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How IP security technology fights theft at the cash register

Published Date

POS ScreenshotAccording to an annual study published by Jack L. Hayes International Inc. this summer, 78,085 dishonest employees were apprehended in 2013, up 6.5% from 2012. The same report concluded that on - average, dishonest employees stole approximately 5.4 times the amount stolen by shoplifters ($706.21 vs $130.89). This indicates that as much as loss prevention teams need to keep their eyes on store floors, a more pressing vulnerability is right at the cash register. Internal theft is the biggest concern for retailers and their loss prevention teams. 

There are many different ways in which transaction thefts can occur, including:

  • Activating gift cards for greater values or issuing fraudulent gift card returns;
  • Faking barcode scans of big-ticket items or scanning lower-priced items in their place;
  • Price manipulation through unauthorized discounts;
  • Employee adds unwanted points from a customer's loyalty account to their own account;
  • Issuing false refunds for stock that was never sold;
  • Conducting line item voids on large transactions.

Unfortunately, watching every cashier all the time would be far too costly and simply unrealistic, especially for large multi-national chains with thousands of stores throughout the world. This is where IP security technology can help.

With an advanced and open-architecture security platform, retailers can benefit from integrating video surveillance with point-of-sales (POS) systems. POS integration allows for video evidence to be synchronized with each transaction in real-time, triggering alarms and enabling investigations. With an integrated POS search engine, loss prevention teams can also conduct transaction queries on any category defined in the POS system. This can be done using employee number, product barcode, or even discount percentage.

Real-time alarm notifications can also be set up to alert operators to suspicious returns or transactions over certain dollar values. This compels operators to address fraud as it happens while complying with store policies. To ensure a theft ring has not infiltrated the organization, management can also remotely and discreetly monitor operator compliance when handling any incidents of internal theft.

Retailers that arm their teams with the right tools are in a better position to reduce loss and fraud that may occur at POS terminals. Interested in learning more? Read about Security Center POS integration.