A former Previous Faculty Runescape developer who was fired by Jagex in 2018 after it got here to mild that he was stealing in-game gold and gadgets from OSRS gamers has now been handed a three-year suspended sentence. Cambridgeshire Police report that Andrew Lakeman, who was beforehand generally known as Jed Sanderson and referred to among the many Runescape neighborhood as merely ‘Mod Jed,’ had used his place throughout the firm to steal in-game gadgets within the MMORPG from different gamers and promote them through the “black market.” In complete, it states that Lakeman had “banked greater than £364,829 (roughly $490,000) in money, which got here from crypto foreign money sellers.”
Suspicions round Mod Jed’s actions initially started to floor in Might 2018 when the Old School Runescape help crew “seen suspicious account restoration exercise with helpful in-game gadgets, together with gold, being taken.” This then stopped occurring for a number of months, however resumed later within the yr. The crew finally concluded that the perpetrator should have been an worker, attributable to accounts being recovered “utilizing data real homeowners can be unlikely to know.”
After an inner investigation that happened “with out informing the broader firm,” Mod Jed’s gadgets and residential deal with have been pinpointed because the supply. The corporate publicly confirmed in September 2018 {that a} member of its OSRS crew “was dismissed from employment at Jagex following gross misuse of moderator privileges,” though didn’t title the wrongdoer immediately. It confirmed that no gamers’ financial institution or card offers had been compromised, and took steps “to return gadgets and GP to any affected accounts,” given the intense nature of the incident.
The investigation into Mod Jed was handed to Cambridgeshire Police in 2019, which decided he had “used his place as a content material developer to entry high-value buyer accounts and steal their ‘recreation wealth,’ which he offered for greater than £300,000 (~$407,000) on the black market.” System searches additionally “confirmed messages to his spouse detailing how he meant to make some huge cash earlier than leaving Jagex, and he mentioned high-value Runescape accounts value tens of hundreds of kilos.”
Following subsequent authorized proceedings, Cambridgeshire Police now reports that the previous worker “pleaded responsible to the offences and was handed a three-year sentence suspended for 2 years at Cambridge Crown Courtroom” on Thursday, September 3, 2026. As a part of this, Lakeman has additionally been “ordered to hold out 150 hours of unpaid work and full a 25-day rehabilitation exercise requirement.” Moreover, it notes that “a proceeds of crime act timetable, attributable to conclude in February subsequent yr, goals to recoup the cash Lakeman earned from the thefts.”
One of many investigators, Detective Constable Andrew McKeane, stated of the case, “Lakeman was effectively conscious what he was doing was unsuitable, and the lots of of hundreds of kilos he gained from promoting the in-game gadgets is not any completely different to another theft. Simply because it is digital, doesn’t suggest he should not face the complete power of the legislation.” McKeane provides, “Given the fast progress of on-line and digital worlds, the justice system goes to need to maintain tempo and adapt to those new and rising crimes.”
I’ve reached out to Jagex for remark, and can replace this story with any response.
Hi, I’m Rishab. I’m a passionate pc gamer and an avid video game content writer. I have been involved with video games for over 2 decades now, and even today, after playing an astronomical number of games over the years, I’m still eager for more. In my free time, you will find me enjoying a hot cup of coffee and playing my favorite relaxing fishing game, Dave the Diver.
