Figures from the British Retail Consortium reveal that managers are getting better at detecting staff crime and that the introduction of chip and PIN has been a success.
The data is contained in the BRC's retail crime survey but has been seen exclusively by The Grocer ahead of its release on Wednesday (11 October).
According to 2005 figures, the value of staff theft detected by retailers was up by 22% since 2004 to £23m and the value of undetected staff thefts was down by 35% to £320m.
Michael Gallagher, crime policy executive at the BRC, said it was an indicator that retailers had improved measures to help detect and combat staff theft and fraud. "It's very telling that detected staff crime has risen and is at the highest level we have seen," he said.
"It's sending out a warning to staff that things are getting harder. It means that retailers have become more effective at detecting fraud and their systems are working better. There are a lot of third-party products on offer but investigation managers emphasise that the technology is only as good as the people using it.
"Every store manager should be vigilant but technology is assisting them and pinpointing when to question certain activity on the till."
The report also suggests that the rise of chip and PIN technology has had a positive impact, with card payment fraud falling by £2.5m since 2004. However, card-not-present fraud rose by £3.4m during the same period.
"Chip and PIN wasn't present during some of 2005/06 as it was only really rolled out on 14 February this year," Gallagher said. "We imagine next year's survey will show an even greater impact.
"We're also seeing that some of the card payment fraud seems to be migrating to card-not-present fraud such as online shopping, so there's still a weakness that will have to be addressed."
The BRC will unveil its full survey at a conference in London on Wednesday.
The data is contained in the BRC's retail crime survey but has been seen exclusively by The Grocer ahead of its release on Wednesday (11 October).
According to 2005 figures, the value of staff theft detected by retailers was up by 22% since 2004 to £23m and the value of undetected staff thefts was down by 35% to £320m.
Michael Gallagher, crime policy executive at the BRC, said it was an indicator that retailers had improved measures to help detect and combat staff theft and fraud. "It's very telling that detected staff crime has risen and is at the highest level we have seen," he said.
"It's sending out a warning to staff that things are getting harder. It means that retailers have become more effective at detecting fraud and their systems are working better. There are a lot of third-party products on offer but investigation managers emphasise that the technology is only as good as the people using it.
"Every store manager should be vigilant but technology is assisting them and pinpointing when to question certain activity on the till."
The report also suggests that the rise of chip and PIN technology has had a positive impact, with card payment fraud falling by £2.5m since 2004. However, card-not-present fraud rose by £3.4m during the same period.
"Chip and PIN wasn't present during some of 2005/06 as it was only really rolled out on 14 February this year," Gallagher said. "We imagine next year's survey will show an even greater impact.
"We're also seeing that some of the card payment fraud seems to be migrating to card-not-present fraud such as online shopping, so there's still a weakness that will have to be addressed."
The BRC will unveil its full survey at a conference in London on Wednesday.
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