Is it a good idea to describe in detail how to embezzle?
Whom are we trying to educate here?
I make a lot of posts about embezzlement here on Dental FraudBusters (and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter)
Some of my posts are news stories about people who were busted for embezzlement while others posts offer tips and advice on how to prevent and detect employee dishonesty .
Some of my posts describe the schemes used by embezzlers to steal from their employer, prompting one person to ask:
“Is it is a good idea to describe in detail how to embezzle? Whom are we trying to educate here?“
– Anonymous Dentist
I can understand why someone might ask this question.
Intuitively it seems right to think that public dissemination of the methods used by employees to steal from their employer can help others who are planning to steal, or are already stealing.
That thinking is wrong.
But before I answer that question, let’s start from the beginning, at the hiring stage. (because in order to be embezzled, you must first hire a potential embezzler)
THe “80-10-10” Rule says
You can hire three types of people:
- UNETHICAL: people who will ALWAYS steal
- SITUATIONAL: people who MAY steal under certain conditions
- ETHICAL: people who will NEVER steal
EthicAL – people who will never steal
For the purpose of this discussion, we can remove people with unimpeachable ethics from our discussion. Those people will never steal and represent about 10% of the population. That leaves the other 90%.
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UNEthicAL – people who will readily steal
We can also eliminate the unethical people from our discussion. The too represents 10% of the population.
These are typically individuals with a history of theft and dishonesty who steal at the first opportunity.
People in this category have a lifetime pattern of unethical behavior and during my career I’ve crossed paths with many of them. From experience, I can say with that not one of those people learned to steal by reading articles and posts about dental embezzlement online.
Unethical people regularly look for a blind spot and an opportunity to steal. One they begin stealing, their their focus shifts to concealing the theft and making sure you do not catch them.
When they are not busy “stealing and concealing” they are busy using spending the stolen money to feed compulsions or addictions, maintain an abusive relationship, or help a family member that is also on the wrong side of the law.
Unethical people do not need to engage embezzlement research and self study. But supposing they do, again, there is plenty of information out there in the public domain and from other unethical persons.
Situational – people who steal under CERTAIN CONDITIONS (pressure)
“Is is possible that an employee with situational ethics will read an article about embezzlement and then use that information to steal from their employer?“
It is possible, but I feel it would be a rare event.
Let’s be realistic, it is unlikely that after reading an embezzlement article an employee will experience an “a-ha!” moment and start stealing from you.
That’s not how our brains work.
When an employee makes the leap to steal, they do not need go online to learn how to do it. They already know how, and they have everything they need at their fingertips simply by virtue of having worked for you.
- they know your office.
- they know your systems.
- they know your software, maybe even better than you do.
- they have established a degree of trust, and they know your personal habits too.
They also know what you look at, and more importantly, what you do not look at. They did not learn this from reading embezzlement articles. They learned these things during their employment.
When an employee with situational ethics is motivated by an intense pressure for money, they can succumb and then make a bad decision and start stealing. The stealing usually begins slow and low, then builds (in dollar amount) and frequency. At this point, their only concern is “Will I get caught?” (and they always answer “no”)
Stealing from a dental office does not require a special intellect or education.
Because employees can establish trust, understand your office and know your habits really well, it becomes easy for them to locate your blind spot and conceal their thefts from you.
Consider too, that majority of dental embezzlers are first time offenders who began stealing opportunistically, under pressure. Most are not college educated or have formal business education. They often have relationships and children that place demands on their time
They do not need to spend hours online learning how to steal, but assuming that a few of them did; then everything they need is in the public domain, and in many cases, in more detail .
You can find detailed embezzlement schemes described in posts on FBI and district attorney websites.
As well, there are thousands of public court reports and news articles about embezzlers and the schemes they used to steal. Consider too, that many fraud prevention websites openly discuss embezzlement cases. , so this information is already out there, if you look for it.
Need proof? Just type “Embezzlement Schemes” into your Google search bar and see what happens.
If you read the stories in our FRAUDBUSTER FILES you will see that most dental embezzlement cases are perpetrated using a handful of common schemes. Not hundreds, as some would have you believe.
The news stories in our FraudBuster Files involve embezzler living in different cities, who did not know each other, and yet somehow used substantially similar methods to steal from a dental practice. In essence, those embezzlers independently figured out similar methods to steal.
Q: “So Whom are we trying to educate here?”
Circling back to this question, the answer is:
Dental FraudBusters educates dentists and practice owners about embezzlement, so they can learn how to prevent, detect and confront employee dishonesty in their practice.
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