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

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.

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.