Skimming revenue, part four: Stealing cash payments from customers

In the past three columns, we've discussed many ways fraud perpetrators steal currency and checks from organizations before accountability for the transactions has been recorded in the accounting system.  

This column concludes this brief coverage of skimming cash payments from customers. 

Fraud detection
Skimming cash is probably one of the most common frauds employees perpetrate against their employers. The temptation of all that cash staring them in the face every working day is often overwhelming for many cashiers. They eventually succumb to the lure of easy money and simply take the currency. They think they're invisible and bulletproof and no one can see them. The good news about these frauds is that most involve relatively small losses. The bad news is that many of these frauds are never detected primarily because of the lack of an audit trail. It's difficult to prove losses when there are no records. That's why it's so important for organizations to enlist the help of customers and citizens to provide tips about irregular cash receipting activities by employees. These tips are the most common methods of fraud detection for skimming schemes.