People who haven’t worked in retail seldom have a grasp of how pernicious fraud is. Proactively countering it, and retroactively uncovering it is a Sisyphean task that has be done almost daily.
When you work for a company that sells big ticket electronics, credit card fraud is constant issue. I’m barely exaggerating when I say that someone took a run at us with a stolen credit card at least once a day.

As commonplace as external fraud is, internal fraud is even more common.

Money is, as they say, the root of all evil, and where money is at stake, sad to say, there will be employees who attempt to think outside the box in order to acquire more of it.

Fortunately, most employee attempts at commission fraud are easily uncovered and countered. It’s just disappointing when someone who was a good performer has to be dismissed for fraud or theft.

It’s not just money that can drive employees to steal; it can be fame and glory too.

Sales contests are a regular occurrence in retail, and, from salespeople’s point of view, are a fun way to earn extra cash and prizes above and beyond regular commissions.

Years ago, the HiFi retailer I was working for ran Monster Cable’s infamous Road Rally contest.

For those who don’t know, the parameters of the contest were that the top salespeople in the company who sold the most Monster products during the contest period would win an all-expense paid trip to San Francisco, visit the

Monster Cable facility there, hang out with Monster founder Noel Lee, and drive around the Sonoma Valley in Noel’s collection of exotic sportscars.

If that sounds like a lot of fun, it is. Back then, it was kind of a big deal.

As the contest period drew to a close, several of my peers and I were in the lead to be the team members who would win the prize and travel together to the event.

The day before the contest closed, suddenly all of us dropped in the standings, to be replaced by newcomers.

My general manager, and the GMs of other stores smelled a rat, and conducted an audit.

In the closing hours of the contest, no fewer than six salespeople engaged in what’s called a “Buy and Return” fraud to try to win the contest.

That’s where someone buys a bunch of stuff to pump up their numbers, and refunds it once the contest closes.

It’s an old trick, and painfully easy to spot.

Six people lost their jobs for cheating the contest.

And that’s the story of how me and several of my peers almost didn’t get to go to San Francisco.