A software engineer who worked for online retailer Zulily has been charged with stealing approximately $301,000 from the company. COMO NEWS (opens in new tab) It claims to have been inspired by the plot of Mike Judge’s 1999 film Office Space.
The engineer allegedly wrote the code for Zulily’s checkout page and used the opportunity to transfer $260,000 in shipping to his bank account. He is also charged with changing prices to buy approximately $41,000 worth of products from the site “penny on dollar.”
Astute readers will notice that this is not how the Office Space scheme works. A classic salami-slicing tactic, the movie scheme manipulates software so that a few cents from financial transactions are diverted to secret accounts. Richard Pryor’s character Gus Gorman attempts a similar scam in Superman 3.
Office Space only arouses suspicion when $300,000 is transferred to a secret account all at once due to rounding errors. The Zulily theft seems to take the full amount of each shipping charge, and a similar amount in one month.
Naturally, this was recognized by Zulily and a team was assembled to investigate. Interestingly, the engineer later arrested was part of that team. His involvement was clearly revealed when documents were found on his computer detailing a plan to alter audit and alarm logs to cover up evidence of the theft. It was called the “OfficeSpace Project”.
When investigators arrived at the engineer’s house, they found the delivery boxes from Zurily piled up outside his door. He ordered over 1,000 items from a site that specializes in branded products for young mothers. We are not saying that Richard Pryor bought a Ferrari with an unfair advantage.
Criminals don’t seem to pay enough attention to these films, considering that Pryor’s character is arrested and the protagonist of Office Space soon becomes a suspect as well. Even the slightest shortfall in money is noticed by accountants, detail-oriented butlers paid to keep track of the little things. There were also large items such as considerable baby goods.
