Sweethearting is a term used in the retail loss prevention industry to mean intentional margin loss through employee theft at the cash register. Sweethearting is the most common type of employee theft. Sweethearting is unauthorized giving-away of merchandise without charge to a "sweetheart" customer (friend, family, fellow employee) by the fake scan or ring-up of merchandise by the cashier. Employees operating cash registers can create numerous ways to sweetheart: * Scan avoidance * Price overrides * Refund fraud, gift card fraud * Void fraud * Invoicing scams