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Man Arrested For RuneScape MMORPG Online Robbery

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the doing-pretend-work-for-pretend-boots dept.

Unexpof writes "A man has been arrested by the British Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU), accused of stealing the usernames and passwords from players of the RuneScape MMORPG. Security experts report that this is one of the first occasions when a Brit has been apprehended for 'virtual robbery,' although incidents have happened in the past. For instance, the CEO of the sci-fi trading game EVE Online stole 200 billion 'kredits,' which he then used as a deposit on a real-world house, and in October last year a Japanese woman was arrested by police after allegedly hacking her virtual husband 'to death.'"

6 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Poster has it wrong... by Trracer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uhm, it was not the CEO for CCP (makers of Eve Online) who stole isk (not "kredits") to buy a house. It was a CEO of a player-run banking corporation. Ingame Eve corporations are like clans, so there's a BIG difference.

    --
    English is not my first language, so cut me some slack -: Om du kan lasa det har sa kan du Svenska :-
  2. user credential theft is not a virtual robbery. by Nickodeemus · · Score: 5, Informative

    someone needs to get a clue. stealing and using or selling a users credentials is not a virtual theft. virtual theft is stealing the users stuff inside the game. stealing thier credentials to get into the game is the same as stealing their credentials for thier bank account or for their computer. Using said stolen credentials amounts to unlawful access at the very least.

  3. Not Eve Online, Eve Bank by Amezick · · Score: 5, Informative

    The CEO of Eve Bank stole the online cash. The CEO of CCP (maker of eve) had nothing to do with this. Eve Bank is a player run financial institution inside the game. FACT CHECK!

  4. Incorrect Summary by d3ac0n · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is no "CEO" of Eve Online. Eve Online is a game produced by CCP of Iceland.

    There ARE Virtual CEO's of Virtual corporations within the Space-based MMO EVE Online.

    I am also not aware of any corp CEO that has used EVE-O ISK to buy a real world house. Somehow I doubt any bank would accept a virtual money as collateral on a real house. Of course, If a private party was that foolish, then hey, more power to the corp CEO. Nevertheless that sounds like a fake story.

    --
    Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
  5. Not virtual robbery... by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Informative

    Try prosecution under the Misuse of Computers Act, specifically for unauthorised access to the accounts - which this fits perfectly. He stole and used usernames and passwords, nuff said.

  6. There was no arrest for virtual killing by bickle · · Score: 5, Informative

    "in October last year a Japanese woman was arrested by police after allegedly hacking her virtual husband "to death""

    Ok, let's get this corrected. There was no arrest for virtual murder. Repeat: There was no arrest for virtual murder. The woman was arrested for hacking into someone else's account. What she did in game is irrelevant and has just been repeated and twisted over and over for the sake of a sensationalistic "news" story.

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/10/woman-arrested/