Expense Fraud | Expense Claims Fraud Bremen

Economic crime causes billions of euros in damage every year; in Germany alone, the figure stood at 4.645 billion euros in 2014. Not infrequently, a company’s own employees are the perpetrators. When it comes to producing compelling, court-admissible evidence against disloyal staff, the qualified commercial investigators of Kurtz Investigations Bremenare at your side with advice and action – whether for feigned incapacity for work, breaches of competition law, theft, embezzlement or, indeed, expense and payroll fraud: +49 421 3679 9066.

Field Staff: Out of Reach = Out of Control?

Employees who do not work on company premises but instead operate from an external warehouse or in the field often have more than a few tricks up their sleeve. Field staff such as customer advisers or construction tradespeople exploit the lack of direct supervision to enrich themselves at the employer’s expense. A typical example – as our detectives in Bremen know from many years of experience – is expense and claims fraud by sales representatives who visit customers or business partners on behalf of the company and record more time for a visit than was actually required. For instance, the employee submits four customer visits of two hours each, while in reality he or she worked only three or four hours in total and devoted the excess recorded time to personal interests. As the employer, you therefore pay for work that was not performed.

Moreover, it has become common practice among this type of employee to charge personal expenses as company expenses. Private vehicles are refuelled and the receipt submitted as a business expense via the company account; the same applies to postage, hotel and hospitality costs, and so on. Our expert commercial detectives in Bremen observe your field staff if you suspect irregularities in expense claims. If required, send us an email at kontakt@kurtz-detektei-bremen.de or give us a call.

Conduct Damaging to the Business and Its Consequences | Detectives in Bremen Observe the Perpetrator

The situation becomes even more serious when not only you but also the customer is harmed. Example: the employee concerned is an installer who records two hours for a repair carried out at a customer’s premises, although the work actually took only one hour. As the business owner, you issue an inflated invoice to the customer, who is understandably annoyed and will not only refrain from commissioning you again but may also stop recommending your company or even spread negative comments about you. In such cases, the issue is less direct financial loss and more reputational damage, which can have significant long-term effects. This behaviour must be curbed promptly; the IHK-certified private detectives of our Kurtz Detective Agency Bremen are happy to take on your case and help you prove the offence in a manner admissible in court.

The misconduct of a single employee can have a domino effect on the entire workforce. A detailed record of the disloyal employee’s actions therefore enables you to demonstrate clearly to all staff that dishonest conduct will not be tolerated. In addition to this signalling effect, various companies have told us after the conclusion of such cases that proving the fraud through our detective agency, or through cooperation partners, even had a positive impact on employee morale, as staff became aware that behaviour harmful to the business is not tolerated. Ultimately, employees made greater efforts to avoid being accused of inadequate performance and thus even contributed to increasing turnover. Our detective agency in Bremen is pleased to provide you with a non-binding, case-specific consultation. Please use our contact form for your enquiry or call us on +49 421 3679 9066.