Sign in / up

back to article Cybercrook spared jail after copping to FIFA video game mega-hack

A game hacker who admitted involvement in a plot to steal millions from Electronic Arts was sentenced to probation by a Texas court on Monday. Ricky Miller, 23, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud last October, was involved in a plot to steal in-game currency worth $16m from a football video game that was …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. TrumpSlurp the Troll
    Windows

    Some days I dream....

    ......of making so much money I can pay a $1.5 million fine.

    Then again, nah.

    6 0 Reply
    1. kain preacher
      Reply Icon

      Re: Some days I dream....

      In the US if you do not turn over all the money a in a scam like this you can face additional charges. Even after you conviction ift hey catch you spending the money from illegal source you can be hit with money laundry. If you use electronic means to shift the money it's wire fraud.

      2 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: In the US if you do not turn over all the money a in a scam

        So why aren't EA being taken to book over their behaviour with game pricing and DLC?

        1 0 Reply
  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Trollface

    Not complete idiots then

    "The group began running the scam through a modified video game console before graduating to use of a cloud computing-based system"

    Well, at last someone has found a way to make money in The Cloud !

    12 0 Reply
  3. chivo243 Silver badge

    $1.5m fine?

    Looks like indentured servitude has returned... He's 23, maybe he'll get his own pocket money when he's 50. No mention if he's required to stay away from computers either? Could be a rough road to hoe.

    0 2 Reply
    1. hellwig
      Reply Icon

      Re: $1.5m fine?

      Yeah, is that fine based on how much he has in personal assets, or somehow based on how much he stole. Because I'm pretty sure fines can't be paid out of your ill-gotten gains.

      But then again, there wasn't any actual harm to EA. They didn't steal money from EA, they stole virtual currency, and then sold that currency on a secondary market for real money. So, I guess, they CAN pay the fine with that money?

      Hmm...

      1 1 Reply
  4. The Nazz

    A different view here.

    Did they actually steal anything from EA or just use their wisdom/skills to play the games of football much, much faster than anyone else and thus "earn" due reward.

    I'd say more of the blame falls on EA. They should have anticipated such occurrences and programmed against paying out any game currency.

    At what point in paying in the $6m of cash, presumably over many deposits, did the authorities become suspicious?

    6 2 Reply
    1. Cook942
      Reply Icon

      Re: A different view here.

      I thought this, I honestly thought the law would be too far behind to actually get a conviction from this, the phrase victimless crime comes to mind

      3 1 Reply
  5. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Back in the day....

    ...we were content with jamming an ice cream stick in the coin slot to enable free ball return / free games on the pub pool table.

    Kids today, eh?

    5 0 Reply
  6. MrDamage Silver badge

    Conspiracy to commit fraud

    Given EA's inability to release stable games, or have stable multiplayer environments, I would say the conspiracy to commit fraud happens with every EA product release.

    2 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sad thing is...

    It probably still wasnt enough for a decent pack opening.

    1 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Currency

    Don't most companies state in their T&Cs that their virtual currencies have no value?

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like