Identity theft victims to sue NCsoft

Lawyers in South Korea have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of more than 230,000 victims of identity theft in an online game.

The suit will claim damages of about $1,000 for each plaintiff whose identity was used to register new accounts in NCsoft's popular games, Lineage and Lineage 2, according to media reports. 

Most of the identify thefts took place over the past six months as underground gaming syndicates stole victims' official Korean ID numbers in hacking attacks and used them to register hundreds of thousands of Lineage accounts.

As reported last week by vnunet.com, the new accounts were then 'farmed' by low paid workers in Chinese gaming sweatshops to generate 'gold' and other game-world items that could be sold for real world cash.

NCsoft has claimed that it registered the bogus accounts in good faith, and has denied responsibility for the initial theft of ID numbers that made the crime possible.

As well as Lineage, which claims millions of players worldwide, NCsoft operates popular games like City of Heroes, City of Villains and Guild Wars in Europe and the US, and plans to release the much-anticipated Auto Assault this summer. 

The company earned pre-tax profits of $86m last year on revenue of $346m. Staff who answered a call to NCsoft's office in Seoul declined to identify themselves or to comment on the identity theft case.

Korea wins on game exports

Early investment in broadband makes country a world leader in games  20 Dec 2005

Korea becoming a nation of phone junkies

Addicted teens suffer stress and hallucinations, mobile phone research finds  06 Dec 2005

Online games go free in China

Falling income forces revenue model switch  30 Nov 2005

China cracks down on online games

Developers redesigning games to satisfy new regulations on playing time and age restrictions  04 Nov 2005

Huge surge in ID theft using spyware

Volume of spyware with a criminal intent doubling every month  16 Sep 2005

Hackers rob online gamers

Game cheating reaches a new low  22 Aug 2005

Group to tackle ID theft

Liberty Alliance, a global consortium promoting federated network identity management, last week announced the formation of a new group to combat identity theft.  20 Jun 2005

NCSoft City of Heroes

Strap on your latex bodysuit and take on the world  30 Mar 2005

ID theft cons UK public out of £1.3bn

Quarter of UK adults hit by online scammers, finds Which? poll  04 Mar 2005

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