Tan Xiaomi

THREE brothers were sentenced to jail terms of between 10 months and 10 and a half years for stealing and reselling “virtual currency” — credits used for online games, the Futian People’s Court said in a news release yesterday.

It’s one of the most severe punishments given for virtual crimes in the city’s history.

Virtual money, equivalent to 301,415 yuan (US$39,145), three computers and seven mobile phones, were seized by the police.

According to the court, the theft occurred in January last year, when the three infiltrated into the Integrated Business Support System (IBSS) operated by Guangdong Telecom’s Shenzhen branch and later stole mobile phone subscribers’ account numbers and passwords.

The accounts were either abused to purchase virtual credits through telephone shopping or resold to the public. The virtual credits were later resold to some 4,810 online buyers at a low price.

“At least 301,415 yuan was withdrawn from victims’ accounts and used to buy virtual currency QQ coins between February and April last year,” said a spokeswoman from the court.

QQ coins are credits sold by Tencent.com, an instant messaging provider with 220 million registered users nationwide, allowing customers to pay for online games and other services.

“The telecom company’s Shenzhen branch received a number of compensation claims, and had to compensate those affected,” the spokeswoman said.

The three suspects were arrested last May, and faced charges of illegal invasion of computer information systems and larceny.

The eldest brother, 30, received a 10-year-and-six-month jail term and a 10,000-yuan fine and the other two, 23 and 24 respectively, received 10 to 11-month jail terms.