Unfortunately, businesses face all different kinds of theft. How vulnerable are you? First, we will identify the 4 main types of theft affecting business today. Then, we will give a few suggestions on how to minimize your risk.
Here are 4 types of theft affecting business:
- Burglary
- Robbery
- Employee theft
- Identity theft
Burglary
Did you ever experience a break in at your business before? This will certainly make a business owner feel vulnerable. Criminals are becoming more brazen every day. Perhaps you even heard about the burglars who crashed into a jewelry store with their truck!
What can you do to protect yourself besides having a good commercial property insurance policy? Make your premises look less attractive to a thief. If you take reasonable precautions, then the odds are that they may look for an easier target.
Here are a few tips for small businesses:
- Choose a low crime area for your office.
- Lease a professional office in a building with good security.
- Ensure that their are strong exterior doors and appropriate locks.
Do you have your own building?
- Install a security system that is monitored.
- Install a monitored video camera system.
- Install steel security doors on the outside of your building.
- Install exterior lighting so your front door and back door are well lit.
- Install shatter proof glass in the windows.
- Upgrade the window locks
- Install an exterior fence outside your building
- Remove all shrubs and trees near your windows
- Keep dumpsters away from the building.
- Invest in a safe for your valuable property.
Robbery
What would you do if someone came into your business and held you up at gunpoint? It’s sad to say, but brazen criminals do this in broad daylight. Recently, a nearby Dunkin Donuts was robbed at gun point with many customers in line while it happened.
Here are a few tips:
- Train employees what to do in case of robbery.
- You don’t have to figure this out yourself. Contact your local police department for developing training material.
- Limit the amounts of cash in cash registers.
- Invest in a hidden safe.
Employee Theft
Imagine investing all of the resources listed above to keep burglars out, only to find that your employees are stealing from you! In fact, 64 percent of small businesses have experienced employee theft. Source: http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2014/02/20/employee-theft-why-most-small-businesses-dont-report-it.html)
What is the best way to protect yourself?
- Install video cameras and let your employees know they are being monitored.
- Talk with your accountant about creating stringent accounting controls to protect your books.
- Require 2 signatures on each check.
- Frequently audit your books.
- Create a safe environment for employees to report theft.
Identity Theft
Imagine someone stealing your employees or clients identity and then committing fraud. Here are few tips to protect against identity theft:
- Use encryption services for all web transactions
- Keep a firewall to prevent hackers from getting into your servers
- Get a cyber insurance policy
- Remember that federal law requires businesses to provide identity theft victims with transaction records relating to their identity theft free of charge
Nobody wants their business to stolen from. We hope these tips will help to protect yourself from being vulnerable to theft. If you would like a free quote on commercial property insurance, then please contact us at insurancehub.com today.