Originally published at: Software programmer arrested for using the old "Superman III/Office Space" trick | Boing Boing
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Amateur. Everyone knows you should keep your crimes in a public github repo
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Software programmer arrested for using the old “Superman III/Office Space” trick
He made artificial kryptonite that split Superman into good and evil halves, then programmed a homicidal supercomputer that downloaded itself into Jennifer Aniston’s body and made her quit her job at Chotchkie’s?
Man, when are people going to realize this plan never works. Superman just blows up the computer with beltric acid and she gets hired by another casual dining restaurant.
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A big detail from that scheme was the whole “fractions of a penny” part, literally a rounding error on each transaction. In Office Space the schemers freaked out when they realized that the code was taking more money than originally intended, and enough that it was bound to get noticed.
Sure sounds like this guy just diverted the full shipping fee to himself and that it was inevitable that he’d get caught.
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Yes. This isn’t really a classic salami-slicing scheme.
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Yep, and the fact it took two months tells me zulily’s accounting is one month in arrears. He stole money in January. Books closed on Jan 31. Accounting reconciled everything by Feb 28. Discrepancy caught in March.
Can’t say anything about his programming skills, but he sure didn’t know anything about accounting. Like a train they caught him right on schedule.
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Yeah the funny thing is that in both Superman III and Office Space the financial crime is discovered almost immediately, so maybe not the smartest move on this crook’s part even if he’d been more subtle about it.
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Or possibly he just made the Richard Pryor mistake of showing up to work in a brand new Ferrari when working on an intern’s salary.
(Can’t find the clip in English)
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I love that scene!
That’s how we caught loan officers taking bribes. Flashy new stuff they couldn’t possibly afford on the salaries we were paying them. It’s how a whole lot of criminals get caught.
Math also showed me when clients were hiding assets from us or had secret mistresses or second families.
Numbers, how do they work?
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“White collar criminals keep making this mistake.”
Perhaps it’s actually, “White-collar criminals that we hear about because they are easily identified and prosecuted keep making this mistake.”
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Technically, the scheme was never discovered in Office Space because Milton burned down the building before Peter’s confession could be found.
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In China corrupt officials are betrayed by their hugely expensive watches.
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Was it ever conclusively proven that it was him? I think not.
Also, I keep one of these at my desk, and nobody better ever try taking it from me.
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They didn’t get time to identify the culprit but IIRC someone at the company did notice the accounting discrepancy and brought it to Lumbergh’s attention pretty much immediately.
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Ah, gotcha. But the scheme wasn’t discovered, just the discrepancy.
I guess it was too much to ask for to have Lumburgh take the fall for the embezzlement, but too much of a leap. The Lumburghs of the world invariably fail up.
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Criminals seem to suffer from a widespread failure of imagination.
Money is power, most of us don’t have much. Finding a way to get more power should lead to decisions that preserve that power. Make tons of money (legally or otherwise), make it safe, stop being under the power of others (your boss). That’s the point. Not to drive a nicer car to your job, or have a flashier watch.
When I was in grade 7 we toured a bank and they passed around a $1000 bill. Someone asked what happens if it disappeared, and the bank manager basically said ‘the penalty is the same for $1000 or $1 Million, if you are going to steal go big and don’t get caught. Be a banker first.’
Everybody laughed, but he had a point. The only place for really effective and consequence free fraud is in the banking industry, ideally on Wall Street. Not a good thing, but a fact.
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I kind of wonder how someone is smart enough to get as far as they did with out being smart enough to see the obvious holes in their plan.
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