Remember the 1999 classic comedy Office Space?
Remember the scam they tried to accomplish by transferring the penny fractions from transactions into a private banking account?
Well one dude in Washington thought he was smarter than Peter Gibbons, Michael Bolton and Samir “Not-gonna-Work-Hear-Anymore” and tried to really pull off the scam!
Ermenildo Valdez Castro, 28, worked for the online retailer Zulily as a software engineer from December 2018 until he was fired in June 2022, according to police.
Castro was “inspired” by the 1999 Mike Judge comedy classic and police say Castro inserted three types of malicious code in the checkout process at Zulily and by using those methods, “stole a combined $302,278.52 before he was terminated in June 2022.”
A OneNote document on Castro’s work laptop unstealthily called “OfficeSpace Project” was found through the investigation, and in it, a “scheme to steal shipping fees,” was outlined, according to the police report.
Castro “confirmed that he named his scheme to steal from Zulily after the movie,” police said.
Castro’s scheme did vary from Gibbons master plan in that Castro’s plan also involved the shipping of over 1,000 items to his personal residence and he did not have an accomplice named after a fan favorite mullet-topped love ballad singer (That the police know of).
The is also no confirmation from police as to whether Castro was asked to come in to work on Saturdays, his proficiency with TPS reports or a pretty blonde with a lack of excessive flair from a TGIFridays knockoff restaurant.
You can read more in depth details about Castro’s criminal master plot here.
Geeky Daddy 