Cheryl Obermiller, who bills herself as "The Pothole Queen," built a successful and respected small business that provides parking lot maintenance services. She didn't realize that as she was bringing in revenues, a trusted employee was taking them out.

By the time she discovered the embezzlement in 2010, Obermiller Construction in Harrisonville, Mo., had lost nearly $1 million.

"The most shocking thing to me after my embezzlement was seeing how many red flags had been there all along, which I had either ignored or misinterpreted," she says. "Don't let your friendship with an employee, or your natural sense of trust for people, give a dishonest person a safe place to steal."