Beware the Business Saboteur

Once Myers caught on, he put together a team that included a certified fraud examiner and a member of the Secret Service. With their help, the account manager ended up in prison.

To tell his story, warn others, and achieve personal catharsis, Myers penned the book Keep Swinging,about the woman who nearly destroyed his business and how he bounced back from adversity to build what is now a $15 million company.

Myers highly recommends doing both criminal and civil background checks before hiring anyone. He also recommends making sure everyone takes a vacation. This ensures that another set of eyes opens the invoices and looks over the books.

While some businesses are hit from the inside, others face saboteurs with elaborate plans from the outside. Don Wilkie, of Port Huron, Mich., who, for 14 years co-owned a nightclub, called The Huron Athletic Club, with his brother Bob and a third partner, never could have dreamt up the plot that was perpetrated against their business.

The perpetrators' idea was to stage a fight at the dance club, with two planted witnesses on hand, one inside the club and one outside. The fighters would be thrown out and claim bodily harm on the part of the club security. The evening of the staged fight, however, turned out to be a bit more than the saboteurs or the club owner had bargained for.

"Before they initiated the fake fight, another patron, who was harassing the disc jockey, was escorted out of the club along with his girlfriend. The girlfriend, now furious, threw off her coat and kicked the glass out of our front door," Wilkie says.