Activision catches both pirates and thieves in Modern Warfare 2 investigation

Posted by Mister-X on November 6th, 2009 at 10:00pm

While it might be tempting to go straight to Craigslist with those Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles you stole, it turns out that Activision notices exciting, high-profile offers just like your potential customers might. VentureBeat reports that when Activision noticed a listing for one of the bundles last Thursday, the company hired a private investigation firm, IPCyberCrime.com, to track down the seller.

When IPCyberCrime found the person behind the sale, the investigator discovered that he was an employee at a retailer, who, with friends, had stolen the bundles to sell on Craigslist. The sellers were turned over to the store's loss prevention department.

That bust led to one of the prospective buyers, named Christian Del Amo, who was raising money on a forum to buy the bundle (allegedly) for the purpose of copying the game and selling the copies, along with other pirated games, on hard drives. IPCyberCrime turned that case over to the Miami-Dade Police Department, who arrested Del Amo.

Obviously, this demonstrates one reason (aside from the whole morality thing) why you shouldn't try to make a business of selling pirated games. Activision has enough money to hire a private investigator, and is not afraid to use it.

Activision catches both pirates and thieves in Modern Warfare 2 investigation originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.