GoKawiilEx-Jagex developer sentenced for stealing $400,000 in OSRS virtual gold
Andrew Lakeman, a former Jagex employee known as Mod Jed who worked on Old School RuneScape since 2015, received a three-year suspended prison sentence after being convicted of stealing over $400,000 worth of in-game gold and selling it on black market sites. Jagex uncovered the scheme after noticing suspicious account recovery patterns starting in 2018, then secretly altered its firewall setup to trace the thefts back to him.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The case shows that insider threats can be as damaging to online games as external hacks, since employees often have privileged access to systems that control valuable virtual economies. For a game like OSRS, where items carry real monetary value through trading and the Grand Exchange, maintaining player trust in account security is essential to keeping its large, active player base engaged.
- A former Jagex developer stole and sold over $400,000 in OSRS virtual gold.
- Jagex secretly modified its firewall to trace the insider theft back to the employee.
- The case highlights the real financial stakes and trust issues in online game economies.
Source: tomshardware.com — Jowi Morales, 2026-09-06
Published there as: “Former Old School RuneScape dev gets jail time for stealing $400,000 from players — virtual gold stolen and sold on the black market before Jagex caught the culprit using hidden firewall tweaks”
Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.