MyFFXI's The NM: Issue 53: MMORPG Real Life Crimes (This has nothing to do with FFXI or SE, just wanted to share.)Hello MyFFXI members, first off I would like to say sorry for the late issue, my real life work schedule has changed until I pop
(FYI: Not a lot of people know this but I'm pregnant and I have less than 20 days until my due date) but then again the NM Issue are not meant to be an everyday thing. Anyway on with the news. There are some true crimes just happening in the world of MMORPGs. Murder and money laundering...
PART I: Japanese Woman Jailed For Virtual 'Murder'
And you thought MapleStory was all fun and games. A Japanese woman has found herself in jail, potentially facing charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data, after deleting the character of her in-game 'husband' who divorced her rather suddenly. "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry!" she is quoted as saying.
The woman, a piano teacher, is in jail in Sapporo waiting to learn if she faces charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data.
She was arrested on Wednesday and taken 620 miles (1,000 km) from her home in southern Miyazaki to Sapporo - where her "husband", a 33-year-old office worker lives.
If charged with the offences, and convicted, she faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 ....
A Sapporo police official, according to the Associated Press news agency, said the woman had used the man's ID and password to log in to the game last May to carry out the virtual murder.
I love the fact the BBC is describing this as murder (though I imagine it would be quite upsetting to log in and discover your character had gone 'poof'); for those of you considering virtual revenge, tread carefully.
Source: BBC
PART II: RMT Caught in $38 Million Laundering Bust
A gold farming/money laundering ring in South Korea has been accused of moving somewhere in the neighborhood of $38 million USD from Korea to China (with the help of real money transactions). According to PlayNoEvil, they made false purchases to a Hong Kong paper company to move the money, which is what eventually led to their arrest. In addition to the ring leaders, an additional 11 people were arrested:
Charges were also filed against 11 Koreans who allowed the scheme to use their bank accounts for money laundering.
Jeong and his ring reportedly sold the game money illegally produced in China using cheap labor and virus programs. They are believed to have taken a commission of three to five percent of the money traded to purchase game money.
The foreign affairs bureau of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated:
"We arrested two individuals, including the ring leader who is a 37-year-old man named ‘Jeong.’ Jeong’s ring purchased game money in China between May last year and last month, then cashed the money through domestic game item brokerages."And you thought gold farming was a problem. The connection between the gold farming ring and the money laundering ring is unclear, but this is just one more example of RMTs being put to, uh, creative uses.
Source: PlayNoEvil
