Virtual Crime Part Duex
I have discussed virtual crime in the past. The theft of virtual items being the most common. But now we have tales of a lover spurned leading to a murder. And another tale of money laundering through a Korean crime syndicate.
Recently a woman in Japan murdered her husband. Not in the real world mind you, but online. In fact, it appears she wasn’t even married to the man in the real world, just in the game. However, her anger was just as real as if it were a real divorce.
After finding out she was divorced in the game “Maple Story” – apparently with no warning – she went into a rage. Using the login information for her virtual spouse’s account that she got during happier times she logged in and had her “ex” commit suicide. Her former virtual husband was quite shocked to find that his avatar was dead when he next logged in. So he called the police.
Now the woman has been arrested and is facing very real world consequences for hacking into his account. She could be in prison for up to 5 years for this offense.
As to the money laundering. I wrote in a previous article about how there are giant “gold farming” rings in China where near-slave labor is used to gather in-game currency from games like World of Warcraft to then sell that virtual currency to gamers for very real dollars.
Well, it took another turn this week as a large group of Koreans were arrested for helping the Chinese launder the money. Using Korean bank accounts and investing (hilariously) in a paper company the money was moved internationally and kept hidden from authorities until now.
The amount smuggled? $38 million. This is real money folks. The Korean bank account holders took around 3% – 5% of the total take. So at least their fees were reasonable.
Virtual Worlds might be “fake” but as these people are all about to learn, the consequences of their actions are very real.
Note: This post was written by me and originally posted on the Rising Tide blog.
