Theft in On Line Games
Theft in virtual worlds is back in the news. This time, it's because a group of 11 members of a password theft ring have been convicted in China for stealing passwords to get virtual cash.
McAfee Avert Labs blog posts:
The malware “workers” are reportedly paid a commission of 0.5 cents RMB (renminbi, or yuan) per stolen password, and the top performer was believed to have made as much as 7,000 RMB in a month. The stolen passwords in turn were sold to a broker, where the virtual gold or “QQ coins” harvested from the stolen accounts and often used for online gaming, were traded for real money. This has been a very profitable modus operandi for many virtual gold seekers, leading to the increase in game password stealers since 2006.
The Wall Street Journal explains QQ coins are big business (worth about $900 million in 2006) and not just online:
At informal online currency marketplaces, thousands of users helped turn the QQ coins back into cash by selling them at a discount that varies based on the laws of supply and demand. Traders began jumping into the QQ coin market as an opportunity to make a quick yuan off of currency speculation.
This isn't just about stealing chairs in Second Life, this kind of theft can net real money.
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