Man caught selling hacked Pokémon Sun Save data arrested by Japanese police
If you think back to earlier this year, you may recall that a man was arrested in Japan for sell modified data from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Apparently not everyone is paying attention to the consequences, as last week, Japanese police announced that they had arrested a man on similar charges for interfering with public activities. Pokémon Sun (Thank, Western automatic machine).
In this case, the perpetrator (a 32-year-old man from Saitama) was caught selling hacked data from the Gen VII game for 5,200 yen (about £27 / 35 USD) each, puts him in violation of Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act – which could land him in prison for five years or a fine of up to 5 million yen. Sorry.
While the suspect was still under investigation at the time of writing, he admitted to the charges after police confiscated a computer and 37 games from his home. Authorities also reportedly sent the confiscated ROMs to Nintendo, where the company confirmed that they had been tampered with.
According to TBS NewsAuthorities’ suspicions were aroused when an investigation by ‘Cyber Patrol’ discovered online listings for a series of Pokémon games with phrases such as “Save data with over 800 Pokémon”. Apparently, the lineup in this game includes waves of ‘mon that are only available at specific real-life locations or events, making the whole operation seem more suspicious and giving the police enough room to investigate and finally arrested the man.
We won’t know the final outcome of this until the investigation is complete. However, if you need a reminder, don’t mess with Pokémon.
