Major retailers and other corporations are gearing up for the all-important holiday shopping season. Amid growing worries about stagnant holiday sales and signs of a recession, companies are still hiring seasonal employees. In their hurry to hire temporary workers, however, many companies run an increased risk of employee fraud, embezzlement and other crimes.

Accu-Screen, a leader in employment background screening, has found that employee theft and fraud tend to increase in a rocky economy. Accu-screen frequently conducts criminal and sexual offender background checks for retail chains and malls that are hiring seasonal employees.

“In uncertain economic times, more employees are giving themselves a ‘five-finger bonus,’” says Kevin Connell, chief executive officer and founder of Accu-Screen. “I’ve seen numerous recent cases of people who’ve decided to get a salary increase by stealing from their employers.”

Connell advises hiring managers and others to be on their guard when evaluating prospective employees. They should avoid giving in to the temptation to hire in haste, since they’re likely to repent at leisure, Connell says.

Some high-profile cases of seasonal crimes include:

* A New Jersey con man stole $200,000 from eight companies in four states. He repeatedly got hired as a store manager, worked for a few days or weeks, then disappeared with the cash receipts.

* Three Nordstrom’s security employees and a “secret shopper” were arrested for taking part in a retail theft ring that stole store merchandise valued at $62,000.

* An actor who worked as a mall Santa was arrested by Interpol for producing child pornography and abusing young boys.

Many of these employees looked good on paper, but were hiding a criminal record, false identity or a checkered employment history. Connell has noticed an upswing in people who are lying on their resumes this year. He saw the same pattern during the economic downturns in the late 1990s and after September 11th, 2001.

“It’s frightening how much damage a bad or dishonest employee can do in their first thirty days on the job,” Connell says. He recommends that employers protect themselves by doing background screenings of prospective and current employees.