GoKawiilRetro-Thief: A RuneScape developer tried to make a quick buck out of the online RPG. The company eventually discovered the internal culprit after setting a trap, and the hacker has now been sentenced while detectives are still trying to recover the money he stole.
Stealing virtual gold coins can earn some real-world money, even in retro-focused experiences such as Old School RuneScape. A developer named Andrew Lakeman tried to abuse his privileged position as a content creator working at Jagex, but a years-long investigation has illustrated that crime does not pay – no matter how retro your MMORPG target is.
The investigation was led by Andrew McKeane, a detective working with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary. Lakeman began working at RuneScape studio Jagex in November 2015, but his plan was set in motion a few years later. In 2018, Jagex's support team noticed suspicious activity related to several account recovery instances.
The accounts in question had been stripped of their in-game items, including virtual coins. Jagex eventually confirmed that someone within the company was stealing the virtual goods, so it opened an internal investigation and set a trap to identify the hacker. The plan worked, and the British studio was able to trace the illicit activity back to Lakeman's home address and devices.
The developer first claimed that his own account had been hacked, but he was ultimately fired. At the same time, Jagex passed the investigation to Cambridgeshire police in 2019. The law enforcement agency eventually discovered that Lakeman was planning to make a small fortune by selling in-game content on the black market. The hacker had already amassed £364,829 ($493,000) in cryptocurrencies, including £300,000 from his internal theft at Old School RuneScape.
Cambridgeshire's investigation came to an end earlier this month. Lakeman pleaded guilty to his virtual-yet-very-real crimes, but had his three-year sentence suspended for two years by the Cambridge Crown Court. Furthermore, the court decided that the hacker must carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work, as well as a 25-day rehabilitation period. The investigators are now trying to recover the money Lakeman earned through his crypto transactions.
Detective Constable McKeane highlighted how sentencing Lakeman required an unusually complex investigation. The hacker knew rather well that what he was doing was a crime, and virtual crimes are still subject to real-world laws.
"Given the rapid growth of online and virtual worlds, the justice system is going to have to keep pace and adapt to these new and emerging crimes," the court said.
Old School RuneScape is a free fantasy MMORPG based on a 2007 backup Jagex discovered in its archives. The British studio eventually launched a "modern" rendition of RuneScape in 2020, with both versions now being maintained by their corresponding communities. Despite being a free-to-play experience, the whole RuneScape experience has so far generated $3 billion in revenue.