Alice Springs business operators are being urged by police to be more vigilant following a number of reports of fraud and stealing involving employees.

Detective Senior Sergeant Lauren Hill said the large number of such cases was disturbing and indicated that some members of the business community needed to upgrade their security to ensure such incidents were caught more quickly.

"What is disturbing is the number of cases in which employees have been able to steal large amounts of money over a protracted period of time and no-one has noticed," Det Sen Sgt Hill said.

In one of the most serious cases a 25-year-old woman who was employed by an Aboriginal Art Association managed to fraudulently transfer almost $250,000 out of the company accounts over almost an eight month period. The woman is facing 88 counts of forgery, 90 of stealing and 88 of uttering forged documents.

In another case a 32-year-old man will face court after he allegedly stole almost $150,000 from the company he managed. It is alleged that over the course of 12 months he used company funds to purchase motor cycles, pay bills and make his mortgage repayments.

And a 35-year-old woman will face court after allegedly embezzling more than $50,000 from her employer over an 18 months period.

"It is not just small businesses which are vulnerable," Det Sen Sgt Hill said.

"In one of the more unusual cases a woman falsified NT Health Department documents to gain almost $19,000 in benefits before being caught.

"But sometimes the thefts are detected early, as in the case of two bank employees who will face court for stealing $10,000 over a two day period.

"Internet and credit card fraud are also reasonably common. For instance police received a report from the proprietor of a backpackers accommodation about a stolen credit card being used to book accommodation valued at more than $2000 by e-mail. Less than 24 hours later the business was asked to cancel the booking and provide a refund to an alternate bank account. Investigations revealed that the credit cards used had been stolen from a bank in the US.

A stolen credit card was also the basis for a woman gaining $12,000 in benefits when she used it to purchase a vehicle and gift cards.

"This is another reminder to people who notice credit cards missing or any unusual purchases or activity to cancel them immediately."

Unauthorised access to bank accounts is also one of the ways fraud is perpetrated.

"In an incident earlier this year a 46-year-old female carer was arrested after it was discovered she allegedly stole an ATM card from an elderly person she was employed to care for and subsequently stole $15,500 from his account over a two-month period.

"And then there was the falsification of timesheets at an NT Government facility. The result was a 42-year-old woman faces court over false accounting. In this case she gained almost $13,000 in overtime payments because her supervisors failed to check whether the work was actually done. This was only discovered when a shift discrepancy was raised by another employee which then resulted in an audit.

"But it's not just the large one-off rip-offs which come to our notice and result in large losses. Police received a report last year from a retailer after he discovered one of his staff had been pilfering the petty cash over an eight-month period resulting in losses to him of $22,000.

"In another interesting case, a 23-year-old trainee accountant managed to steal almost $20,000 over a six-month period, simply because of lax security measures. She now faces court and six counts of stealing."

Det Sen Sgt Hill said in almost all the cases cited above, the incidents occurred because of lack of adequate auditing methods or misplaced trust in staff.

"October being business month should provide a timely reminder to business owners and managers to improve these internal processes by conducting spot audits and by using qualified independent auditors."

"Also it may be of interest that in two of the cases mentioned above, the perpetrators had prior criminal histories for fraud-related offences. If criminal history checks had been undertaken it's possible these incidents would not have occurred."


Media contact:
Theresa Kuilboer
8951 8825