FBI and NCSoft drop the hammer on Lineage II pirates

FBI Warning

Games publisher NCSoft just informed the public yesterday that they, together with the FBI, have successfully shut down an illegal game operation (L2Extreme.com) which provided Lineage II subscribers a fraudulent service and code for the popular MMORPG.

L2Extreme was apparently downloading Lineage II directly from NCSoft’s official servers, allegedly costing nearly a million dollars in bandwidth during its operation. Raids by the FBI spanned across the U.S. from California to as far as Virginia. Many properties were seized from the group running L2Extreme. The FBI stated that L2Extreme had around 50,00 active users, but they would not pursue those as NCsoft’s Director of North America said they were “more interested in the people operating and profiting from the endeavour.”

The FBI sure gave a clear warning for potential pirates, reminding people that criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by law. And punishment means up to five years in prison as well as a fine of $ 250,000. The above image might not look very pretty, but its what a site shut down by the FBI looks like.

FBI Warning

Games publisher NCSoft just informed the public yesterday that they, together with the FBI, have successfully shut down an illegal game operation (L2Extreme.com) which provided Lineage II subscribers a fraudulent service and code for the popular MMORPG.

L2Extreme was apparently downloading Lineage II directly from NCSoft’s official servers, allegedly costing nearly a million dollars in bandwidth during its operation. Raids by the FBI spanned across the U.S. from California to as far as Virginia. Many properties were seized from the group running L2Extreme. The FBI stated that L2Extreme had around 50,00 active users, but they would not pursue those as NCsoft’s Director of North America said they were “more interested in the people operating and profiting from the endeavour.”

The FBI sure gave a clear warning for potential pirates, reminding people that criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by law. And punishment means up to five years in prison as well as a fine of $ 250,000. The above image might not look very pretty, but its what a site shut down by the FBI looks like.

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