130,000 in merchandise. This is a typical amount and system that is being stolen by the employees.

Awareness of this gift card theft has compaies now looking internally to find theft. Often the thefts are for much smaller amounts on the gift card. Best Buy recently caught an employee trying to steal $600 by transfering it to one of his gift cards. The message to companies is, keep an eye on your cashiers as they think they can now steal money via gift cards. The message to thiefs is, bad news, the companies know what you are doing.