On a warm yellow background, a vintage television displays colorful test bars beneath oversized white text reading “STRANGE SECURITY.” Strips of text saying “ONLY THE STRANGEST NEWS” wrap behind the TV, suggesting media saturation and distorted, odd information. — Illustration by *Security Management*

The Numbers Add Up to Strange Security

By Scott Briscoe

1 June 2026

This month’s Strange Security features some eye-popping numbers: millions of dollars, thousands of pounds of phony macaroni and cheese orders, and dozens of churches burgled. But the number in the strangest security-related story this month is only two—a pair of brothers whose master planning session to get back at an employer that had just fired them had one fatal flaw.

But first, our standard disclaimer: Security is serious, and while we take a lighter approach when reporting these stories, we do not want to diminish any pain and suffering the actions in the stories below caused.

Number 5 Polish National Removed from U.S. National Guard Boot Camp on Accusations of $30 Million Worth of Fraud: There’s nothing strange about someone allegedly using a financial services company to design and deliver a scheme that defrauds people out of millions of dollars. What’s weird about this story is that the accused, Marcin Pióro, is a Polish citizen who had enlisted in the U.S. National Guard to receive naturalization sponsorship and was in basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.

Number 4 I’ll Raise Your $30 Million in Fraud with $40 Million in Gold Bars: When David Rush, formerly a senior official at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, was arrested, authorities found $40 million of gold bars at his Virginia residence, as well as $2 million in cash and dozens of luxury watches. His alleged crimes? Inflating academic credentials and obtaining military leave pay under false pretensions. Additional charges seem likely.

Number 3 Former Employee Allegedly Processes $80,000 of Phony Macaroni and Cheese Returns: A former employee of a Grapevine, Texas, Chick-fil-A franchise gained access to a register and processed 800 returns of the restaurant’s macaroni and cheese catering trays, directing the returned payments to his personal credit card. For those interested, that would be 8,800 pounds, or 7.8 million calories worth, of macaroni and cheese.

Number 2 French Couple Discover Easy Mark, Steal from 29 Churches Over Three Months: Churches in the small towns dotting the French countryside can sit largely empty for extended periods. “They typically hold regular Mass only a few times a year: A priest sometimes oversees as many as 50 churches,” The New York Times reported. That left plenty of time for Raphaël Hourdeaux and Tony Paupière to enter and rob anything of value they could find.

Number 1 Brothers Fired During a Microsoft Teams Session Use Same Session to Discuss Revenge: The brothers, who had previous legal problems related to cybercrime, worked for a federal IT contractor. At some point, the IT contractor learned of their past, summoned them to a Teams meeting, and fired them. Unfortunately, the company had only revoked VPN access and the Windows account of one of the brothers. The other one managed to delete 96 databases housing government information. The pair were caught, in part, because they stayed on the Teams call after the others had left and discussed what they were doing. The call was recorded.