By Rubi Hurtado/reporter
Three out of every five businesses have internal stealing, and 85 percent of businesses go though some type of fraud, a TCC alumna told a SE audience Nov. 18.
This means the same employees that work there are stealing, said Susan Gunn, a certified fraud examiner, during Forgery, Drug Rings, Insurance Fraud and Embezzlement.
People who steal have a lost sense of right and wrong, Gunn said. People have many reasons to steal such as greed, selfishness, high personal debt and poor credit.
Gunn provided several employee alert signs to look for if one suspected an employee was stealing.
As an example, Gunn reviewed the case of a woman in Michigan who stole from the dentist office where she worked. She had been taking insurance checks and cash and was making payroll adjustments for 10 years. This woman managed to put both of her daughters through college, provide fully paid cars for both of them and get them apartments.
All of this was paid for in full at the time of the purchases while her boss, the dentist, had to get loans to put his daughters through college, Gunn said. After this woman’s theft was discovered, she confessed and served a sentence of three to five years in prison and was instructed to pay back $738,000.
Gunn said she believed people would think twice before stealing if penalties were bigger.
“Ethics is what you choose to do, right or wrong,” she said. “Ethics are neither black or white. There is a gray area.”
Ethics is what influences a person such as age, gender, culture, etc., Gunn said.
Gunn suggested everyone who has a business should have some type of business software to keep up with money coming in and out, such as QuickBooks.
After graduating with a degree in psychology, she decided it was not what she wanted, so she returned to school to take business classes including business law. She has had her own Arlington business for 19 years. Gunn said she uses her psychology background to study people and get to the truth in her cases. She has also written 32 books.
