Student Makes a Million Online, Gets Deported

Via Kotaku, a story at the Mainichi daily news about an enterprising exchange student that got himself deported. Wang Yue Si, a Chinese student who went to Japan on a student visa, found himself in need of some spending money. Since he was a gamer, he decided to make some cash by selling virtual items online. He was so successful, the cops noticed. From the article: "He started selling items such as weapons and currency for online games through an Internet auction site in April this year, without obtaining the appropriate residency status. Wang, living in Kumamoto, has admitted that he sold the virtual goods for about 6 million yen ($US 1.3 Million), in violation of the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law. A bank worker became suspicious when Wang regularly sent money back home to China and alerted police in August, prompting Kumamoto police officers to investigate the student."

Comments

Idiot.

[jo7hs2]

I'm fairly certain they have immigration lawyers in Japan. Something tells me he was more than aware he couldn't make money while there. Not exactly like Japan is a dictatorship with harsh penalties for bizarre crimes, either. Poor baby.

Re:Idiot.

[bunions]

Idiot? He made $1.3M selling stuff on the internet while still in college. How many millions did -you- make in college?

Re:Idiot.

[bunions]

ok, how many millions did you [i]perhaps[/i] make in college?

The bottom line is he made a buttload of money, the vast majority of which is somewhere in China and therefore likely untouchable. You can call him an 'idiot' all damn day, but it sounds an awful lot like sour grapes from where I sit.

Re:Idiot.

[ArsenneLupin]

Exactly.

Who is the bigger idiot anyways? The student entrepreneur trying to make some extra money or the bank worker who is reporting a good customer to the police for a victimless crime?

Bank workers are compelled by "anti-money laundering" laws to report "suspicious behavior". Indeed, the bank worker had no way of knowing whether this was something serious (drug related money), or something relatively minor (gaming). If it had indeed been drug money, and the banker had not reported it, he might have gotten into deep trouble himself by not reporting it... Rules about money laundering are pretty harsh, and whenever transactions fit some typical "pattern", they need to be reported.

What really should have happened is that such cases are handled the same way as search warrants: if, while serving a warrant obtained to investigate some serious crime, no evidence of the wanted crime are found, but evidence of an unrelated lesser crime, that evidence may not be used. In our case, whatever board was "investigating" the report should just have dismissed it after seeing that no drugs were involved.

not unexpected

[coaxial]

Nothing to see here folks. He violated the terms of his visa, and thus got deported. The only thing unusual was his buisness.

Move along. Move along.

Inmates watching inmates

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I find it repugnant that banks report "suspicious" activities on their customers in many countries. For example, in the past, if you played with more than $10K at a time, US bank drones filed a report on you. Some years ago, that threshold changed to $3K -- loan to family member, car downpayment, any reasonable major purchase (PS3 plus games?!) - now requires reporting YOU to federal authorities as being suspicious. Interestingly, many banks file a report for any amount $1K in cash.

Dealing with a little cash is not exclusive only to the terrorists who sell drugs to babies. Nor is having a few thousand dollars in bank transfers solely the realm of pedophile rapists who conduct school shootings.

This guy got busted by a pro-active bank teller who was trained to believe everything you do is suspicious. All the while, in the US, they look you in the eye and smile like nothing is wrong, because they are generally held to strict secrecy by law. US bank tellers watch your every move and transaction, report your private monetary activities to federal law enforcement without you knowing it, then trot out the dog-n-pony show about some gold-farmer-type guy and we are supposed to believe that justifies our lack of privacy.

Re:Correction, please.

[God'sDuck]

I don't see how people can get themselves into paying for fake goods that exist in a game.

Pretty much all entertainment is virtual. If paying someone for a software patch to a game that extends play or makes it more fun is reasonable, then so is paying someone for a software permission to use something that extends play and makes it more fun.

Now, reasonable does not mean it's *worth* your or my money. Certainly not mine. But for someone already throwing out dozens of dollars each month, who has the money to spend, and is willing to throw out an extra few to do something that they think is fun without the effort of programming/finding/whatevering it themselves.....I'm not sure that's so much weirder than paying $14 for a two-hour movie and a little bag of buttered grain, that I could obtain for myself with a walk to the library and a small garden.

Japan is strict

[gullevek]

you have a working visa, you are allowed to work, for the part your visa is allowed. You have a student visa, you study, you don't make $1million. If they catch you, you are out. Plus he might get a 1 or 10 year ban on returning to Japan.

Seriously, if you care about living in Japan, don't fuck with the officials, they are more Xenophobic than any other country I could imagine.

[thought I love living in Japan, its always about the people you meet]

Re:Well well

[jandrese]

That's what I was thinking. Either he hacked the game or he's just fronting for a sweatshop. The market isn't good enough for a single person to make that much real money in most games. There are some occasional opportunities for someone to make that much money legitimately (selling land in Second Life for instance--and that one requires an massive capital investment before it starts to pay off), but they are exceedingly rare.