'Virtual theft' leads to arrest

[CelticKing]

<div class="mxb">
<div class="sh"> 'Virtual theft' leads to arrest</div>
</div>

<font size="2">
<table width="203" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div>

<div class="cap">Habbo Hotel users create a character and can buy furniture</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website. </font></p>

<font size="2">The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (&pound;2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money. </font></p>

<font size="2">Five 15-year-olds have also been questioned by police, who were contacted by the website's owners. </font></p>

<font size="2">The six teenagers are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own Habbo rooms. </font></p>

<font size="2">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. </font></p>

<font size="2">"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. </font></p>

<font size="2">
<table width="208" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="5">

</td>
<td class="sibtbg">
<div>
<div class="mva">

It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money

</div>
</div>
<div class="mva">
<div>Sulake spokesman</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</font></p>

<font size="2">"We have had much of this scamming going on in many countries but this is the first case where the police have taken legal action." </font></p>

<font size="2"> 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. </font></p>

<font size="2">"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. </font></p>

<font size="2">"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." </font></p>

<font size="2">Six million people in more than 30 countries play Habbo Hotel each month. </font></p>

<font size="2">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. </font></p>

<font size="2">Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned. </font></p>