Modern Warfare 2 is already making an appearance at torrent sites all over the internet, but it could have been worse. Dean Takahashi reports on how IPCybercrime stopped one pirate from making his big score.
It all started with a Craigslist post, as many seedy stories these days do. Last Thursday a listing popped up for a Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundle, nearly two weeks before the eagerly anticipated game was supposed to hit store shelves. Activision hired Dallas private investigation firm IPCybercriume.com to track down the sale. A little investigative Facebook work later and the firm uncovered two men who had stolen a crate of the bundles from the back room at a video game retailer. They turned the criminals over to the store’s loss prevention department, but that was only the beginning.
On the 30th of October, Activision directed IPCybercrime to an individual going by the handle “cedelamo” and “cdelamo815″, who had posted on an Xbox 360 ISO site requesting donations to buy one of the bundles so he could duplicate Modern Warfare 2. The investigators checked the email address used in the posts against Facebook users, which led them to a site offering console mods. From there they brokered a deal, acquired the culprit’s mobile phone number, and tracked him down at the address they had acquired through Facebook.
The investigators identified the culprit as 18-year-old Christian Del Amo, a modder known for selling hacked Xbox 360 hard drives filled with pirated games. IPCybercrime turned the investigation over to the Miami-Dade police department, which purchased a copy of Modern Warfare 2 from Del Amo, arrested the runner who had delivered the disc, who then led him directly to the Del Amo home, where the pirate was arrested.
“It all happened very fast,” said Rob Holmes, owner of IPCybercrime. “If these guys get their stuff out, then they can do some major damage to sales and spoil it for everybody. We plug leaks every day, but this was one of the biggest ones of the year.”
While the investigation didn’t do much to curb the piracy already plaguing Modern Warfare 2, it is an excellent example of the lengths that publishers will go to in order to protect their property, as well as being proof that no matter how well you think you covered your tracks, they’re probably not covered.
Hit up the link below for the full story.
How investigators tracked down a Modern Warfare 2 cyber pirate [VentureBeat]
Steven Bogos
November 7, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Disgusting. Activision should spend more time working on their games, making it so people shouldn’t WANT to pirate them, instead of wasting money tracking down random individuals.
Piracy will ALWAYS exist. Deal with it, and just make a better game
Report Permalinkhort
November 7, 2009 at 1:22 PM
It’s not disgusting, this guy was trying to make a living off of pirated software.
Sure piracy will always exist but selling stolen shit for profit is lame, I’m glad they caught him.
Report Permalinkalinos
November 7, 2009 at 1:56 PM
and selling Cars without wheels isnt Cos thats the PC version of cod for ya
Report PermalinkSteven Bogos
November 7, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Actually, you’re right. Piracy out of necessity is fine, but people who try to make a living out of it should be stopped.
Report Permalinkglennc
November 7, 2009 at 8:13 PM
piracy out of necessity??? it is never fine. what you been smokin?
Report PermalinkSinful Malice
November 7, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Soooo, how are they going to stop the horde of PC players that will supposedly be pirating the game?
Report Permalinkalinos
November 7, 2009 at 11:22 AM
how are they stopping the hordes of 360 players that are ALREADY pirating the game theres still no PC release yet but the 360 ones been out for quite a while woah they stopped one bunch of guys
Report PermalinkDave
November 7, 2009 at 10:22 AM
The guy abbreviated his real name and used legitimate contact information. He deserved to get caught.
Report PermalinkDunnowhathuh
November 7, 2009 at 12:53 PM
I find it hilarious and a little ironic that it’s the 360 version that gets pirated first.
Report PermalinkDeadlydorito
November 7, 2009 at 1:47 PM
its hard to pirate blu ray discs atm.
Report Permalinkalinos
November 7, 2009 at 1:54 PM
thats only because theres not enough demand if the 360 had had a blur ray drive blu ray piracy would be wicked rampart at the moment give it time
Report PermalinkSteven Bogos
November 7, 2009 at 2:21 PM
I’m sure he was referring to the fact that the 360 version was pirated before the PC version, Deadlydorito
Report PermalinkAdrian Love
November 7, 2009 at 2:25 PM
not to mention like… Facebook? If you’re going to post on an illegal forum then a persona might be a good idea.
though of course, your IP is always available…
Report PermalinkMike
November 8, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Why do PC gamers pirate their games, take all profitability from the PC market, then cry foul when the devs and publishers ignore the PC market? then use the results of their actions to justify the piracy. Lunacy.
Report PermalinkThermal Ions
November 8, 2009 at 3:51 PM
Ah, Mike … You do realise this is a story about piracy on the XBox 360, right ???
Report PermalinkSnacuum
November 9, 2009 at 1:39 AM
Did you plau pc games in the 80s and early 90s as a 7-10 year old youth?
It’s still not a real justification but with the little learning of morals, technology and business, and the fact that a lot of us didn’t have the 20 – 50 dollars to buy a copy of the latest Commander Keen, you just try and I mean TRY resisting copying that floppy from your mate at school.
Felt good man.
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