8 Funny Geek Crimes

Arrested for a virtual murder

 A 43-year-old Japanese woman, angry over a sudden divorce in the virtual online game Maple Story, has been arrested on suspicion of hacking into the game where she killed her once-virtual husband, authorities said.
Authorities said the Miyazaki woman illegally accessed the game with a password she hijacked from a colleague. That made it appear as if her coworker committed the online murder.
According to The Associated Press, the woman told police: “I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry.”
The two had never met in real life. (Link)

Watching the sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica while driving

 A truck driver watched episodes of the cult sci-fi show Battlestar Galactica as he drove a 38-ton lorry along a motorway, a court heard.
Benjamin Trotsman, 37, was spotted driving erratically in the early hours of the morning by another trucker who called police.
A Cumbria Police spokesman said: “The driver was seen to be watching a film on a laptop computer that was situated on the dashboard in his cab.
“He appeared oblivious to other motorists and continued to drive in an erratic manner, speeding up and slowing down, and crossing on occasions on to the hard shoulder.”
Police stopped the lorry and when they examined his laptop it appeared that Trotsman had been watching Battlestar Galactica. (Link)

"I have killed them all!"… ups… sorry… Wrong Number!

 A call mistakenly made by a victorious video gamer led to his arrest on an outstanding warrant.
Authorities arrested Thomas Ballard, 29, of Delhi, early Monday after a woman reported receiving a late-night call from someone saying, “I have killed them all.”
Ballard’s number showed up on the woman’s caller ID; he’d called by mistake, meaning instead to get a buddy to talk-up his success in an Xbox game, said Sgt. Julie Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Police.
Authorities following up at the address, to investigate whether there had been any foul play, found no evidence of wrongdoing, she said. But they did find, in the process of identifying Ballard, that he had a 5-year-old warrant out of Baton Rouge, charging him with failure to appear on a possession of cocaine charge.
Ballard was booked into the Richland Parish Detention Center for extradition to Baton Rouge.
“It was weird the way this all came down,” Lewis said Tuesday. “This isn’t something you could just make up.” (Link)

Student transferred for making counter strike map based on school

A senior at Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas was transferred to an alternative education center after it was learned that the student had created a map of his school in the online game Counter-Strike
The student wasn’t arrested or charged with any crimes, but police were called in to search his home, where they found five swords. Police also ordered the student to erase the game and maps from his computer. (Link)

 

 

 

 

Gamers Arrested By SWAT Team After Playing Playstation Too Loudly

 Two gamers in Denmark had a SWAT team knock down their door and arrest them after they were playing a video game too loudly. The pair were playing Rainbow Six on their PlayStation 3 when neighbors called the police to report that they heard loud gunshots coming from their apartment.
Police quickly cordoned off the area and stormed the house using a megaphone to command the pair to surrender. The two gamers were handcuffed until officers realized that they posed no threat.
A spokesman for the Copenhagen police said that they are obliged to investigate any reports of gunshots, which leads to occasional false alarms. (Link)

 

 

 

 

Try to sell "World of Warcraft gold"

 In the US, you can’t really arrest someone for selling gold in-game — it’s against Blizzard’s Terms of Service, so they can ban you from the game or even file suit against you, but it’s not actually illegal. But in China, under communism, things are apparently a little different. Two gold farmers have actually been arrested by the government for “unfair revenue distribution” — apparently the two had a disagreement about how to distribute the over $200,000 they had made from selling gold in World of Warcraft. (Link)

Arrested for carrying his replica laser blaster

 “Kim”, 32, dressed in the outfit of an Imperial Death Star guard, was pinned to the ground and handcuffed by the other Force – the Victorian police force – after he was spotting marching through the city with a replica laser blaster poking out of his backpack.
Kim was on his way to a photo shoot with the MX newspaper, but concerned patrons at the Southgate retail complex on the Yarra River alerted security guards when they spotted the Sci Fi foot soldier eating breakfast in the foodcourt in his Evil Empire regalia.
“I will be requesting the safe return of my trooper’s replica movie prop and asking for all charges to be dropped”, 501st Legion Commanding Officer Bruce Harrison said.
He said his trooper’s weapon replica was worth up to $500, and he was hoping to negotiate it’s safe return this afternoon. (Link)

The Gunman with water guns 

 On May 12, 2009, an incident involving the ‘Assassin’ game happened behind a North Hampton, New Hampshire restaurant, where an employee spotted a man in dark clothing with a gun. He called the police and the student in question did not resist but simply walked to his car and explained the game to the police. The student did not run away from the police, he cooperated fully, and was not arrested. The man turned out to be a high school senior from Exeter, New Hampshire waiting for another high school student to come out of her job at the restaurant with a squirt gun in hand. (Link)