A former Old School RuneScape developer has been sentenced after hacking into players’ accounts and selling their virtual gold on the black market for more than $400,000.
Andrew Lakeman, 32, formerly known as Jed Sanderson and better known to players of the MMO as “Mod Jed,” used his position at Jagex to access valuable accounts and steal their in-game wealth.
Lakeman joined Jagex as a content developer in 2015, but came under suspicion three years later when the company noticed valuable items and gold disappearing from player accounts following suspicious account recoveries.
After initially believing the problem was a glitch, Jagex realized the person responsible was likely working inside the company and launched an investigation.
The developer restricted when accounts could be recovered and modified its firewall without telling employees, effectively setting a trap that allowed its IT team to trace the activity back to Lakeman’s devices and home address.
Lakeman denied responsibility when confronted and suggested his own account had been compromised, but was subsequently fired and reported to police.
Investigators found he had sold virtual gold and valuable in-game items obtained from other players’ accounts on the black market for more than $400,000.
Searches also revealed Lakeman had banked more than $493,000 in cash from cryptocurrency dealers, although police did not specify whether all of that money came from stolen Old School RuneScape items.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/ex-old-school-runescape-dev-sentenced-for-stealing-over-400k-in-virtual-gold-from-players-3406017/
