A 17 year old boy is in trouble after he stole another player's wow account. And put it up for sale on qxl a Norvegian auction site. The owner of the account got it back after the police and Blizzard reacted and contacted the auction company. They gave out the information about the 17 year old and the police are now most like going to charge him with theft.
This is a link to an article about it. It's in Norvegian. But those of you that are danish or swedish should be able to understand what it says.
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2006/12/03/484848.html
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17 year old Norwegian in trouble after stealing wow accountFollow
I can't read the article (didn't even try because you said "It's in Norvegian") but it is interesting to see the lines between electronic data and real world drawing ever to a close where one is the other. Not that the kid didn't technically steal something from someone else, but being charged with theft (well most likely) just serves to blur the line even farther.
I think I started the whole squirrel trend.
It must be sad to get a real life mark on your criminal record for a "virtual"crime.
Flyingsquirell wrote:
It must be sad to get a real life mark on your criminal record for a "virtual"crime.
Welcome to the year 2006, glad you caught it before it went away. You ever hear of something called "identity theft?" Most of those are technically "virtual" crimes as you put it. The more people that use the internet, the more crimes that will occur in relation to the internet.
The guy who got his identity stolen was stupid enough to give away his account name and password to a site on the internet. He was promised some upgrades (doesnt say what), but got screwed big time instead. He´s got the account back, but he lost a good deal of the equipment.
The morale is:
DON´T TRY TO CHEAT OR YOU MIGHT GET SCREWED!!!
The morale is:
DON´T TRY TO CHEAT OR YOU MIGHT GET SCREWED!!!
I have to say that both parts acted like a moron. And I really dont feel that sorry for the guy that lost his account. Because he was stupid in the first place.
I'm sure his morale was raised once he got is account back. It just goes to show that those with poor moral fibre will steal and cheat to get ahead "easier" than by working.
I'm glad to see that the police got involved. Too many people have been talking in the abstract about what it means to get an account hacked. This game costs real money to play and though the reality is that everything is just bits on a drive somewhere, there are still victims and perpetrators and a sense (at least in some people) that a certain justice should be done.
Edited, Dec 4th 2006 5:59pm by Elflorn
I'm glad to see that the police got involved. Too many people have been talking in the abstract about what it means to get an account hacked. This game costs real money to play and though the reality is that everything is just bits on a drive somewhere, there are still victims and perpetrators and a sense (at least in some people) that a certain justice should be done.
Edited, Dec 4th 2006 5:59pm by Elflorn
I think its great to see that the police does something. Getting a criminal record is not a good thing.
1 post
I hope to hear about more arrests like this happening. One of my closest friends and his wife had both of their accounts broken into and the equipment sold off. It happened to my brother's account as well. Neither one of my accounts have been broken into so far. It's a pretty personal thing to have happen to you. Blizzard returned the equipment stolen minus enchants, but it's still feels like someone violated you. We still don't know how they got the passwords.
Quote:
It must be sad to get a real life mark on your criminal record for a "virtual"crime.
This whole idea that online does not count and is in some way not real is retarded. The little chit really was stealing and deserves being punished.
Someone cheats while playing an online game and you say something and you get; lighten up 'its only a game' its not real life. Hey poker is only a game. Bridge is only a game. Monopoly is only a game. If I catch you cheating at them I don't like it and chastize you. Just because I can't reach through this computer screen and grab you by the scruff of your neck does not mean your not cheating, and it does not mean this is 'fake life.' I have news for you. I really am sitting here and I really am typing and I really am 100% real.
My wow account really is MY wow account and if you stole it you really did steel from me. The items on my wow account while technically the property of blizzard I have a life time lease on them with full rights to them and if you hack my account and steel those items you really have stolen from me.
The time invested in building a WoW character is very real and has a very real value.
The way I see it... if Joe Gamer works a job for $10 per hour, then his time has a $10 per hour value. If it takes him 60 hours to build the character that some punk just ripped, then he just had $600 worth of his time stolen from him.
Was he stupid to expose his $600 worth of time? Yes. But just like leaving your keys in your car is stupid, it still doesn't give a criminal the right to steal said car.
The way I see it... if Joe Gamer works a job for $10 per hour, then his time has a $10 per hour value. If it takes him 60 hours to build the character that some punk just ripped, then he just had $600 worth of his time stolen from him.
Was he stupid to expose his $600 worth of time? Yes. But just like leaving your keys in your car is stupid, it still doesn't give a criminal the right to steal said car.
Wow, how ****** up is that, not the boy. The police and blizz. I seriously doubt that blizz had anything to do with helping in this, and I say people need to take a look at what the hell is going on. If this kid gets anything more then community service something is very ****** up.
Nice, in FFXI if your account is stolen, SE tells you "Tough ****", then asks if there's anything else they can help you with today!
<3 Blizzards CS.
<3 Blizzards CS.
Quote:
If this kid gets anything more then community service something is very @#%^ed up.
If the kid just stole the account and started playing with it, I might agree. I'd write it off as a dumb kid not realizing what his actions constituted.
But this kid tried to sell it for profit. That's outright criminal. No different than stealing anything else and fencing it.
I'm not saying the kid should do time, but I do think he deserves punishment comparable to similar types of crimes.
toddex wrote:
Wow, how @#%^ed up is that, not the boy. The police and blizz. I seriously doubt that blizz had anything to do with helping in this, and I say people need to take a look at what the hell is going on. If this kid gets anything more then community service something is very @#%^ed up.
Theft is theft, this kid needs to learn now that there are consequences for his actions, whatever the price he was asking for the account should dictate the level of theft charges against him.
Gotta say I'm with you on this. It's my money paying for the game purchase and monthly billings. It's my computer. I TS and/or type with real people while playing. I have real life friends who I play this with all the time.
This isn't "virtual theft"...it's just theft. Period.
This isn't "virtual theft"...it's just theft. Period.
toddex wrote:
Wow, how @#%^ed up is that, not the boy. The police and blizz. I seriously doubt that blizz had anything to do with helping in this, and I say people need to take a look at what the hell is going on. If this kid gets anything more then community service something is very @#%^ed up.
Tell me if you'll feel that way if it were your account that got stolen, ok?
Scholar
28 posts
Quote:
I hope to hear about more arrests like this happening. One of my closest friends and his wife had both of their accounts broken into and the equipment sold off. It happened to my brother's account as well. Neither one of my accounts have been broken into so far. It's a pretty personal thing to have happen to you. Blizzard returned the equipment stolen minus enchants, but it's still feels like someone violated you. We still don't know how they got the passwords.
There's a slight difference here though. The guy whose identity was stolen actually gave out his login id and password to a website. And he did this because he was promised upgrades or something similar. So really, he was cheating and being totally stupid. At least he learnt his lesson the hard way. Now it's time for the theif to learn his, the harder way.
Flyingsquirell wrote:
I have to say that both parts acted like a moron. And I really dont feel that sorry for the guy that lost his account. Because he was stupid in the first place.
Placing the blame for a confidence game on the victim? Con-men are usually very good at being convincing, and if they say "It's only virtual, so it's not THAT wrong.", there are people (even some who posted on this thread [ahem: flyingsquirrel & toddex]) who would believe him.
Quote:
Theft noun
1 a : the act of stealing; specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it b : an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property
1 a : the act of stealing; specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it b : an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property
Did the perp "take or remove" the account? Yes.
Was his intent to deprive the rightful owner of it? Yes.
I have no idea what accounts are going for on e-bay, but did the perp intend to make that amount of (REAL-LIFE!) money from it? Yes.
Should the thief end up serving a jail sentence? I'll leave that as an excercize for the student, but the answer is in the back of the book (as in "book'em, Danno!").
Scholar
27 posts
For the "It's only virtual.." consider that you bank account is "only virtual". You wouldn't mind if someone broke into your bank account and stole it from you ?
What I mean is that the guy that lost the account. Lost it because he thought he would get some cool stuff for free. And it is a big no no to give out your account information. Thus I dont feel that sorry for him. Do I think that the kid that stole the account should get less punishment because of that? The answer to that is no.
The kid should be sentenced the same as any other form of property theft. It might only be a digital creation, but it still is a property; You own the account in a lease-based relationship. Blizzard can take it away, but you still have paid money for it and that money is not reimbursed due to loss. The idea that because it only exists in a digital realm makes it somehow less valuable is stupid; this site only exists digitally and I'm sure plenty of us would be upset if someone hacked the server and put in its place a redirect to disney.com.
A crime is a crime and it doesn't matter if you're selling stolen cars or stolen characters. You stole, you knew you stole, so man up and deal.
A crime is a crime and it doesn't matter if you're selling stolen cars or stolen characters. You stole, you knew you stole, so man up and deal.
laosland wrote:
I hope to hear about more arrests like this happening. One of my closest friends and his wife had both of their accounts broken into and the equipment sold off. It happened to my brother's account as well. Neither one of my accounts have been broken into so far. It's a pretty personal thing to have happen to you. Blizzard returned the equipment stolen minus enchants, but it's still feels like someone violated you. We still don't know how they got the passwords.
maybe you folks need to get a good concept on how to create usernames/passwds and how to keep them safe. not that this will grant you 100% safety, but gee!!
Thank god the kid ist getting an asswhooping even by the authority! The criminal intend is so god damn obvious!
Edited, Dec 6th 2006 6:59am by Oakenwrath
6 posts
An account you register is your own property. as much as registering for car insurance, or a credit card, or an ebay account.
The obvious issue here is the difference between peoples own acceptable levels of what is right and what is wrong in terms of stealing.
If i walked into a shop and stole one sweet, hard liners would be its still theft book him, where most people would define that as a soft crime.
if i walked into a shop and stole a jar of sweets equal to £30 or $30 people would still view it as a soft crime
If i walked in and stole £30 or $30 out of the till that would most likely be considered a hard crime by most people.
the jar of sweets is the WOW Account, but because it was stolen off another individual people see the actual theft and how the person who is the victem would feel and react.
If i stole £30 at gunpoint everyone would say its a hard crime whereas if i left the till open and went for a walk everyone would say its my own fault.
this guy gave out his username and password and efectively opened the till. and i believe it was his own fault.
If however someone used brute force hacking to obtain my usename and password, i would consider this a gunpoint approach to force me to hand over something i didnt want to.
This crime is a soft crime in this paticular case. but others hacked using brute force i would consider hard crime.
Im interested in other peoples opinions on this though. :)
The obvious issue here is the difference between peoples own acceptable levels of what is right and what is wrong in terms of stealing.
If i walked into a shop and stole one sweet, hard liners would be its still theft book him, where most people would define that as a soft crime.
if i walked into a shop and stole a jar of sweets equal to £30 or $30 people would still view it as a soft crime
If i walked in and stole £30 or $30 out of the till that would most likely be considered a hard crime by most people.
the jar of sweets is the WOW Account, but because it was stolen off another individual people see the actual theft and how the person who is the victem would feel and react.
If i stole £30 at gunpoint everyone would say its a hard crime whereas if i left the till open and went for a walk everyone would say its my own fault.
this guy gave out his username and password and efectively opened the till. and i believe it was his own fault.
If however someone used brute force hacking to obtain my usename and password, i would consider this a gunpoint approach to force me to hand over something i didnt want to.
This crime is a soft crime in this paticular case. but others hacked using brute force i would consider hard crime.
Im interested in other peoples opinions on this though. :)
as i mentioned above you have to see the criminal intend the kid has.
He creates a website, advertises it than logs login/passwd and then eventually changes the login to seel the account on ebay. it´s not stealing a candy or knocking over a seven eleven, but it´s deceit!
btw i believe it is called "norwegian" from "Norway".
Edited, Dec 6th 2006 7:40am by Oakenwrath
He creates a website, advertises it than logs login/passwd and then eventually changes the login to seel the account on ebay. it´s not stealing a candy or knocking over a seven eleven, but it´s deceit!
btw i believe it is called "norwegian" from "Norway".
Edited, Dec 6th 2006 7:40am by Oakenwrath
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