In the hacker drama "Mr. Robot," most technology bears the brand of the series' fictional E Corp (known to characters as "Evil Corp"), but one device bore a striking resemblance to Square Inc.'s flagship product.
In the sixth episode of the show's second season, which aired on Aug. 10, a device that looked like an unplugged Square reader was used to steal the data from a hotel employee's key card. Early versions of Square's product
Rather than rewrite the data to a keycard, the character then used a device identified by
Though the card reader appeared for just a few seconds and the character's thumb covered the area where Square's logo would be, the prop was clearly meant to invoke the image of Square's well-known product, which when used properly is plugged into the headphone jack of a smartphone to communicate with Square's app. From this brief cameo, Square joins the ranks of companies like Green Dot, whose products' misuse in the real world became a plot point for a popular TV drama.
In Green Dot's example, Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black" featured the prepaid card issuer's
At the time, Green Dot had already discontinued the product for its misuse in real-world fraud schemes. The MoneyPak allowed consumers to purchase funds in a store and load them to a prepaid card account by typing a unique code printed on the MoneyPak. Scammers used this to receive funds by asking victims to send them the code, which they could then apply to any account.
In "Orange Is the New Black," the MoneyPak was used to provide an inmate with the equivalent of a cash payment.
