Avionics News November 2014 - 52

BUSINESS BASICS

Continued from page 51

steal himself (to sell product on
eBay), pocket cash sales or add credit to accomplices' gift cards. Signs
include an increase in the ratio of
credit-to-cash sales, a high number
of voids or no-sale entries, or unofficial markdowns.
Nip shrinkage in the bud by making your good eggs part of the solution and putting the fear of God in
potential bad apples. According to
McGoey, businesses that openly
discuss loss prevention have
employees who more readily report
any shenanigans. Meanwhile, do
criminal-background and reference

avionics news

november

2014

checks with new hires, and tell them
unequivocally that no level of theft is
tolerated. Make sure everyone knows
you're watching.
7. Fake returns. If you sell at a
brick-and-mortar retail location or
a trade show, beware of a variety of
scams. They can be as annoying as
a customer attempting to return a
product, such as a handheld GPS or a
specialty tool, which he only needed
once. They're as sneaky as someone
trying to return a sale item without a
receipt for full price. And they're as
devious as returning a lower-priced
item in the box of a more-expensive,
lookalike one. This crook might even
try to spoof your receipts with offthe-shelf equipment from office sup-

ply stores to meet his needs.
He does these things because he
doesn't think you're tracking his
purchases, or you won't inspect
the returned merchandise, or even
if you do, you won't recognize the
difference. It's up to you to prove
him wrong.
An alternate version of this is a
first-time, out-of-town customer
who orders several big-ticket items
and requests they be shipped
express; by the time you determine
the purchase was made with a stolen credit card, he has the goods.
Rush delivery is the big tell, as
are large orders of the same products, or those including high-value
items, which helps the scammer
max out cards before he's detected.
Train your staff to request the cardholder's name off the card, along
with all 16 digits, the expiration
number and the card verification
value service number off its back
to prove the caller has the physical
card. Also, the National Federation
of Independent Businesses recommends requiring the caller to provide complete billing and shipping
addresses and phone numbers. Call
them, and don't ship if the customer refuses.
Certainly, this list isn't complete;
scammers are always looking for
ways to make money off your best
intentions, including getting you to
fax huge reams of sales information to fax machines connected
with 1-900- or 976-number payper-call services, tricking you into
ordering overpriced office supplies,
or cram your phone service with
monthly fees. But when you're
aware that dirty tricks exist, you're
more likely to avoid them.
When it comes to scammers, an
ounce of prevention is definitely
worth a pound of cure. q

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Avionics News November 2014

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