Employees fired for pretending to work through fake keyboard activity

Several employees were fired from their jobs after they were found fooling their company through fake keyboard activity.

The incident occurred at US bank Wells Fargo which terminated the employment of several workers who were found faking keyboard activity to pretend that they were working when they were not, a US media outlet reported.

While it was not clear whether the workers sacked were working from home or on office premises, the US bank said staff had been fired after “review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work”.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: “Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behaviour.”

It is pertinent to mention that the United States recently introduced new rules to inspect brokers working from home every three hours.

Reports said that devices used to simulate computer mouse activity, known as mouse movers or mouse jigglers, are easily available on Amazon for less than $10.

These devices and software are designed to prevent computers from entering sleep mode by running a programme that moves a mouse around.

Meanwhile, companies are pushing their staff to return to the office to end remote work that became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Remote work has seen a decline in the US as only under 27% of paid days were work-from-home in May, compared with more than 60% at the height of the pandemic in 2020, a research study found.