Theft of Company Assets (Case Study)

In a large metal-processing company, inventories repeatedly revealed that valuable metal components mysteriously disappeared between delivery and production. The losses from individual shipments were relatively minor, so the total damage only became apparent in the annual accounts: over 180 deliveries to production were incomplete, resulting in losses in the mid-five-figure range.

Infiltration of the Company by a Corporate Detective

After various internal measures proved unsuccessful, management concluded that the only solution was to engage a corporate detective. To catch the culprit(s), the management, in cooperation with the Kurtz Detective Agency Münster, devised a strategy: one of the private detectives would be integrated as a supposedly new colleague in the production department. His true role remained secret from all staff, as it was unclear who within production and the receiving department might be involved in the theft. The detective underwent a two-week familiarisation period to gain an overview of the production site. After this induction, he was, on management’s instructions and in consultation with them, assigned to the metal delivery receiving area to carefully inspect each shipment and determine whether the supplier had delivered the correct amount. One week later, another shipment was short, and our Münster detective knew the culprit had to be among the receiving staff.

Internal Thieves Caught Red-Handed

At the receiving area were two recently hired shift workers and a long-serving secretary in accounting, Luise Lengerich, who had been with the company for over ten years. The corporate detective from Kurtz Detective Agency Münster established friendly contact with all three employees, initially suspecting only the two newcomers. However, he noticed that Luise Lengerich would leave the room to make personal calls on her private mobile and was frequently seen socially with a production employee. Through his network of colleagues, the detective discovered that Ms Lengerich was always the last to leave the production site in the evenings. One evening, he pretended to leave, but in fact remained hidden in the now darkened production area within visual and auditory range of Luise Lengerich.

As the detective had suspected, Ms Lengerich met the production employee there, directing him to follow her to the women’s restroom in the receiving area. Shortly afterward, both returned with boxes full of metal parts, which they loaded into a vehicle parked near the receiving area. Our detective from Kurtz Private Detective Agency Münster witnessed the theft and the loading of the stolen goods firsthand, documenting the incident from a safe distance with a camera. The long-serving employee had become so frustrated by a denied pay rise that she, together with her partner, decided to steal a few metal parts per shipment for resale. They likely would have continued their scheme longer if they had not been caught due to excessive quantities. Ms Lengerich and her partner were dismissed without notice and agreed with the affected company on a staggered repayment plan to cover the damages.