Not exactly

As Eric entered Mr. Andersson’s office he noticed three unfamiliar men sitting at the meeting table inside the office. One was an ordinary looking man in his forties, but the other two looked as if they were characters in a bad gangster movie. Mr. Andersson, a tall man in his mid-sixties but with a look and physics that made him look much younger, just ignored them, and directed Eric to a chair in front of his desk.

“So, Mr. Larsson” Andersson began, “I hear you are building yourself quite a reputation down in the sales department.”

“Just doing my job the best I can” Eric replied trying to sound humble but without much success.

“As you probably are aware of there are some promotions opening up in the near future, and your name keeps coming up regarding these” Andersson continued as Eric’s hopes for his big promotion was rising. “However, there are a small matter we need to discuss before we come to this.”

“You are probably not aware, but we had to change our accountant some time back. The old one clearly was not doing their job, and we started to lose money. On the first thing our new accountant noticed was some strange transactions related to your sales, Mr. Larsson” Andersson said.

Eric’s heart fell as he heard the words. Was his fraud finally revealed?

“There seems to be a fee applied to all your sales over the last year, year and a half. And these fees are not paid to us, but into a crypto account. Do you know anything about this Larsson?” Andersson asked.

Eric’s mind went blank and he only managed to stammer out a week “I am not sure what you are talking about, Sir.”

“Well, maybe our accountant can help your memory” Andersson said nodding to the regular looking man sitting at the meeting table.

The guy got up and turned on one of the screens at the wall, and over the next half our Eric sat in silence watching all the evidence piling up against him. Everything was there from the computer logs linking him to the creation of the false fee, to bank transaction showing that the anonymous crypto account not being so anonymous after all. Denial would be useless, and it would be tough getting out of this, Eric realised with an ever-sinking feeling.

“I am sorry” Eric tried when the account had finished. “I do not know what came over me, I’ll pay you back.”

“Oh, you will pay Larsson” Andersson replied drily. “But I must say I’m a bit impressed with your fraudulent scheme, and we might owe you a ‘thank you’ for showing us the need for better security. Also, I think a police investigation into this matter would be bad publicity for the company.”

Eric felt his hope rising slightly again. Maybe he could talk him self out this after all.

“However, I can not let this pass unpunished” Andersson continued. “Since we got aware of your fraud a couple a month ago, we have been watching you closely and I see you have gotten yourself quite a fancy lifestyle. A big apartment, nice sports car, and designer clothes. The big hot shot and lady’s man out on town.”

“But this is all done with stolen money” Andersson said sharply and with look filed with disgust at Eric. “Not only the money you stole with your fraud, but also the salary and bonuses you got from us under false promises while cheating even more money out the company.”

“So, nothing in the fancy life you are living is actually yours, is it Eric?” Andersson asked. Eric could only nod in reply, noticing the sudden lack formality.

“Everything actually belongs to me, doesn’t it, and I think it is only fair that you give everything back. Don’t you agree Eric?” Andersson continued.

“Yes, of course” Eric replied weakly. Seeing no other way than accepting his defeat.

“I’m glad to hear that.” Andersson replied. “Now unlock your phone and hand it to me. Then stand up and strip!”

“Sorry, what?” Eric replied in shock. He must have heard it wrong.

“You heard me be correct” Andersson said. “Give me your phone, and then get naked. I want my clothes back. If you need help to strip my two friends are more than willing to help you.” The two gangster looking guys rose and approached Eric.

With fear in his eyes Eric rose from the chair and reached for his phone. This had definitely not turned out to be the meeting he expected.