A former Old School RuneScape developer who used his position at Jagex to take gold and valuable items from player accounts has been given a suspended prison sentence. Andrew Lakeman, previously known as Jed Sanderson and known to players as Mod Jed, was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on September 3 to three years in prison, suspended for two years, according to reports published by Dexerto and PCGamesN on September 5.
Both outlets report that Lakeman was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and to complete a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement. Dexerto reports that he pleaded guilty to offences including theft by employee and unauthorized computer access with intent to commit other offences.
How Jagex traced the thefts
Lakeman joined Jagex as a content developer in 2015, Dexerto reports, and came under suspicion three years later when the studio noticed gold and valuable items disappearing from accounts after suspicious recoveries. PCGamesN, citing Cambridgeshire Police, dates the first suspicions to May 2018, says the activity stopped for several months and then resumed later in the year, and reports that the support team concluded the person responsible had to be an employee because accounts were being recovered using information genuine owners would be unlikely to know.
The studio ran an internal investigation without informing the wider company. Dexerto reports that Jagex restricted when accounts could be recovered and altered its firewall without telling employees, a step that allowed its IT team to trace the activity to Lakeman's devices and home address. Dexerto reports that he denied responsibility when confronted, suggested his own account had been compromised, and was then dismissed and reported to police.
PCGamesN notes that Jagex publicly confirmed in September 2018 that a member of its Old School RuneScape team had been dismissed following what the company called gross misuse of moderator privileges, without naming him. The company said no player banking or card information had been compromised and said it took steps to return items and gold to affected accounts.
The figures and the sentence
Accounts of the sums involved differ between the two reports. Cambridgeshire Police, as quoted by PCGamesN, say Lakeman sold the game wealth he took from high-value customer accounts for more than 300,000 pounds, which the outlet converts to roughly 407,000 dollars, and that he had banked more than 364,829 pounds in cash from cryptocurrency dealers, which it puts at approximately 490,000 dollars. Dexerto reports the black-market sales at more than 400,000 dollars and the banked cash at more than 493,000 dollars, and adds that police did not specify whether all of that money came from stolen Old School RuneScape items.
PCGamesN reports that device searches turned up messages to Lakeman's wife setting out how he intended to make a large amount of money before leaving Jagex, and discussion of high-value RuneScape accounts. The case was handed to Cambridgeshire Police in 2019; Dexerto reports that Lakeman was arrested in July 2019. PCGamesN reports that a Proceeds of Crime Act timetable due to conclude in February 2027 aims to recoup the money he made from the thefts.
Dexerto reports that the Court of Appeal ruled during the case that Old School RuneScape gold could be treated as property under the Theft Act and was therefore capable of being stolen.
Lakeman was well aware what he was doing was wrong, and the hundreds of thousands of pounds he gained from selling the in-game items is no different to any other theft. Just because it's virtual, doesn't mean he shouldn't face the full force of the law.