Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual "Furniture"

by Tim Stevens on November 15, 2007 at 10:18 AM

Habbo Hotel Room

http://images.habbohotel.com/habboweb/17/16/web-gallery/images/logos/habbo_logo_nourl.gifIf you've never heard of Habbo Hotel, consider yourself non-European. 'Habbo' is a simplistic, 2-D Second Life that is incredibly popular over across the pond. The teen-focused social-networking site has about 7.5 million unique visitors worldwide, but hasn't quite caught on in the Americas to the same extent.

In 'Habbo,' users create their own customized Habbo avatars that wander around a cartoonish virtual world. Members can buy virtual items and use them to decorate and personalize their Habbo pads and Habbo personas. Some users, though, have turned to stealing, such as the 17-year-old Dutch Habbo user who was recently arrested for the theft of $5,800 worth of furniture and other miscellany.

The teen didn't digitally sneak into other users' pads dressed in black pixels and walk off with their stuff. Instead, he stole usernames and passwords, logged into accounts, then moved the furniture to his real account. Those passwords were often stolen through phishing and imposter Web sites, which were used to trick those unsuspecting Habboites into logging in.

As virtual communities such as Habbo become more popular, and thus more valuable, the virtual property created and bought on these commmunities also becomes more valuable -- and more frequently stolen. In August, for example, we wrote about a lawsuit against people accused of duplicating copyrighted genitalia in Second Life. This case, though, is just another reminder to watch where you enter your password, and, of course, to make sure that password is secure in the first place.

If you're confused by what we mean when we say "virtual furniture," check out the gallery to see the cool digs you can pick up in Habbo Hotel.

Habbo Hotel Furniture



From Read/WriteWeb

Related Links:


Tags: breaking+news, Habbo, phishing, top, virtual theft, VirtualTheft

Comments

61

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular