$30,000 guns & accessories on company credit card.

[maxwelhse]

Most people that do this start small. He likely bought a small personal item on the company card and didn't get caught. Then he went bigger. Then he figured he could get away with even more and started falsifying receipts and documents. He got over confident and eventually got caught.
Most of these types of crimes don't start with doing thousands in theft the first month, they build up to it.

You've still got to be a scumbag though. Selling your integrity for $20 is actually worse than the $65k it eventually became for that guy.

 

[Haven]

The last time I had a company credit card, I had to pay the bill every month. So I could have put personal items on it, but I would have had to pay it off. The only thing I ever put on that card were expenses I was going turn in and be reimbursed for.

 

[CampingJosh]

The last time I had a company credit card, I had to pay the bill every month. So I could have put personal items on it, but I would have had to pay it off. The only thing I ever put on that card were expenses I was going turn in and be reimbursed for.

You had to personally pay off and be reimbursed for a company credit card?

 

[VERT]

You had to personally pay off and be reimbursed for a company credit card?

Those types of arrangements do exist. I worked for a company that issued a corporate card. When we submitted the expenses they would reimburse the card. But I was always on the hook for the balance.

 

[wtburnette]

Yep. Back in the day when I had a corporate AMEX, which were given to all of the Desktop techs for travel expenses, we had to pay the balance every month. We submitted expense reports which were paid weekly, so it was no hassle. I remember when one of the guys got fired he had a huge balance on the card. Evidently no one had told him it was supposed to be paid off monthly and the company had to take the balance out of his last check.

 

[maxwelhse]

You had to personally pay off and be reimbursed for a company credit card?

2 out of the 3 I've had have been that way. Since I had to file a report against it and get reimbursed anyhow, I never used the 2 that were. May as well get my own credit card points.

 

[CampingJosh]

2 out of the 3 I've had have been that way. Since I had to file a report against it and get reimbursed anyhow, I never used the 2 that were. May as well get my own credit card points.

That's so weird to me. And yeah, I would never use that card.

What makes it a "company card," then? Just that it's issued even if the employee doesn't have the credit score to justify it?

 

[Brad69]

So I always had .Gov CC for travel business ect. Like others I used my own CC to get points most of the time. Hated dealing with BS over a sandwich and beer for lunch that cost 23 Euros.

 

[maxwelhse]

That's so weird to me. And yeah, I would never use that card.

What makes it a "company card," then? Just that it's issued even if the employee doesn't have the credit score to justify it?

Funny you mention credit score. Thankfully I don't have one at my current job, but the purchasing lady had to get one a year or two ago and she absolutely detests credit cards. She was very angry that it was going to be on her report and either for or against her score depending on the balance when checked by the reporting agencies. She had to personally apply for it just like any other card.

I really don't know why they do it, but I assume it in some way helps with corporate record keeping? Or maybe the company is like a cosigner on the account? Maybe it IS so the company can milk the cash back? No idea, but it's stupid and I do whatever possible to avoid company cards for about the last 10 years. I haven't had a normal one in ages.

 

[Nazgul]

The company is a excellent place to work. They work hard to be honest and fair to the customers. They went beyond when my wife had cancer then died.

He he must have had an accomplice at the gun store so it didn't show up as a firearm.

Don

 

[Cameramonkey]

You had to personally pay off and be reimbursed for a company credit card?

I'm not high enough on the food chain for a corporate card either. But I dont mind. I'm paid every 2 weeks for my expenses, and since it is my card, I reap the benefits of the rewards. Like having not paid for a personal hotel travel stay in 10 years because its a Hilton Honors card.

And the payback is typically fast enough that I have the reimbursement well before the bill is due. Unless I space out and forget to turn in an expense report for a couple weeks.

That payoff was most excellent a couple years ago. I snagged a room at the Hampton inn in Franklin, KY using my points as soon as the solar eclipse totality path was announced in passing the year before the event. And Franklin was right down the middle. I got to witness a mind blowing event for free with the family. I chatted with the manager while I was there and he said rack rates were running about $350 per night the night before and after. Wow.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Government Purchase Cards (GPC). I remember what was before them (Standard Form 44), but that's a whole different thread

Small purchases (<$2,500 back then), not available through regular Supply channels (if it had a National Stock Number I ordered it through Base Supply). Not accountable equipment, "off the shelf" (yeah I bent that rule a time or two, it was on the shelf as soon as the place made the part for us because otherwise it didn't exist.) Services had slightly different rules. If you were overseas there were less stringent rules for some things.

.gov of course had a metric ****-ton of stuff that went along with being a purchase card holder. Contracting was overall responsible for the GPC program, they generally sucked as human beings. In Iceland (1996-98) our Contracting reps worked out Virginia, were all career civvies and had no concept of being across the pond in a very small country.

Every purchase I made was logged, approved by the Resource Advisor (Radar maintenance support was always a yes, BS for the Ops pukes was usually "wait til the end of the month and we'll see...). Quarterly I think the RA's boss reviewed the purchases.

Annually Contracting showed up and (in my case anyway) found something to write on paper in order to justify their existence. Like when I made two $150 purchases at Greenleaf (GSA contracted entity for all things vault and security container and high security locks for all of .gov) because either I forgot to tell them 2 each or they hit 1 instead of 2. $300 is less than $2,500, so no I'm not splitting orders (multiple orders to get around the $2,500 limit.) This is the one place on the planet I can order this because they have the GSA contract. I think that was pretty much my reply. Needless to say that was the day my co-workers learned the phrase "don't know duck **** from apple butter!"

Now what the Contracting pukes (who didn't know duck**** from apple butter as I established in the previous paragraph) DID NOT even look twice at was the jerseys for the 932nd Air Control Squadron's intramural basketball team.

What's more scary than a Lieutenant saying, "based on my experience..."?? It's a Captain saying, "I've been thinking..."

So this idiot ex-AWACS Captain decided that since the Squadron Commander wanted the team to get new B-ball jerseys (the old ones had "Rockville" from the old remote Radar site that closed), that didn't mean get with the GPC holder (me) and the RA (the other guy in the office) to see how to make this happen. OH NO, it meant go to the company where the idiot Captain's FATHER WORKED and just order them. After said-jerseys ARRIVE AT THE RESIDENCE OF THE IDIOT CAPTAIN, take the invoice (WITH THE NAME OF THE IDIOT CAPTAIN'S FATHER ON IT) to the RA and expect payment to dear old Dad's employer.

By the time the box arrived, we had a new Squadron Commander. Lo and behold by nothing other than geography (overseas), circumstance (USAF a tenant on a Navy installation), good luck (no USAF MWR-function on the base) and sheer luck it was authorized to purchase these using appropriated funds. The new 932 ACS/CC (good people, originally from Carmel) was appreciative of the RA's and my i-dotting and t-crossing.

Needless to say, the new Squadron CC had a lengthy chat with the idiot Captain and the idiot Captain's boss (a Major ***hole.)

Coming back around on the guitar, don't abuse a purchase card. Not saying it couldn't happen, not saying it doesn't happen in the .gov world, but it didn't with me.

Now Government TRAVEL Cards... WHOA NELLIE!!

 

[SmileDocHill]

I had a practice management consultant that would bring in guest speakers to the quarterly gathering. He was hesitant to bring in a particular person because they spoke on embezzlement in the dental office and the offices in this group were very squared away. In the days following the class 2 of the offices discovered staff that were stealing from them for years. It's now a regular class. It is fascinating the peripheral issues that go with finding an embezzlement. Statistically the owner and even staff have an increase in divorce rates because they have psych issues with trust. In a small office the dynamic is such that it's hard to recover from realizing the friend and coworker has basically been lying and stealing from you for years and coming to work every day like nothing is going on.

 

[dbrier]

I have a state credit card and the restrictions and review on it are beyond belief. There are a lot of purchase categories that are blocked from purchases. As a quick example, a purchase for jewelry will be denied, even if it is a general purchase at the jewelry counter at a place like Wal Mart. The list of stuff like that is huge. Individual purchases are limited to $500 and my monthly limit is $2000. Most any of these rules can be waived with a written justification and approvals. I had to get approvals from 3 different people to spend $125 on the pro version of Zoom for doing virtual public meetings. LOL.
My account is viewed monthly and has a formal audit annually. If I bought sub $500 gun (I'm 99% sure the purchase would be denied at the counter), there'd be someone in my office in less than a week asking what the hell I was doing.

 

[Haven]

You had to personally pay off and be reimbursed for a company credit card?

More or less. I could submit my expense report before paying the card, and get the reimbursement first, as long as the payment due date was after I would get my reimbursement.

 

[Haven]

Yep. Back in the day when I had a corporate AMEX, which were given to all of the Desktop techs for travel expenses, we had to pay the balance every month. We submitted expense reports which were paid weekly, so it was no hassle. I remember when one of the guys got fired he had a huge balance on the card. Evidently no one had told him it was supposed to be paid off monthly and the company had to take the balance out of his last check.

On my last day at that job I turned over my corporate AMEX, went home did the expense report for the purchases made the day before on the card, and submitted them. I got paid the final expense check, and paid off the card all within a week.

 

[Haven]

That's so weird to me. And yeah, I would never use that card.

What makes it a "company card," then? Just that it's issued even if the employee doesn't have the credit score to justify it?

Pretty much. The company guarantees that the issuer (AMEX in my case) will get paid, even if the employee does not pay, because the employer will take the money out of the employees paycheck.

At the time, I didn't have a credit card, I did everything cash. I didn't get a credit card till I was in my mid 30s. So if I didn't have the money for it, I didn't buy it. The Company Card was because I was having to pay for so much stuff out of my own pocket and get reimbursed that I was starting to have issues with being able to pay my own bills. So it made it easier on me to have the company card. Plus it gets reported on my credit report, and helped me build up my credit report.

 

[CampingJosh]

I'm not high enough on the food chain for a corporate card either. But I dont mind. I'm paid every 2 weeks for my expenses, and since it is my card, I reap the benefits of the rewards. Like having not paid for a personal hotel travel stay in 10 years because its a Hilton Honors card.

I'm familiar with "their card, they get the bill" and "my card, I'll be reimbursed."

I just didn't know there was such a thing as "their card" that I a have to treat like my own.

 

[Alamo]

Government Purchase Cards (GPC). I remember what was before them (Standard Form 44), but that's a whole different thread
!

I was in when the government card first started. The card itself was a good idea, the implementation less so. As a first line officer supervisor I had to review my subordinates purchases. I soon found out I was fairly unique in conscientiously reviewing purchases. Many supervisors, especially in civil service side, regarded it as another damn piece of paper in their inbox and pencil-whipped their reviews. An early scam was to buy something at Home Depot on the card, record the purchase, wait until supervisor and RA signed off, then take item back to HD and return it for cash reimbursement. (HD would do that in those days. After the scam came to light they would reimburse onlyto the original card).

At LA AFB a GS-13 eventually got caught making shady purchases while TDY and at home, including buying an airplane ticket for his daughter to come home for some wedding. It was so difficult to actually punish civil servants for stuff like this that he just ended up with an unpaid day of leave. Which tended to reinforce the pencil-whip method of review.

When it came time to PCS from the 552 at Tinker I put in my dream sheet to be the 962 computer shop OIC at Kadena. Instead I was offered an assignment with NATO AWACS in Germany.

 

[wtburnette]

On my last day at that job I turned over my corporate AMEX, went home did the expense report for the purchases made the day before on the card, and submitted them. I got paid the final expense check, and paid off the card all within a week.

Well, this was all personal stuff on the card. The guy just assumed he could put whatever he wanted on the card. To be fair, he was in his early 20's and just didn't know any better. I blame the company for not making it clear to him what the expectations and limitations of the card were.