Who are you hiring? Who did you hire yesterday?

In May of 2009 there was an article in the Katy Times about the Harris County Sheriff’s Office looking for two individuals who had defrauded several Houston area car dealerships of nearly $750,000. The two gentlemen in question were obtaining employment at various automobile dealerships in order to obtain customer information. With the information, they financed numerous vehicles. After they were done at one dealership they moved on to another and another.

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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I heard this old saying from my elders when I was just a kid, but I haven't heard it in such a long time. I remember wondering what prevention was, and how much of it would make an ounce. At that time, I had a real good idea of what cure was, and the huge amount of it that would be needed to make a pound. In those days, cures weren'-t sugar coated or flavored to taste like mint, wild cherry, or strawberry. I knew that I had no desire to have to take a pound of any of the cures I had been exposed to up to that point in my life-so I was really interested in learning about prevention.

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We have all seen the commercials about identity theft: The ones with the guy that uses someone else’s credit card to go on lavish vacations or buy expensive jewelry. While the commercials may be funny, the situation is serious. The fact is identity theft is the fastest growing and most expensive crime today.

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"Because I could." was the response given by former President Bill Clinton when asked by news anchor Dan Rather why he had become involved with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. I heard this just days after I had written an article for the July 2004 issue of Dealer Marketing Magazine, in which I suggested that there were just two basic causes that lead otherwise good employees to commit dishonest acts. These causes are: opportunity and the belief that they can get away with it. When these two conditions exist simultaneously, employees will commit dishonest acts just because they can. Hearing the former president's explanation for his actions, so simply stated, confirmed to me what I had known for years--but only recently understood. Simply eliminating the basic causes can stop employee dishonesty of almost any type, including misuse and abuse of dealer demo plates.

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