Why does it keep happening? Every year, there are a few agents nationally who commit fraud. It harms the integrity of those agents who conduct good business with morals and integrity. I never have understood why an agent would think they could get by with it. Well, some do.
At the core of this topic, I know there are a few reasons it happens.
Some just get caught with a few big bad checks and because they have low reserves (capital), they can’t work their way out of it.
Some are going through a bad time where production is low and think they’ll just “borrow” from the pool of money. (Real bad idea)
And there are very few who are just bad eggs and need to be locked up.
Management has to contend with this issue and if they don’t have an efficient, effective way of tracking the money, and securing the money, the losses can mount to the thousands quickly.
It’s important, crucial in this day, to have a management system way of tracking any and all money flowing in and out of the agency.
A management system should:
- Account for every penny
- Automatically note who is receipting with a date and time stamp in a note
- A simple way to balance end of day
- Make sure the notes and receipts cannot be altered/deleted
- Also have managerial securities
With all these safety features in place, it will help an agency keep out of trouble or at least minimize the depth of that problem. But at the core, there are a small few that make it bad for the masses. The best you can do is to protect yourself by putting in place the best system you can.