This case recounts an incident where friendship very nearly caused the
closure of a successful industrial establishment, and with it the loss of a
multitude of both employee and subcontractor jobs.
The client was a preeminent manufacturing company specializing in the
design and construction of specialized equipment for other industrial
firms. This was by all measure a successful and growing company, with a
client base that was even branching out to include international trade.
Hiring was up due to their growing clientele base and steady stream of orders
for their products.
It was during one of these hiring periods that the "wrong"
person was admitted into their firm as a trusted employee. In a perfect
example of the need for proper and comprehensive pre-employment background
screenings, we will detail how one employee with a penchant for
less-than-ethical behavior, and one with less-than-fully-functioning thought
processes, teamed up to very nearly become the perfect criminal enterprise!
The first indication of trouble in paradise became evident one day when
management finally detected an unusual ratio of purchased manufacturing supplies
versus finished product. In other words, two plus two was equaling two!
The finished product totals were far less than should have been for the amount
of supplies that were being purchased. (Note: This is a very common
scenario, usually attributable to internal theft. It is often not detected
promptly by most management, and sometimes completely missed!)
This company operated three shifts; thus, they operated on a 24-hour a day
basis, though with a reduced employee and supervisory staff during the second
and third shifts (the 5PM to 9AM periods). These shifts were the ones
where the less-than-ethical employee whom we will call "Joe" could
always be found.
Joe resisted attempts to reschedule him into the day shift, stating that
he needed his days free to baby-sit until his working wife returned home in the
evening to take over. Management compassionately obliged.
The real reason that Joe preferred working the second and third shifts (as
management would eventually learn!), was that the skeleton crew and reduced
supervision during these two shifts allowed Joe to use the company trucks to
spirit away production supplies – theft! Joe would pay his
"assistants" (fellow employees) well for their help in loading the
truck and keeping quiet about anything they saw.
The "assistants" were making regular extra income and Joe was
making off with large, expensive amounts of company supplies. Everyone was
happy! Had Joe not been so greedy, management may not have even detected
the unusual losses – but Joe had an agenda.
Unable to determine exactly where the losses were occurring, management
retained the services of an investigative agency to help find and stop the
source of the problem. By this time, management suspected that there was
some involvement by their employees in the losses – and they urgently wanted
to know which ones!
Using a series of concealed CCTV cameras installed during a convenient
holiday (one of the few times when the company actually closed) the
investigation soon disclosed the cause of the missing supplies. The
surveillance videotapes quickly provided solid evidence of all those involved in
the thefts, exactly what was being taken, how and when. The
"party" was over for Joe and his assistants – almost!
While Joe and his crew were quickly dismissed for their stealing, the
company was not to learn until much later the real extent of Joe’s nefarious
plans. Joe was stealing supplies not for the "street money" they
would bring as hot merchandise (the story he gave when he was finally caught )
but in preparation to compete with his employer in his own small but effective
start-up competitive firm!
Joe had figured out a less-than-honest but still successful way to become
a serious competitor to his former employer, and was going full steam ahead with
his plans.
Within a year after being fired from his job, Joe had started his own
company and began competing with his old employer – successfully
competing! The stolen supplies and money he had amassed (how and from
where was never determined) for his pet project, allowed him to launch his
company in a nearby town. As intriguing as his activities were thus far,
the most serious of his affronts against his old employer were still to come.
Once again, Joe’s old employer began experiencing serious losses, but
this time they were in their sales department. They just could not stop or
even explain the tremendous loss of new business that suddenly began threatening
the very existence of the firm. Their suspicions turned again to their
former employee Joe, since they knew that he was the one they were losing sales
to. Again, the company contacted their old friends at the investigative
agency (the same one that helped stop the employee theft Joe had instigated),
hoping they could determine what was suddenly going wrong. Once again the
investigators came through. Their subsequent findings were nothing less than
shocking!
Joe had made essential friends while he had been at his former employer,
friends that he would insure would be of good use to him in his future grand
plans. One of his more vital friends worked in the company’s computer
department, and had full access to company information and files. We’ll call
this friend "Bruce."
Bruce always felt that Joe had somehow been framed and wrongfully fired
(Joe helped to paint this picture, and played the part of an innocent victim
well). Bruce’s continued friendship with Joe, even after his dismissal from
the company, along with his firm belief that Joe had been wronged, helped to
make Joe’s plea for help from Bruce a sure thing.
Joe asked Bruce if he could help him get his new company
"rolling" by giving him a list of the company’s bid contracts, so he
could have at least a fair chance at competing. Bruce fell for it as
predicted by Joe, and was soon providing Joe with the company’s new contract
bids! Bruce had no problem at all getting a copy of all of the bids, as he
had total access to the computer files. Bruce and Joe were soon meeting
once a week, either at one or the others' homes, or at their favorite bar (they
had also become good drinking buddies).
At these meetings, Bruce would hand over a computer disk to Joe bearing a
complete list of the week's latest contract bids. This is what allowed Joe to
regularly bid against his former employer, and to come just under their bid –
every time! Joe was thus making fast, steady money – while his old
employer was quickly going broke.
A combination of physical surveillance techniques, concealed CCTV cameras
and subsequent computer activity audits soon revealed the complete scenario of
just what was happening to their lost bids – and why Joe seemed to always be
able to underbid them just enough to win the contracts. The owner of the
company and his staff were flabbergasted at the findings. Not only were
they still being victimized by an ex-employee, but also by Bruce, who was Joe’s
"inside man." Bruce had been a very trusted employee who had
been with the company almost since the day it was founded. The betrayal by
Bruce was the turning point for the company.
Bruce and Joe were left to the legal system and the company attorneys to
deal with, as the company decided to use every possible option available to them
to fully prosecute the pair for their actions.
Having dramatically seen how loyalty and trust can be so easily discarded,
the company decided that it was time to institute new security measures and
employee policies to help protect the company’s assets and future well being.
Running the company like a family (as it had been before Joe and Bruce made
their debut) may have been quaint and comfortable – but it was very evident
that it also exposed the firm to serious vulnerabilities that had almost brought
them to total collapse!
Knowing that this and other similar situations could happen again,
management changed the firm into an efficient, protected corporation with
greatly minimized exposures, and tremendously improved Intelligence Security
programs and procedures, including specific protocols for the protection of
their proprietary information and assets.
Not only have the new improvements provided the company with the type of
protection they should have had all along, but by safeguarding their operations
and their future, they have also helped protect their employees' futures by
greatly reducing the potential that their jobs could all suddenly disappear one
day.
What was especially interesting to note in this Casefile, is that this act
of espionage as perpetrated by Bruce, was not committed for any financial gain!
Unlike the typical espionage affront (especially by professional operatives who
are always motivated by the tremendous profits they will earn for their
services) Bruce acted solely due to his feelings of friendship and camaraderie
towards Joe. Bruce never received any payment for his efforts.
We can only presume that Bruce expected that Joe would hire him to come
work at Joe’s company, if and when his current employer eventually closed due
to the serious loss of sales they were experiencing as a result of Bruce’s
actions. That we will never know for sure. What is important to note is that
money alone is not always the driving force behind every individual's decision
to commit acts of espionage against his or her employer.
In addition -- as was so well demonstrated in this situation -- employers
must always insure that their protective protocols are effective, up to date,
and in force. Amateurs, like the professional operative, can and do inflict
serious damage to unprotected companies.
What operations profile is YOUR firm currently performing under: Pre or
Post "Joe and Bruce"???
Click here to read Phil Guillen's
and Omega's intro page.
