Greed and ignorance

It was one bade decision fuelled by greed and youthful arrogance that caused Eric’s downfall.

A couple of weeks into his new job, he came across what looked like some sort of admin access in the sales system. He did not make much of it at first, thinking it was some sort of error that soon would be corrected. But as the access did not disappear, he started to explore the possibilities it could give more closely.

One thing that caught his attention was the ability to create and apply new types of fees to sales transactions. Playing around one night Eric was able to set up a new fee and configure it to send the money to an anonymous crypto account he created. He had no actual desire to rob the company or cause them any harm, but in the end the trill and possibility to get some extra cash got the better of him. He also believed, based on the experience in his young life, that he could talk himself out of any situation using his innocent charm and good look.

At first, he only applied the bogus fee to a couple of his sales transactions, keeping the amount small. He nervously sat at his desk the next couple of days, half expecting his boss to burst in demanding an explanation any minute, but nothing happened. Without any consequences in sight, Eric grew bolder and started to apply the fee on more and more transactions and in the end, he had applied the fee to all transactions related to his sales. He did always keep the amount small, but together they amounted to a fair extra income. Combined with his regular and legal, income, which steadily increased with his success as a salesperson, he started to earn well and was able to build his new luxury lifestyle.

When the faithful day arrived, his little fee-fraud had been going on so long without any consequences, that it did not cross Erics mine that he might have ben caught when he got a message that Mr. Andersson, the owner of the company, would like to se him in his office. The only thing he thought about was a possible promotion, being the new young stare in the sales team as he was.

As it turned out, his big day had come, but the way he expected.