MOVIE NEWS – “Work sucks.” However, one should not try to repeat workplace crimes familiar from such works as the movie Office Space.

A software engineer who worked for online retailer Zulily has been accused of stealing roughly $301,000 from the company, Komo News reports, claiming he was inspired by the 1999 Mike Judge film Office Space plot.

The engineer wrote code for Zulily’s cash register page and allegedly used the opportunity to transfer $260,000 in shipping fees to his own bank account. He is also accused of changing prices by buying roughly $41,000 worth of products from the site for “pennies.”

Astute readers may have noticed that this is not how the scheme works in Office Space. The scheme in the film is a classic salami-slicing tactic that manipulates software to ensure that fractions of cents from financial transactions go into a secret account. Gus Gorman, Richard Pryor’s character, tries a similar scam in Superman 3.

Suspicion only arises in Office Space when, due to a rounding error, $300,000 goes into the secret account all at once. In the Zulily theft, it appears that the full amount of each shipping charge was taken, resulting in a similar amount being taken in a single month.

Not surprisingly, Zulily noticed this and assembled a team to investigate. Funnily enough, the engineer who was later arrested was also a member of this team. His involvement came to light when a document was found on his computer detailing a plan to alter audit and alert logs to cover up evidence of the theft. The title of the document was “OfficeSpace project.”

When investigators arrived at the engineer’s house, they found shipping boxes from Zulily piled up outside his door. She has ordered more than 1,000 products from the site, specializing in branded goods for young mothers. It’s not precisely Richard Pryor who bought a Ferrari with his ill-gotten gains.

Given that Pryor’s character gets caught and the main characters in Office Space are almost immediately suspect, it seems that criminals don’t pay enough attention to these movies. Even the disappearance of small amounts is noticed by accountants, who are notoriously detail-oriented and are paid to keep track of the little things. And the big stuff, too — like $260,000 worth of shipping fees and $41,000 worth of baby stuff piled up in an employee’s driveway.

Source: PC Gamer