Great Future
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He had a great future in front of him. He had no wife, but that was because he had never met the right woman. Though his parents lived far away on the other side of the country, they were always supportive and ready to help their son with whatever he needed. He had a good job as an accountant at a local bank, and he was well-liked by all his co-workers.
So when Mark received a phone call from a man claiming that he could offer him $10 million for information about a certain company, Mark’s first thought was that it must be some sort of joke. But after a long pause, the caller said it again: “I can give you $10 million if you tell me where to find this company.”
“Um… I don’t know what kind of business you’re talking about,” said Mark, nervously fidgeting with his pen.
The voice on the other end responded impatiently: “It doesn’t matter! If you help us, we’ll pay you the full amount!”
Mark didn’t want to get involved with something so shady, but he knew that if he refused, this mysterious stranger would tell everyone he worked for the FBI or CIA. So he decided to play along and answer a few more questions.
“What is your name?” asked Mark.
“My name? My name is Mr. Smith,” replied the anonymous voice.
“Mr. Smith? That’s not your real name,” said Mark.
“Oh, sorry,” said the voice. “That’s my code name.”
Mark couldn’t believe it. This was impossible. There could only be one person in the whole world who would have such an outrageous alias.
“Are you really Mr. Smith?” asked Mark cautiously.
“Yes,” said the voice. “Now do you understand why I need to ask you these questions? You see, I’m trying to figure out how much money I can make off of this deal before I go to prison.”
Mark was afraid this conversation was going nowhere fast, so he decided to leave the line open for as long as possible so he could eavesdrop on the other party.
“Okay… So you’ve made up your mind to work for me, then?” said Mr. Smith.
“Well, yes…” answered Mark. “But I want to know exactly what I’m getting myself into.”
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line, and then Mark heard Mr. Smith say slowly: “All right, I’ll be straight with you. As far as I know, this company doesn’t exist. It might be a front for some terrorist organization, or it might be a fake corporation created by some rich crook with nothing better to do than scam people out of their hard-earned cash. In any case, I’m sure it’s somewhere in Central America.”
“Central America?!” exclaimed Mark. “But there are plenty of American companies down there!”
“Yes, of course,” said Mr. Smith. “But I haven’t been able to find any trace of them anywhere else in the world. They’re just… gone. So I figured they must have set up shop in Central America, which is why I need to know where they’re located.”
“Okay, I get it now,” said Mark. “This is a trick. You’re looking for a way to launder your money, right?”
“Exactly!” said Mr. Smith. “I’m looking for a place to stash my cash without anyone knowing that I did it.”
“And how am I supposed to help you do that?” asked Mark.
“Let me think for a second,” said Mr. Smith.
After another silence on the other end of the line, Mark finally began to suspect that the man on the other end of the line wasn’t really Mr. Smith. So he decided to try another tactic.
“Listen, Mr. Smith, let me ask you something: Do you have any idea who I am?”
“No, I don’t,” said Mr. Smith.
“Really?” Mark asked. “Because I’m pretty sure you must have seen my face somewhere before.”
“Maybe I saw it once or twice, but I don’t remember exactly when,” said Mr. Smith.
“Are you sure?” pressed Mark. “I mean, I’ve been working as an accountant for years now, and I know that most of our clients keep a close eye on their accounts, especially if they’re dealing with large sums of money. So you could have seen my face before, but you just didn’t realize who I was.”
“Well, maybe I didn’t recognize you,” said Mr. Smith. “But I still don’t know where to look for this company.”
“Okay,” said Mark, slightly annoyed. “Then I guess we’ll just have to talk about another subject. Maybe you can help me find a new job, or I could show you some of the nice places around town…”
“I’m sorry, but you’re wasting your time,” said Mr. Smith. “You can’t run away from me. I know where you live. And even though I don’t know much about you personally, I know enough to realize that you won’t be able to resist the temptation to betray me. So I suggest you stop talking and start writing down everything I ask you to write.”
Mark was furious. He slammed his hand against the table and shouted: “You know what? Fine! Whatever! Just take the money and shove it up your ass!”
There was a moment of silence, then Mr. Smith said: “Goodbye.” The connection was cut.
Mark called his parents and told them what happened. His father immediately offered to fly down to Florida and beat the crap out of whoever was trying to blackmail him, but Mark refused. He knew he wasn’t in danger, and he didn’t want his dad to have any unnecessary stress. After all, he was a very proud man and hated the idea of appearing weak in front of other people.
So Mark spent the next few weeks doing research online. Eventually, he came across a news article stating that a massive financial scandal had recently occurred at a major bank. Nobody knew exactly how the crime was committed, but it was believed that the criminals used a clever combination of insider knowledge and sophisticated hacking techniques.
The authorities were investigating the incident, but nobody had managed to track the hackers down yet.
Mark knew that he was in the clear since he hadn’t given the caller any of his personal information. Still, he was worried about Mr. Smith’s threat. What if this was all a hoax? If so, he would report the incident to the police and let them handle it.
But Mark was also curious about the mysterious Mr. Smith. Who was he? Why did he want to steal millions of dollars from a major bank? If he was a hacker, why did he want to hide the fact that he was actually a criminal? How come nobody seemed to know who he was?
Mark decided to meet Mr. Smith in person. He was worried that the man wouldn’t show up, but his fears proved unfounded. On the appointed date, Mark arrived at the specified location and waited patiently for someone to approach him.
At last, a tall, handsome man approached Mark. He was wearing a perfectly tailored suit and looked like he could have been the lead actor of a Hollywood movie.
“Hi,” said Mr. Smith. “I’m Mr. Smith.”
Mark recognized the voice instantly. It was the same voice he’d heard on the phone two months earlier. But how did Mr. Smith know who Mark was? And why would he choose to meet him here, rather than calling him back on the phone or sending him an email?
Mark smiled politely and responded, “Hello, Mr. Smith. I’m glad to finally meet you in person.”
“Call me Michael,” said Mr. Smith. “Everyone else does.”
Mark was relieved to discover that the mysterious Mr. Smith was actually a normal human being. Although he was shocked to learn that he had already been communicating with a known criminal, he felt confident that he could convince him to cooperate.
“I’m pleased to meet you too, Michael,” said Mark. “But I’m sorry, I don’t have time to chat. Can you please explain to me why you’re stealing money from a major bank?”
“I’m not stealing anything!” said Mr. Smith. “Nobody stole anything!”
“Then how did you manage to get $10 million from that bank?” asked Mark.
“There were no computers involved in the crime,” said Mr. Smith. “We simply used paper and pencil.”
Mark laughed out loud. Of course! How stupid of me! It all makes sense now!
“You’re kidding me, right?” asked Mark. “Did you really think nobody would notice that you had stolen $10 million?”
“Of course, I didn’t!” said Mr. Smith angrily.
“Why not?” asked Mark. “Can’t you read the newspaper? People are always telling stories about huge financial scandals, and they usually involve the theft of millions or billions of dollars. What makes you think you won’t get caught?”
Mr. Smith paused for a moment as if he was trying to formulate a response. Then he calmly said: “Because I’m smarter than everyone else.”
“You’re not!” exclaimed Mark. “Just because you’re a computer genius doesn’t mean you’re a financial mastermind! Most of the people you’ve duped are likely just simpletons who don’t know how to read the fine print.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Mr. Smith. “I’m a renowned expert in finance, and I’ve got a Ph.D. in economics. I know exactly what I’m doing!”
“Yeah, but you can still make mistakes, can’t you?” asked Mark. “For example, you could have used too many zeroes in your calculations and ended up getting less money than you expected. Or you could have made a mistake in the dates of when you made the transactions, which would force you to spend a lot of extra time trying to fix your errors.”
“But that never happens!” said Mr. Smith. “I calculate everything beforehand. I’m never wrong.”
“Then what do you use to make your calculations?” asked Mark.
“A pen and a piece of paper,” replied Mr. Smith. “That’s all I need!”
“Really?” asked Mark. “I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not true! If you’d used a computer, you would have saved yourself a lot of time and effort. But the truth is that you probably make your calculations using special software programs designed specifically for calculating large sums of money.”
“Are you sure?” asked Mr. Smith. “How do you know I didn’t use a computer?”
“It’s easy,” said Mark. “First of all, you wouldn’t be able to do it manually. Computers are so powerful that they can handle complex tasks automatically. Also, if you’d been using a computer, you would have found it easier to check your calculations instead of having to memorize them.
You probably write down every single step of your process, even though you could have stored the results in a spreadsheet file for later reference. Finally, if you were smart enough to create your own program, it would be much more advanced than any commercial software available today.
It would allow you to perform calculations quickly and easily, while also allowing you to store data and make backups. And all those things aren’t possible unless you use a computer.”
“Well, then, I guess I must have used a computer,” said Mr. Smith.
“You didn’t,” said Mark. “You’re just too good to admit it.”
“I’m not that good,” said Mr. Smith.
The End