Gift cards may encourage spending, but they also make it easy for employees to steal, writes the New York Times.

Among the variations of such crimes, cashiers often do fake refunds of merchandise and then, with the amount refunded, use their registers to electronically fill gift cards, which they take. Or sometimes when shoppers buy gift cards, cashiers give them blank cards and then divert the shoppers’ money onto cards for themselves.

“Shoplifters? Studies Say Keep an Eye on Workers “ [New York Times]

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