Internal Theft Tour 2009

Mike Joseph and I have returned from Bilioxi, MS and Harris, MI stops where we presented our Internal Theft training seminar to hundreds of casino managers and directors. The training was well received and generated a lot of thought and feedback. Both Mike and I continue to be astonished at the the amount of employee theft and fraud that occurs in today's casinos. We heard story after story of how employees devised various methods to steal. The amounts of money and/or value stolen routinely are staggering! Cases now result in the tens of thousands and a growing number are in the hundreds of thousands, and some in the millions!

Our next stop is San Diego in January 2010. If you want to learn how to stop employee theft on your property contact us at www.djbosspi.com or internalthefttour.com.

Security Surveillance

One of the ways to combat the crime occurring in Las Vegas nightclubs and pools is to train the surveillance people assigned to monitor these areas. It is a best practice to assign this task to the casino security or surveillance team as opposed to allowing the people/company running the nightclub pool.

Training our security surveillance personnel to operate the cameras properly and effectively to allow detection of drug use/sales, prostitution, fights, gang activity, etc., is absolutely necessary!

Well trained security surveillance personnel can substantially reduce the incidence of this activity.

See:

http://igi.unlv.edu

or

www.djbosspi.com

Costs of Fraud and Theft in Gaming

See link below. This article discusses a recent arrest made of some slot cheaters in Pennsylvania. It is amazing to me that these crimes grow so large. A few years ago we lost tens of thousands of dollars to these types of scams. today, its hundreds of thousands of dollars!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_646772.html

Kudos to the trooper who caught this! Great case of something just didn't look right.

Another way to catch these types of scams is to operate your surveillance room proactively. There are a number of techniques that can be employed to detect these scams before they get to be so large.

We've designed a training seminar to provide this type of information. See us at http://trainingingaming.com/seminars.html

See you there!

Derk

Internal Theft

Internal theft and fraud is continuing to grow in our industry. I continue to come across or hear about new scams or old scams with a new twist. The economy has exposed numerous schemes that have existed for long periods of time but were hidden behind profits during the good times. It is becoming more and more apparent that companies have a significant employee theft problem and don’t know how to fight it.

Just think about recent headlines reporting employee theft incidents that have occurred in gaming in the last few years: slot employees in New Mexico stole $500,000 to $1 million through fraudulent jackpots; slot technicians at a property in Las Vegas stole over $1 million by setting up false jackpots; dealers across the country colluded with players using false shuffles to steal over $18 million! Times have changed!

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in their 2008 Report to the Nation states that organizations lose 7% of their annual revenue to fraud. Additionally, the report says the average fraud continues for two years before it is detected. As our gaming industry is somewhat unique as compared to other more “normal” businesses, we may lose even more that the average to internal theft and fraud

Just because we expect employee theft to occur doesn’t mean we have to sit back and take it. Using the right personnel, resources and programs we can detect it more often and decrease it significantly. Most gaming properties already have most of the resources needed; awareness, proper training and techniques can easily be added to the mix.

Gaming properties already have security, surveillance, loss prevention, risk management and audit departments in place. Traditionally these departments are focused on the gaming end of the business and should continue to do so. However, as internal theft and fraud continues to rise and its costs escalate, it is imperative we also focus on the other areas and departments within today’s gaming properties.

Along with Michael Joseph, International Gaming Specialist, we developed and will present Internal Theft Tour 2009. In this dynamic and hard hitting two day presentation we have put together the information, techniques and best practices you need to immediately attack internal theft and fraud where it exists on your property and implement techniques to detect new scams before they cost your company thousands!

Sign up today to reserve your seat for this event. You can’t afford to miss it!

Players Club

Thefts and frauds in casino Player’s Clubs continue to make the news. Losses in amounts of $100,000 or more are not uncommon. These frauds often continue for up to two years before they are detected. The longer they exist, the more they cost! As we’ve discussed in the past these clubs bear our strict attention.

However, watching these clubs is not as easy as we’d like. Placing cameras to watch employees in the club doesn’t provide us the information we really need. The crimes that are taking place are usually done through the club’s computer terminals meaning to catch them you must use a computer also!

Almost without exception some type of alert or report is generated when a club employee manipulates the system to obtain points, cash, comps or prizes fraudulently. The primary reason many of these frauds are not detected quickly is because our personnel assigned to protect this vital area are not trained in the appropriate means to do so.

There are techniques that can be used by a proactive surveillance team (or loss prevention team) to detect the scams and frauds that are being used today by internal fraudsters. In most cases I’ve seen the scam could have been caught the first time it was attempted. When your team can detect these illicit activities, you will prevent the loss of tens of thousands of dollars and your property’s reputation.

One of the most important things you must do is to daily review the clubs transaction activities and reports. Reviewing this critical information regularly will increase your ability to detect an existing or potential scam.

Contact me at info@djbosspi.com if you have any questions.

Internal Theft Tour

My friend Michael Joseph and I are now putting together our Internal Theft Tour 2009. Currently we are scheduled for the IP Casino and Resort in Biloxi, MS for October 20th and 21rst, the Island Resort and Casino in Harris, Michigan and in January, 2010, the Sycuan Casino and Resort, in San Diego, CA.

The Internal Theft Tour is a can't miss event. We'll be providing information on current scams employees are doing or are involved that are costing casinos thousands of dollars.

Sign up for this important event at www.trainingingaming.com.

See you there!

Digital Technology

I recently hosted a digital training class for surveillance directors at the International Gaming Institute. It was well attended. The class was presented by Robert Prady, one of the most knowledgeable technical people I know. Rob did a great job explaining what digital technology is, what it can do and what it can't.

One thing I learned that was that there are breakdown points and components that must be monitored. Drives are one, but too little bandwidth is another. Rob provided some key tools to design enough bandwidth into the system.

Be on the lookout for more of these presentations!