Services:
We offer a number of services to our clients, such as...
Accident / Insurance Fraud Investigation:
At Abbey Investigations we have been specialising in insurance fraud for twenty years. Some of our staff have been with us since the commencement of our business. The experience we have is second to none and we have an extremely high rate of success.
With our camera technology we are able to provide video and photographic evidence covering and identifying insurance fraudsters at distances of over 2 kilometers. We are the only investigators in Ireland using such specialised photographic equipment. We are retained by nearly all the leading Insurance companies in Ireland to combat insurance fraud.
Employee Absenteeism:
This area of our business has seen an unprecedented growth in recent years. In recent months we have successfully combated numerous cases of major fraud in this area. The most common occurrences are to be seen where employees are working elsewhere whilst still claiming sick benefits from their employers.
In a recent six month period we have had various employees sacked over serious misconduct throughout the spectrum of a companies employment ranks. It is alarming to see the number of employees( often in highly paid jobs with important positions) abusing their employers, and fraudulently claiming sick benefit.
Staff Theft:
This is an area where greater vigilance is needed as theft accounts for serious losses in a lot of businesses. Theft can occur in numerous locations - pubs, shops, factory premises and offices.
It is a sad but realistic reflection on our workforce that there are very few premises with employees that are not stealing in some way from their employers.
The main problems associated with small shops tends to be employees stealing lotto cash cards, cigarettes, and also not charging friends and family members the full amount.
On average in shops and pubs the amount of cash that goes missing is four to five hundred Euro per week.
Any factory premiss that is supplying any finished product marketable to consumers will find that a certain amount of their product goes missing each week, and their staff will be the culprits. Our success in this field is extremely high, and we have combated a number of large scale frauds being commited by staff. The amount which goes missing in factory circumstances varies greatly, but often can total thousands of Euro per week.
We have had prosecutions and a large number of dismissals based on the evidence we have supplied.
Outlined below are the most recent examples of staff theft which we have successfully investigated – the companies involved have not been named in the interest of confidentiality.
- Factory products– Drug companies, high value gift companies, companies producing luxury products.
- Food products – Butchers, Restaurants, supermarkets, beef factories, mineral waters and soft drinks.
- Raw materials from builders providers, timber products from forestry harvesters.
- Fuel theft – at petrol stations, from contractors yards, siphoned from trucks and from home heating suppliers.
- Alcohol theft from breweries, pubs and wholeslalers.
The above examples consist of only a small selection of the areas where we have had success in combating theft by employees. If a product has a high consumer demand the temptation will always be there for employees to steal.
Counterfeit Goods
This is an aspect of business that is growing for all major companies. Individuals or groups are copying goods and costing companies millions each year. Perhaps the greatest loss is the reputation of the company, as the goods that are produced by the counterfeiters are usually of poor and sub-standard quality products. We have had major success with our investigations, and many result in Garda prosecutions.
CCTV systems:
Close Circuit Television is a very simple and cost effective method of combating theft by both staff and customers. Its significance in combating insurance fraud cannot be stressed enough.
It is easy to see from the grainy and blurred images seen on the Garda Crimeline series that most premises are protected with inadequate security systems. All modern premises should be using digital video recording systems, commonly known as DVR systems. The quality achieved is superb, images can be stored for weeks on a single unit and if an incident of note occurs during this time, any footage can be burned onto a disc for use in prosecution.
All of our CCTV products are available for rental and purchase.
Visible cameras are useful as a deterrent to crime. The selection available is huge, from the small and subtle cameras to the larger and more intimidating models. These cameras can be incorporated with vandal-proof and weather proof housings.
Hidden cameras are also a very effective method to combat any incidences of theft from tills and storerooms out of view, paritcularly when an incident is ongoing. I would strongly recommend all shops and businesses to install a CCTV system. More and more insurance companies now require a CCTV system to be installed, and the presence of a CCTV system will lower insurance quotes drastically.
If you have any further questions regarding any of the services mentioned on this page, please do not hesitate to contact us.
