Employee Time-Reporting Fraud

In addition to documenting expense fraud and abuse of sick leave, our highly trained corporate investigators at Kurtz Investigations Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein specialise in legally admissible investigations into suspected time-reporting fraud: +49 431 3057 0053.

“The Boss Won’t Notice …” | Systematic Deception

Primarily in the service sector and especially in field sales, there are countless opportunities for employees to record more working time than they actually perform – sometimes to an outrageous extent. Client advisers log twice the time for customer visits that they actually spend, or do not visit at all and record the opposite. As an employer you would, in a case of suspicion, be forced to ask each individual customer how much time your employee actually spent advising them. That would appear very odd to customers and could damage your reputation, which would in turn affect turnover. Consequently, you will rely on the assistance of external experts to verify matters – our private investigators from Kiel are at your disposal.

Over-reporting of hours is also common in the trades. The seemingly industrious bricklayer or joiner who spends half an hour longer on site or in the workshop will then unashamedly write three hours into the work record. If this fraud is an isolated incident by a single employee, you are unlikely to notice it immediately and the monetary losses may remain limited. Experience shows, however, that it rarely remains a single incident and the sums a dishonest employee can cause by falsifying working hours are potentially enormous. Early intervention is therefore strongly recommended. Our qualified corporate investigators in Kiel obtain court-admissible evidence against disloyal employees by means of surveillance. For a non-binding enquiry please use our contact form or email us at kontakt@kurtz-detektei-kiel.de.

Customer Service – When the Customer Feels Dumped

Tradespeople working in customer service can also cause significant damage through billing fraud. A plumber who, in addition to the regular material costs, records inflated assembly work and has the customer sign off on it – possibly without the customer reading the work record carefully – harms the company’s reputation. The customer will notice the fraud when they receive your invoice, will be angry about your employee and will not hire you again. Moreover, they are unlikely to recommend your company and may even warn acquaintances, friends and family about dubious business practices.

In addition to the financial and reputational risks posed by a dishonest employee, there is the “role-model” effect: staff who have been loyal and reliable may see that a colleague benefits unfairly without fear of consequences. That sends a poor signal for workforce morale. It is therefore imperative to expose the fraudster quickly and set an example. Our experienced and IHK-certified detectives in Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein conduct discreet surveillance to provide you with court-admissible evidence. Contact us for a case-specific, non-binding discussion of our employee-screening options: +49 431 3057 0053.