MMO has suffered it's own mini version of the credit crunch, after one of the game's biggest virtual banks suffered a run on it's reserves, after one former operator stole billions in virtual currency from the organisation's coffers.

The EBank theft occurred in early June, when 200 billion in-game kredits were withdrawn by user Ricdic, who changed the currency into real-world money worth over 3,000 GBP.

Details of this scam have only just emerged but this news apparently sparked mass withdrawals from the bank - Ricdic having nabbed some eight percent of the bank's deposits.

"Basically this character was one of the people who had been running EBank for a while. He took a bunch of (virtual) money out of the bank, and traded it away for real money," Ned Coker of Eve Online makers told the BBC.

Ricdic, meanwhile, is unrepentant, despite causing a panic in the world. "I'm not proud of it at all, that's why I didn't brag about it. But you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would've chosen the same path based on the same situation," he told Reuters, revealing that the money was spent on medical bills and a house deposit.

More on all this soon.

By Luke Guttridge

Comments

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  1. Doreen Garrigus Unregistered 4 months ago

    Ummm...wrong virtual world, Luke. Second Life banned banks almost two years ago. This was Eve Online. Please get your facts straight.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8132547.stm

  2. Funny Unregistered 4 months ago

    Nothing like a journalist who fact checks...

    Time to go back to your real job.

  3. Act from SL Unregistered 4 months ago

    200 billion linden dollars would be over US$700m making it the biggest theft in history.. lol but surely Second Life is dead.. right? Oh and Luke, did you hear they are thinking of banning gambling too?

  4. Luke 4 months ago Staff

    Ouch. Sorry folks. We've corrected this now.... thank goodness for comments that can help me do my job properly on occasions such as this. Ahem.

  5. Matt Unregistered 4 months ago

    Great writeup guys. Kinda crazy he said he would do it again :) but I guess when push comes to shove you'll do anything in desperation. I submitted the article here
    http://gamefriends.com/cvs_view_submission.php?sid=283

  6. David Unregistered 4 months ago

    Oh man that sucks big time. I just wish that the same won't happen to our guild bank in World of Warcraft and that our banker won't screw us over. Oh wait, I am the banker. Better take care of my wow account
    then.. lol.