The Mysterious Case of the Office Phone Hacking: Seeking Justice and Support

For the past year, my workplace has been plagued by a bizarre situation involving our office phones—ones we suspect are being hijacked by an untrustworthy colleague. Our frustrations reached a boiling point recently, and I felt compelled to share this ordeal in hopes of gathering some insights or advice from the wider community.

Imagine working in a law firm where your phones are consistently rerouted to a dubious dating service. This is not just a trivial matter for us; it has become so distressing that I am seriously considering leaving my job. The higher-ups seem oblivious, dismissing our claims and unwilling to acknowledge that someone within our midst could engage in such sabotage. I want to see justice served before I make my exit.

It’s ironic that we work in a legal environment, where the implicated coworker could face serious repercussions if caught. Yet, her continued presence among us leaves me perplexed. I’m starting to feel like I’m part of a real-life game of Clue, where every colleague is a suspect, and trust has eroded completely. However, I must remain composed; after all, showing distress is precisely what the saboteur hopes to see.

The Technical Trouble

To get into the specifics, our office utilizes aging Comdial phones—now operating under the Zeracom brand—while AT&T is our service provider. We manage six phone lines, with one serving as our primary contact number. A troubling pattern has emerged where these lines are often forwarded to what sounds like an unlicensed dating service, frequently multiple times a day. Today alone, we experienced four instances of this.

What exacerbates the situation is our need to manually un-forward the lines, a process requiring us to dial specific codes. The dating service just plays background music, hinting that it might not even be a legitimate operation.

Adding to our frustration, multiple professionals from both AT&T and our phone system manufacturer have informed us that such a hack cannot originate externally. This raises the disturbing possibility that someone inside the office is orchestrating this chaotic prank. Despite this knowledge, management remains in denial, even suggesting that we switch carriers rather than addressing the breach of trust within our team.

My mother, the office accountant, and I have been cooperating closely to identify the culprit. We’ve pinpointed a potential suspect: a woman who held my position for many years and likely possesses intimate knowledge of our phone system and its