In the retail industry, sweethearting is a form of theft by employees at the
cash register, where they give away merchandise to a "sweetheart" customer (such as a friend, family member or fellow employee).
Cashiers are able to do this in numerous ways, including:
* Scan avoidance
*
Price override A price override is a feature of a retail management system which allows an authorised person to change the automated price of a product or service, in order to apply a discount.
Price overrides occur for a variety of reasons. One common reason i ...
s
* Refund fraud, gift card fraud
* Void fraud
* Invoicing scams
Sweethearting is the most common type of employee theft.
Countermeasures
Most methods of stopping sweethearting include physical supervision of the cashier or installation of software that detects sweethearting, which can be difficult to do.
Common countermeasures include use of
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
surveillance cameras and security guards checking customer receipts at exits. A modern, well-implemented and tightly managed retail management system enables store management to track which cashiers may ring up unusually high amounts of merchandise known to be attractive to thieves.
References
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Commercial crimes
Retailing-related crime
Theft