Man paid millions in RuneScape coins to access accounts belonging to men involved with his ex-girlfriend

One thing we took away from all this — people still play RuneScape? 

Apparently people do, and the virtual in-game currency (read: fake money) is worth breaking the law for. 

CNA reported that Lee See Hao, 24, was sentenced to a year’s probation after paying an acquaintance 120 million gold pieces in RuneScape in exchange for hacking into the online accounts of men involved with his ex-girlfriend. 

It was revealed in court that Lee, then 20, had broken up with his ex-girlfriend back in 2016. He found out that she changed the security settings of her email account, which he had access to during their relationship. 

Lee found out that a 23-year-old friend of his ex-girlfriend had helped to change the security settings. He then sought the assistance of an individual he knew as Jake, a friend he met online in RuneScape, to hack into the man’s email account. 

Jake managed to do so after Lee paid him 60 million coins in RuneScape. Two screenshots of the 23-year-old man’s email account were taken and passed to Lee. 

According to auction websites, players can get about 10 million coins in RuneScape in exchange for US$1. 

Lee then sent the screenshots and a threatening message to the man: “I can empty your bank account so ****ing easily”. 

The victim made a police report after changing his email password and security settings. 

The second victim that got hacked was a 21-year-old man that Lee’s ex-girlfriend started dating. Jake was paid another 60 million virtual gold pieces to get the man’s email account password. 

Lee used the password to access the account, which had information to access the man’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Lee proceed to change the Facebook password and delete the Instagram account. 

The second victim made a police report after realising what happened, suspecting that it was Lee’s doing. This was as Lee had previously gotten in touch with him and expressed unhappiness about the his relationship with the ex-girlfriend. 

According to CNA’s report, Lee was identified and had his devices seized. He was subsequently charged with two counts of instigating another person to secure unauthorised access to computer material and another of intentionally causing alarm by sending threatening communications. 

On Tuesday (Sept 22), Lee was sentenced to probation for a year and will have to perform 50 hours of community service. His lawyer argued that in the four-year timespan since the offences were committed, Lee has kept his head out of trouble, enrolled in the Singapore University of Social Sciences and is working part-time as a food delivery rider to generate income. 

It is unclear if he’s still playing RuneScape these days. 

ilyas@asiaone.com