Two men have been charged with creating an adult video game virus that leaks personal information onto the internet, reports Japan's Daily Yomiuri. The catch? Blackmail.
According to the Yomiuri, those same two men apparently defrauded people out of money to recover the data. Kenzo Oka (27), a Tokyo company employee, and another 20 year-old man who belongs to an online advertising company have been accused of the fraud. The younger man's name is being withheld because he was 19 at the time of the incident. Apparently, he was the one who urged Oka to create the virus.
It seems the two concealed a virus named "Kenzo" in an adult computer game that would infect the victim's computer with the title was downloaded via file-sharing software. Personal information, such as name, address, email address, phone number and browsing records, were end up "leaked" online. It seems the two men would then tell the victim that the leaked information could be deleted from the internet for a ¥5,800 (US$63) fee.
The two have been arrested for defrauding several people out of tens of thousands of yen — a couple hundred dollars. The virus is believed to have infected approximately 5,000 computers.
This is the first arrest in Japan for a case involving fraud using a computer virus, reports the Yomiuri, and it is the second incident in which virus creators have been nabbed by the authorities.
2 held over fraud using computer virus [Daily Yomiuri] [Pic]