Humza Bajwa, 19, faces a 15 year sentence after using a replica gun to rob another player of 4.7 billion Runescape coins.
According to the New York Post,Bajwa had offered $3,300 to Jonathan Dokler for the in-game currency. Rather than process the transaction online, Dokler had his friend David Emani meet with Bajwa to check the money was real before he transferred the funds fromhis Runescape account to Bajwa’s.
They first metat a library inNew York’sFordham Universityon July 11th. Emani, who was communicating with Dokler by phone,suspected Bajwa was trying to cheat Doklerbecause he was”transferring money from one envelope to another envelope,” said Emani,”and I got a glimpse of it and it looked fake,”but Dokler insisted that Emani meet with Bajwa again the next night and try again.
At this second meeting, where Bajwa again brought fake notes,Emani confirmed the deception by comparing them to a real $100 bill he had brought with him, Bajwa threatened Emani with a BB gun. He forced Emani to tell Dokler to transfer the Runescape funds to Bajwa’s account. After the robbery the two friends contacted the police and with CCTV evidence Bajwa was arrested on the 24th Julyon a charge of second-degree robbery.
If convicted, Bajwa faces a 15 year prison sentence.
Jagex, like most other MMOs, prohibit real money transactions for in-game items/currency.