Tunneling

Rita loves her job as Marketing VP for Hart & Tack Fried Foods, Inc. She really does. But she works hard, and she works long hours. Her job isn’t easy. But she’s asked for a raise five times over the last four years, and she’s been turned down every time. That’s why, about six months ago, she started doing a little “tunneling”: redirecting some of Hart & Tack’s profits from their accounts...to her own. She figures that, in about a year, she’ll have tunneled enough away to more than make up for the raise she didn’t get.

Is this shady? Yes. But is it illegal? Um...also yes. “Tunneling” is a slang term; it’s probably better recognized by its legal name of “fraud.” Any time a major shareholder or someone high up the organizational food chain starts shifting assets from the business to themselves, whether by stealing clients, cooking the books, manipulating share statements, paying themselves crazy high bonuses, or outright funneling money directly into their account like Rita, they’re tunneling. And tunneling is...bad. It can get a person fired at best, convicted and imprisoned at worst.

So if we find ourselves in a situation like Rita’s, we should consider maybe looking for a new job instead of committing a felony.