In lockdown, they flew off the shelves as sneaky staff found the perfect gadget to convince bosses they were busy working from home.
And now a top bank has fired more than a dozen workers for using ‘mouse movers’ while being away from their desks.
Bosses at US firm Wells Fargo sacked employees in its wealth and investment management department following claims that they were using devices that gave the ‘impression of active work’.
The products – also known as ‘mouse jigglers’ – exploded in popularity during the pandemic as staff tried to escape the watchful eyes of bosses while apparently working from home.
The contraptions let users leave their desks for hours at a time without being detected by their employer, by moving their computer mouse autonomously.
First used by gamers who did not want their sessions to time out, they took off in lockdown as workers swapped tips on social media sites such as Reddit and TikTok on where to buy them. Today you can pick up a mouse mover for under £6 on Amazon.
The sackings at Wells Fargo, which were revealed via disclosures filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and first reported by Bloomberg, did not make it clear whether the sacked employees were faking active work from home or in the office.
But the saga will be a major blow to the bank, which has been on a mission to clean up its act after a scandal erupted in 2016 when it emerged staff were opening fake customer accounts to meet sales quotas.
In a statement, a company spokesman said: ‘Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behaviour.’
Other City firms here have been keen to track workers as they wrestle to get them back to the office.
Law firm Hogan Lovells has been monitoring swipe card entry to see how often lawyers work from its London and Birmingham offices.
Meanwhile, Clifford Chance, Slaughter and May, and ‘Big Four’ auditor EY have all admitted monitoring office attendance. But the stakes are high for bad behaviour.
In February, the husband of a BP manager admitted insider trading after overhearing his wife talking about a major deal while she was working from home.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Tyler Loudon made £1.4million in illegal profits from eavesdropping. His wife also lost her job due to the debacle in Houston, Texas.