Japanese news portals recently reported that 12 people were arrested for stealing game money from Sega and Square Enix games.
Between September 2022 and January 2023, about 30 million yen (around $210,000) worth of game money was stolen by hacking into the companies’ servers.
Four men in their 40s from Okinawa were arrested, and eight men from Kanagawa were charged with fraud.
These people used brokers who logged into their game accounts, got fake in-game money by making false payments, and then gave the accounts back. The players paid the brokers a fee of 2% to 6% of the game money’s price.
During the investigation, one person didn’t say anything, but the other 11 admitted they used brokers and knew it was illegal.
The police say there are more brokers involved, and the investigation is still ongoing. Sega unfortunately, lost about 130 million yen (around $906,000) and Square Enix lost about 880 million yen (over $6 million) because of this fraud.
In March, Sega warned players that anyone who tries to break into their systems to gain in-game currency will face criminal charges.
