igures reflect the seriousness of the problem of
             employee theft and fraud and hence the importance of controlling such
             deviant acts by the organizations' own employees. Before going on to
             discuss the options available to Security Managers for controlling employee
             theft and fraud, it would be useful to see why employees steal and commit
             Human greed is generally considered to be the basic reason behind
             employee theft and fraud. It is, however, not the only reason as all greedy
             people do not commit crimes to fulfill their needs. Opportunity should also
             exist in the workplace in addition to greed for crime to take place.
             Research shows that a third, and perhaps the most important ingredient for
             employee fraud, is motivation. The more dissatisfied the employee, the more
             likely he or she is to engage in criminal behavior. In criminology, this is
             known as "wages in kind," i.e., when people believe that they are not being
             treated fairly or being compensated to the level of their worth, they are
             more likely to "try and balance the scales." (Wells, 2001) Such employees
             consider their stealing or act of fraud as a "revenge act" designed to
             getting back at the employer and justify their crime as "just desserts" for
             the company. Managers responsible for preventing fraud in organizations
             would, therefore, do well to look out for dissatisfied employees (e.g,
             those overlooked for promotion) as potential threats.
             Another strong motivation for employee fraud is "financial pressure"
             due to personal financial problems, medical or other emergencies in their
             families or vice related problems (e.g., gambling debts). This theory is
             supported by research conducted by criminologist Donald R. Cressey in the
             late 1940s who, after interviewing about 200 imprisoned embezzlers,
             including convicted executives, found that the great majority had committed
             fraud to meet their financial obligations. (Wells, 2...