It is a well known fact that carrying a clip board can get you into almost any business. Depending on the circumstances, a clip board and a hard hat can get you into place that you may otherwise not be able to access. Many con men have used this technique. That is why, a recent news story about an attempted robbery of a Dunkin Donuts should be of no surprise to anyone.
Orlando, Florida police arrested 48-year-old Ricardo Diaz on charges of robbery, petty theft and burglary after he posed as an internal auditor and gained access to the cash at a local donut shop. Good Samaritans detained him until police arrived.
I once worked for a retail chain where we performed store audits. Most of the time, we were asked for identification. When we were not asked to provide id, we made sure individuals understood the dangers of not identifying those entering the office. This story demonstrates the importance of knowing who is accessing you organization’s assets.
The link to the story is below:
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/employees-and-bystanders-take-down-robber-dunkin-d/nMgR8/
Just goes to show that there are no new ideas. 30+ years ago when I was working for a theatre chain the same thing happened. A man approached a rookie shift manager and convinced him that he was an auditor from corporate and proceeded to audit the theatre. 30 minutes into the “audit” he found enough discrepancies that – sadly – he had to suspend the shift manager and ask for his keys to the building.
After this incident photo IDs were issued to all corporate auditors.
Wow! The more things change, the more they stay the same. I feel sorry for the poor manager.