Dutch teenager arrested for virtual theft
A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from “rooms” in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website. The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money. Five 15-year-olds have also been questioned by police, who were contacted by the website’s owners. The six teenagers are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own Habbo rooms. A spokesman for Sulake, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, said: “The accused lured victims into handing over their Habbo passwords by creating fake Habbo websites. “In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people’s personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while.
Habbo users can create their own characters, decorate their own rooms and play a number of games, paying with Habbo Credits, which they have to buy with real cash. “It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money. But the only way to be a thief in Habbo is to get people’s usernames and passwords and then log in and take the furniture. “We got involved because of an increasing number of sites which are pretending to be Habbo. People might then try and log in and get their details stolen.” Six million people in more than 30 countries play Habbo Hotel each month. Virtual theft is a growing issue in virtual worlds; in 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game. One would think that these games are quite innocent…
Source: BBC
Comments(58)
first…….
Martin: BANNED (78.57.113.33, Kaunas, Lithuania)
ROFLROFLROFL because I’ve been on the site before and seen people try to do this before.
I bet he got some habbo handcuff slapped on his wrist lol
wouldnt want to be in his shoes right now and i bet that pic above is the mug shot
Wow ….well i think these scam websites most of the time its like …. FOR FREE FURNITURE come here or something …. then people give there details its there own fault. habbo.com is the real site everyone knows that if its something els and you dont know its a fake then your just stupid lol.
so i dont think they should have been fined….Members own fault for going on them sites.
habbo’s security must suck – how does one user steal another users’ furniture?!?!wtf11
How lame…
Ha, I knew the richest guy on habbo, he was such a scammer, it was insane how some people are duped so easily, this is just a phishing scam, it has been happening for yeaaarrrrs.
It’s not that funny at all… Just imagine a world, which was in George Lucas’ THX 1138 (1971) or George Orwell’s 1984.
People will be punished only for thinking!
If somebody is cretin enough to pay for a virtual furniture…
That person deserves his fate.
Ohh, and my virtual object is a gordian knot colored lime, so do not dare thinking of it, or i will sue you..
The world is geting more and more weird…
is dit een nederlandse forum ofzo shiiiiiit
is this a dutch forum shiiiiit
it was on the news today here in Netherlands
Habbo Hangout for teens
what do teens when they get borred, the get criminial so also in virtual world
personnely i think habbo itself is a theft that they sell fake furniture for real money and that they make 4 million (euros) a month with it and all that money is from they teens….
i understand the teens want it back
@ bleh
there come a lot dutch ppl around here
i think some of the staf ppl are dutch
Meh just send him a habbo fine and send him to habbo jail.
HAHAHA, good on him.
Although, i’m sure it wasn’t worth it, for some habbo furniture.
People will be stealing games, movies etc next…….:D
im still baffled that people are willing to pay for “virtual” objects. sounds like a HIGHLY profitable business though…
days will pass when this story will be told, a young thug sitting on his stolen habbo sofa. He hears a thud on the door and another with the door flying open and in come the habbo cops, the thug jumps through his habbo window and right into the hands of 1 of the cops but we all know y he got arrested cause he wasnt high lvl enuff
They should create other free versions such as grand theft habbo, or world of habbocraft, or habbo does xxx, or habbo in hell, or habbo fighters…
you know i’ll beat u all if there was a “habbo fighters”
i don’t even know what moral stance to take here. stupid petty criminals con stupid people who pay stupid money to play stupid games. i hope you guys understand that it’s really hard to even begin feeling something close to empathy in this case.
People paying real money to buy virtual furniture should be euthanized.
This habbo looks and sounds a lot like coke studios virtual world. Except coke studios doesn’t cost any REAL money.
THESE PEOPLE THAT PLAY THESE REALITY GAMES NEED TO GET A REAL LIFE. JOIN THE REAL WORLD LOSERS.
So what?
That’s what you get for using proprietary software.
PS: does any of you knows what happened with albumbase?
@22 it was shutdown.. apperantly riaa
ahahahahha … this is really funny … there was the one with the second life and now this … logicaly it’s corect … i mean the items were bought with real money … but the ideea of getting arested for stealing virtual furniture is really funny
)
GJ MARTIN WITH THE BAN!!!! … keep it up … i hate the persons who posts “first post” … i find it really stupid and pointless … things a no lifer does
…ugh, those RIAA pricks really need a spanking
lol i tried this game and i must say what the poop
“The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture….”
lol
if convicted, will they put him or his avatar in a virtual prison?
ha ha ha…wow wow..this is too funny..
wtf??? yup the world is really becoming a weird place. Having a recreational enhancement stimulant would be much better … virtual everything … aka Tab aka LSd
Can you post the link to the original article?
lol Anyone know where i can buy or steal a virtual wife coz mine does ma nut in at least this way i can delete the hag.Did this teen sell it on who buys virtual used beds i hope whoever bought it checked for virtual stains.
@32 nice 1 made me laugh for tym!!!
Hei i need reaI furniture f0r 4000 eur0s maybe i can scam s0me habb0 user! I0I0I
you all’ are stealing my virtual rlslog
This is about the lamest thing I’ve ever seen. Habbo? Bahahahaha!!
people give their money in this online thing? :S
Who in their right mind will pay for virtual furniture!
I can understand that a virtual world is interesting to be part of. But isn’t it enough to pay bills in the real world.
Escapism is something I also love to do by playing video games,listening to music or watching movies!Paying for something that doesn’t exist is taking it too far.
Oh no I just got busted selling virtual drugs on Habbo and all my virtual prostitutes have all been arrested, and they impounded my virtual pimp mobile, DAMN these virtual police.
Heh, the scam is habbo hotel itself and others like them. They all started out absolutely free with no option to “buy” anything with real money. Then when they figured out that the people would pay and they couldn’t run a website with a million visitors for free, they started making real money come into the equation. They even make it confusing as some of them have a fake money, AND a real money, and so you have to keep track of both.
Oh and there’s an “ebay” section to these places too, where you can bid with real money on fake items! Oh oh oh! I want a fake pixel chair for $400!!!!
..I dunno, you could say the players of the game should get a life…but!
..The thieves stole something, that was paid for with REAL money, it doesent matter what it was or whether the person that originally paid for it was a moron…
..they didn`t steal from a big corporation, the stole from someone just like them, i`m all for piracy and sticking to the labels/studios, but the people that were scammed here are normal working folk…
..they might be fools to pay for virtual stuff, but they deserve the protection of the law the same as the rest of us.
..precedent needs to be set for an end users “virtual” property as it could be expanded to include many things…
..eg, if i found a way to steal credit from your mobile phone by getting you to answer a call from me or reply to a text, i`ve stolen your “virtual” property….are you a moron for allowing that to happen??
If anyone should be penalised, that is in fact Habbo itself – making someone believe that they should pay for virtual furniture is a scam in itself!
For sanity’s sake , enough IS enough , people should be encouraged to get out and have a sodding NoN-VirtuaL life specially the frikking teenagers.
Oh My Good God.
Whatever next? Habbo nicked for smoking virtual cannabis? Well obviously not in Holland, but you get the idea.
I wonder if they’ve got Habbo Virtual Coppers popping round to nick ya? Can you imagine. A cartoon looking copper on the doorstep giving it, your nicked! LOL
What on earth do these people do with this ‘virtual furniture’? I reckon, check there ‘virtual house’ and it’s prolly stashed under the ‘virtual stairs’ awaiting the appointment to the ‘virtual auction house’.
I really dont understand the point of this concept. Someone DRAWS a picture of something and SELLS it to some mug on the net to put in there ‘Virtual surroundings’ for £100? IT’S GRAPHICS FFS! Get over it.
What happens when Habbo servers go down? Is everyone all of a sudden virtually homeless? LOL.
MUGS GAME / WASTED POLICE FORCE TIME / AMUSING COLUMN TO TEAR INTO LONELY PEOPLE WITH NO LIFE.
Bring it on!
DejaVu
They sell the virtual furniture on realife EBAY
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Habbo-Rares-UK-FULL-CASINO-LOOOK_W0QQitemZ160180719049QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4596QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
love the line “You Are Payin me for the time and effort to deliver these items ” and “Disclaimer: Although you are buying these items and you will recive them they will ALWAYS remain property pf Sulake LTD, habbo uk.” is pretty
good too.
What’s so hard to understand about buying and selling virtual products? When you buy a game you’re buying…
Oh, wait… I think I’ve stumbled upon the source of your comprehension issue.
WTF next?
Rock star ate my hamster?
It ain’t stealing if dumb kids give away their password. Keep on taking their furniture dawg! Soon you’ll be the only one with a filled room.
Oh and yes, paying for something cosmetic is ridiculous, paying for a better sword or shield I can somehow understand.
What is the difference if they steal Habbo money or Euro money or Monopoly money??
None of them are real dollars anyway.
People in Habbo World should have to pay REAL taxes to pay for the REAL police and REAL courts that they want to enforce their FAKE laws.
I think the only correct way of dealing with this kid is to put him in a virtual jail because the crime was virtual. Also virtual prisoners would get to sodomize him too just like in the real jails. He would also have to eat virtual jail food that sucks. He would also have to deal with virtual Judges and lawyers that SUCK!! Then after many years he would come out of jail all pissed off and become a virtual KILLER!!
@8 It’s true, people are going to get sued for everything in the near future, probably…wait, the future is NOW!
@21 I AGREE 100%!
This story just goes to show you how much (some) people who play online games need to get a life and get over the fact that not everyone online is nice, such as at RLSLOG or any site that allows communication.
P.S. Habbo should have been shut down years ago from 4chan’s radis, but no…
Stealing virtual furniture?
Call the virtual cops.
Whats next? Getting arrested for killing someone in a MMORPG??
pools closed for lithuania
WTF? lol…
This matter should be dealt with in Habbo world Since the crime was committed there, and so is the evidence…
What proof will the Habbo people give the police in the real world?
This is just too funny! where are we heading?
Uh ohh, someone didn’t get virtual insurance!
The insurance and home security companies need to start making commercials about security devices and insurance for your virtual environments.
Instead of people living in a REAL world, they have to live in a VIRTUAL!!!. For God’s sake. COME ON!!!! SICK!
This shouldn’t be taken lightly.
There are things called Private servers.. If everyone quitted habbo and went there, The would be out of bussiness they need to flush out the fake sites.
Habbo’s weak Fake Furniture Pissh.
I own a few private servers.
HAbbo is stupid i got banned for 11 years just because i wore an afro