Embezzlement is an example of a white-collar crime that commonly involves an employee. In many cases, an employee in South Carolina or another state has been entrusted with the money or assets but steals or misuses them for themselves, but an employer can also embezzle. There are many types of this criminal offense.
Embezzlement involving checks
An example of check embezzlement involves the employee stealing customer checks, endorsing them and keeping the money. In the modern world, the employee may set up a fake company account with a similar name by computer.
An employee could commit embezzlement by forging a company check to themselves. If they have access to the company stamp, it makes forgery easier.
Another check embezzlement scam is called kiting, which involves the scammer making several transactions between different financial institutions. The amount increases and the employee takes advantage of long check-clearing times.
Cash embezzlement
One type of cash embezzlement involves overcharging customers and keeping the difference. An employee might overcharge the customer the same “fee” multiple times and try to hide it in the records. Embezzlement could also include billing customers for services or goods they never ordered.
An employee may also try to scam through a vendor by having the vendors pay them cash directly. The cost of the merchandise often increases since both parties look to make profits.
Payroll and overtime
Employees may take turns clocking out for one another, especially if they’re late, or employees might leave without clocking out first. Some scammers create false entries in the payroll to make it look like they worked overtime when they didn’t or add more hours than they really worked. Payroll and overtime fraud have the highest chance of occurring when an employee works when no one would be there to hold them accountable, such as late-night hours.
White-collar offenses can have lifelong consequences, but the prosecution must prove the case in order to convict an individual. An experienced defense attorney may be able to help an individual get the charges reduced or even dropped.