A courageous (apparently recovered) X-embezzler sent this story in response to my blog. It is a true story and I am reprinting it here exactly as it was emailed to me. I tried to respond using the email they left me but it bounced back.....figures...I didn't expect them to give me the correct email. However, their email address would have been safe with me as I only wanted to thank them for enhancing my blog by providing the readers with what (allegedly) goes on in the mind of an embezzler............
I was an embezzler and got away with it for 10 years. Only after I quit my job and we had a child was I approached about the money. The former employers gave me an amount to pay back that they "thought" was close. I did but they really had no idea as to how much I really took. In reality is was probably 3 times as much. Your description of me is very accurate. What he could have done to prevent it was ........
...actually just to do his own job as the owner. He got lazy and I got stupid. I will never do it again simply because of the way it made me feel. I had to work longer hours to cover my tracks. My wife often wondered where the money was coming from so I had to cover my tracks there. I took on projects that drove me crazy again to cover my tracks. I had to always be on top of the mail to make sure that I got the bank statement beforehand because back then they sent the checks back to you. I had to constantly look at the accountant records and dreaded tax time every year. Was it easy--sort of, was it worth it---never. I should have been prosecuted but the owner worried more about his reputation. Today I am glad he saw more in me than I did myself. I wound up losing my wife and child as a result of this. Again I state, if the owner does his job correctly it makes it difficult, if not impossible, for a person to embezzle.
What do you think?
DON'T BE THE NEXT VICTIM!!!!
WOW! Great insights into the scary world of embezzlement.
As if business isn't hard enough. This warning is one that every business owner should heed. Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention Jean.
Tom Wanek
Posted by: Tom Wanek | June 09, 2008 at 02:38 PM
Its my experience that embezzlement most of the time start small. I have seen it in its various forms over the years.
One of my clients was a doctor with a healthy general practice. He had an office manager that was with him for 15 years. He trusted her implicitly. While it is okay to trust people, you have to be able to independently verify their work. This office manager started out just stealing small amounts ($20 per day paid in cash by patients etc). Soon, she realized that the doctor was really not paying attention and the stealing was easy. Beside, she reasoned, he was making plenty of money and would not miss it. Gradually, the amounts she took became larger and eventually the doctor finally caught her because she got lazy and forgot to post a payment to a patient's account and the patient got a bill and called the doctor directly to complain. He was dumbfounded when he discovered the theft. He went back through the last years of records and the amount missing was $13,000. She never would admit how long the embezzlement went on but it likely started a few years after she started working for him and she realized that he was not paying attention to the records. There is no telling how much she really embezzled. By the time she was caught, she had spent the stolen funds and there was little the doctor could recover.
I guess the lesson learned is trust but verify. Take the time to periodically verify and review your records. Everyone is human and the temptation to steal can overcome friendships, loyalty etc.
Posted by: Curtis Bulgerin, CPA | June 30, 2008 at 02:00 PM