Official News page 7

REAL LIFE NEWS: VIRTUAL THIEVES RAIDED BY REAL POLICE

by Hazed

In Finland, police have raided five homes in a search for stolen furniture. But not real-life sofas and beds and so on, solid ones you can really and truly sit on... no, the thefts were of unreal furniture from an online virtual world called Habbo Hotel.

This pretend world is very popular in Finland, claiming to have 15 million users and turning over about $60m a year by charging its users for various virtual goods.

The police are investigating 400 separate cases of people reporting their virtual belongings being stolen - some say they've lost up to 1,000 Euros of stuff. The cops think these thefts were carried out following phishing attacks to gain users passwords. Presumably the villains logged on as the victims, transferred the items to their own accounts, and then flogged them to other players.

This kind of virtual theft is relatively common in Asia, where virtual worlds and games are massively popular, but Habbo Hotel in Europe has been hit before - in 2007, a Dutch teenager was arrested for stealing from the virtual world.

Now, anyone want to buy a bar stool from Chez Diesel? Only slightly worn, honest!

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