Did you know that 85% of dental practices get embezzled from? That's not a typo—it's a crisis. And the worst part? Most dentists have no idea it's happening until thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars have disappeared. In this eye-opening episode, Marissa Krugov and Chris Hammelev—co-founders of the Dental Practice Management Agency and known as "The Velvet Hammer and The Spicy One"—pull back the curtain on the embezzlement epidemic plaguing dentistry. From Robin Hood write-offs to fraudulent insurance billing schemes, they reveal the shocking ways team members manipulate systems right under doctors' noses. More importantly, they share their proven framework for protecting your practice, what to do when you discover theft, and why dentists can no longer hide behind the excuse "they didn't teach me business in dental school." Marissa Krugov and Chris Hammelev didn't set out to become embezzlement experts—but when they caught their first embezzler in 2023, it changed everything. Despite praising an office manager for clean accounts receivable and stellar KPIs, Marissa spotted one weird write-off that unraveled an entire scheme. That sobering experience led them to spend an entire Christmas vacation developing continuing education specifically to teach dentists how to embezzlement-proof their practices. The statistics are staggering: 85% of dental practices experience embezzlement, making dentistry the most embezzled-from profession. The reason? Dentistry is the only small business where owners have no idea how to bill for or collect the services they provide—they're completely blind to what happens administratively. The methods embezzlers use are both sophisticated and shockingly simple. "Robin Hood embezzlement" involves hiding uncollected patient balances in insurance write-offs to avoid confrontation and cover mistakes. Some team members bill insurance for fake patients—often friends with insurance coverage—and split the payout. Others refund credits to their own credit cards or manipulate production numbers to match the comfortable bank balance doctors expect to see. The red flags are there: collections in your software don't match collections in your bank account, excessive write-offs that never get audited, mounting patient credits nobody wants to address, and claims that aren't being submitted regularly. But most dentists operate in a dangerous comfort zone—if there's enough money to cover payroll and overhead, they assume everything's fine. The solution starts with a systematic audit process: adding a submitted claims report to daily paperwork, conducting monthly 10-patient audits comparing EOBs to write-offs, converting all EOBs to digital records for easy access, and reviewing software audit trails for deleted or modified entries. When you do discover embezzlement, the next steps are critical: tell no one while you build your case, contact your liability insurance about the dishonest employee clause, engage employment lawyers to avoid wrongful termination suits, and decide whether prosecution (costing $7,000-$35,000 for forensic accounting) is your end game. As Marissa powerfully stated, dentists can no longer hide behind the excuse that business wasn't taught in dental school. Your practice is your retirement—protect it with the same diligence you apply to clinical continuing education. This episode is brought to you by Marketing 32—the only dental marketing team with a true performance guarantee. If you're not growing, you don't pay. Period. Marketing 32 is committed to being the most ethical, value-driven marketing partner in dentistry, tracking every metric and demonstrating real results. They specialize in helping dental practices break through growth plateaus with proven digital marketing strategies, SEO optimization, and patient acquisition systems. If you're stuck in your growth or aren't sure how to take things to the next level, head over to marketing32.com for a brief discovery call to see if you're a great fit to work together.