“For example, in August the Department of Justice announced a takedown of
over 412 individuals nationwide in connection with medical providers fraudulently
billing Medicare more than $1.3 billion. This is a niche area which the federal
government has really ramped up in recent years. Hospitals, medical clinics, and
any provider accepting Medicare patients have to be increasingly vigilant to ensure
their billing practices are compliant.”
Embezzlement damages so much more than the bottom line. It is a betrayal of
the sacred trust between employer and employee. In small businesses, it can feel
like being betrayed by a trusted family member.
“Defendants’ motives vary a great deal,” Coleman says. “Overall, I would say
they are often motivated by their own financial problems. They run short one
month, see an easy way to take money without being caught, get away with it, and
they start taking more and more. They almost always start small and work their
way up to larger and larger sums. They begin to see it as a game to keep upping
the ante without getting caught.”
Coleman says businesses are slow to act when they suspect an employee because
they do not want to jump the gun and accuse someone wrongfully when the sus-pected
stealing incident was an honest mistake.
Prevention starts with the hiring process, and businesses must be proactive and
remain vigilant from the beginning.
“When you hire someone who has access to your business accounts, the
first thing you should do is run a criminal history,” Coleman recommends.
“Surprisingly, many employers still don’t do this. Often the embezzler has been
charged with similar things in the past and had the charges dismissed, or even been
convicted of something similar. Check their social media accounts and posts. What
do they do in their spare time? Do they appear to live above their means?”
37
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