The Theft Triangle

  The theft triangle is a model designed to explain why employees might steal from a company or organization. The presence of all three of the factors in the theft triangle will increase the risk of theft from employees. These factors are motive, desire and opportunity. In the case of all these factors being present the likeliness of theft from employees are at its highest.

     In the case of motive one should consider money and emotions as key driving forces behind theft from employees. If an employee feels that he is not being paid enough for the work he or she is doing then theft might be considered as an act of vengeance. Employees might also feel displeased in cases where they have been looked over for promotion or extended benefits like business trips.

     Secondly, an employee’s desire goes hand-in-hand with motive. Employees foresee the pleasure and gratification from stealing from their employer. According to Schirmer Engineering employees think in their mind that ‘I want to do this, because of X’. In some cases motive and desire are placed on one side of the triangle and in that case they add another side for ability. This side would regard an employee’s ability to do the crime as an important factor in employee theft. If the employee has the tools to commit the crime it adds to the risk of theft in the workplace.

     This leads to the presence of opportunity. Opportunity refers to the method of the crime or the timing of the crime. If there are no barriers to protect against theft or if these measures are insufficient then the risk from employee theft are heightened. The security manager can’t influence motive or desire but the implementation of security measures to prevent the opportunity of theft is one of his direct responsibilities.