The Programmer Who Outsourced His Own Job to China

In 2012, a U.S. critical infrastructure company noticed something suspicious: their systems were being accessed from China. They called in Verizon's security team, expecting to uncover corporate espionage or a sophisticated hack. What they found instead was far stranger.

An employee—known only as "Bob"—had FedExed his own security credentials to China so contractors could log in as him and do his job. For years, Bob had been paying a Chinese consulting firm roughly $50,000 annually to handle all his programming work, pocketing the difference from his six-figure salary.

A Day in Bob's "Office"

Investigators analyzed Bob's web browsing history and discovered his daily routine:

• 9:00 AM: Arrive at work, browse Reddit for several hours
• 11:30 AM: Lunch break
• 1:00 PM: eBay shopping and Facebook scrolling
• 2:00 PM: LinkedIn updates and cat video marathons
• 4:30 PM: Email updates to management
• 5:00 PM: Go home

Meanwhile, halfway around the world, his Chinese contractors were writing clean, well-documented code and submitting it on time.

The Perfect Employee

Here's the kicker: Bob received excellent performance reviews for years. His code was consistently praised as clean, well-written, and delivered promptly. He was described as "inoffensive and quiet" with "relatively long tenure." Management had no complaints.

From a purely productivity standpoint, Bob had engineered the perfect system. He'd identified inefficiency in the global labor market and exploited it for profit while maintaining quality standards that satisfied his employers.

The Downside of Being Too Clever

Bob's scheme unraveled because of the very thing that made it work: remote access from China. When security systems flagged unauthorized international logins, the investigation was inevitable.

Verizon's forensic team discovered that Bob had been running this operation across multiple companies simultaneously, using the same outsourcing strategy. His total annual income reached several hundred thousand dollars—all while maintaining a full-time schedule of internet browsing.

The company terminated Bob immediately after the investigation concluded.

The Big Questions

Bob's story raises uncomfortable questions about modern work. If someone can outsource their job and nobody notices for years, what does that say about the job itself? If the work gets done well and on time, does it matter who does it?

Of course, there are serious issues here: security breaches, contract violations, and fraud. Bob violated company policy, compromised secure systems, and misrepresented his work. Companies hire specific people for specific roles, often with background checks and security clearances.

But the fact remains: for years, everyone was happy. The company got excellent code. The Chinese developers got paid work. And Bob got to watch cat videos.

Until he got caught.