Cops are searching real homes for clues in the theft of virtual items from Habbo Hotel, the teen-oriented social game that’s been on the vanguard of virtual crime before. This time Finnish authorities are tracking some 400 cases of theft.
Individual users are reporting losses up to €1000 ($1462), making this phishing scam potentially more sizable than the last Habbo holdup getting headlines, when a Dutch teen bagged about €4000 ($5849) in virtual goods. That raised questions about virtual property, and whether stealing it should be classified as actual theft.
Finnish cops appear to be treating this as cybercrime; but searching five homes in five separate cities in Finland show they’re not treating it trivially.
Habbo Hotel claims some 100 million users.
Police Investigate Habbo Hotel Virtual Furniture Theft [BBC, thanks Clint S.]
Jo
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 4:29 PMThe real question is who the hell buys over $1000 worth of virtual furniture?
As the saying goes “A fool and his money is easily parted.”
Andrew Cruise
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 5:01 PMisn’t stealing things part of the game? next thing you know they’ll start arresting pirates in eve online for making someone eject from there raven or somthing
Andrew Burdusel
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 8:34 PMPeople in Australia have been sued in civil court for theft of virtual items. But I doubt this would fly in criminal court, In Australia anyway.