Holiday Temps Make the Best Identity Thieves

This is the absolute best time of the year to be a dishonest temporary worker. Holiday hustle and bustle overwhelms managers and supervisors and they can't possibly see everything their employees are doing. It has been said that only 10 percent of employees are honest, 10 percent of employees will always steal and 80 percent will steal based on circumstances. Hiring temps during the holidays becomes the perfect storm for employee theft.

Estimates reveal that 40-50 percent of all business losses are due to employee theft. Employers need to first vet out potential hires so as not to invite a thief into the workplace.

Prescreening

• Use prescreening services; Otherwise become a master interviewer. Look for incongruence.
• Resumes are often "false advertising" and outright lies, look for red-flags and exaggerations.
• Appearance is telling. Someone who is disheveled and unkempt is a sign of character.
• Interviewees who are well-spoken and ace the interview process may have had lots and lots of jobs.
• Use employment applications: check and verify everything.
• Background checks are only one small part of the screening process. But necessary.
• Criminal records checks are insufficient and do not detect employee theft unless prosecuted and convicted.
• Juvenile convictions do not show on a criminal records check.
• Drug and alcohol testing .
• Reference checks.
• Credit reports.
• Physical exams.

Hire honest people.

Honest people live by the golden rule, "do as to others...". Honest people see stealing as demeaning. Honest people believe in karma, that if they steal then someone will steal from me. Honest people are well thought out and think of the consequences of their actions over a lifetime, not just in the moment. Hire honest people.

Perception is reality.

Assume after an "honest" person is hired the stealing begins. Orientation is the first place to discourage this behavior. Policies must be openly discussed. Employees are shown aspects of loss prevention and physical security in place. They are further told incidences of theft will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law. They are reminded that previous employees were caught and the expenses in fines and to lawyers in a criminal defense cost far more than the goods or cash that were stolen. In Singapore, Iran, Saudi Arabia, they put an average of 500 people a year to death for various non-violent crimes. That's perception equaling reality.

Understand the Theft Probability Equation. Chance of getting caught + consequences of action taken = Level of risk & probability of theft.

• Low risk: high probability of theft
• High risk: low probability of theft
• A reputation for non-action breeds theft. If you fire thieves without prosecution, you will hire thieves in the future.

Increase technology to reduce threats.

Computer World points out to bolster physical security around temporary cash registers and handheld scanners. It's easy to install a card-skimming device on a satellite register. Install additional video cameras to monitor the use of such devices.

Review log data daily. System and transaction logs can reveal a lot of information about the security of a payment system. Check them daily for red flags.

Implement "hard" firewall policies. Use a white list of known good addresses to preclude the possibility of card and payment data going anywhere outside the enterprise firewall except to your payment processor.

For your own good, protect your identity. Get a credit freeze. Go to ConsumersUnion.org and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.

Invest in identity theft protection and prevention. Not all forms of identity theft protection can be prevented, but identity theft protection services can dramatically reduce your risk.