Police in Japan have arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of selling illegally modified Pokémon save data to customers online — a practice which is banned under the country’s 2019 Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
As reported by the Japanese website NHK News, and translated by Automaton, the suspect was apprehended by police on April 9 after a ‘police cyber patrol’ discovered evidence that the individual had used special tools to illegally modify save data for Pokémon Violet in order to change Pokémon move sets.A 36-year-old man was arrest for selling illegally modified Pokemon save data.
The 36-year-old allegedly took custom orders for rare Pokémon, and sold the resulting tampered data between December 2022 to March 2023, for up to 13,000 yen ($84) a time on a website that served as a marketplace for video game assets and items. He also offered deals in which six Pokémon would be created for the equivalent of roughly $30 in yen.
The 36-year-old has reportedly admitted to committing the crimes at the heart of the ongoing investigation, while providing the justification that he did it to earn a living. According to Automaton, the suspect could face up to five years imprisonment, and/or a fine of up to 5 million yen (over $32,600).
This isn’t the first time that criminals have sought to make money off of Game Freak’s wildly popular franchise. For example, In 2021 an ill-fated Pokemon card heist saw one desperate man attempt to descend from a six-story building in order to steal a treasure trove of trading cards and cash from a Tokyo store.
2022 saw the trend continue, with criminals in Tokyo committing a series of high-value Pokemon burglaries, including one instance in which theives made off with a haul of cards worth over $60,000. Its worth noting that the raw last for Pokemon — and the trouble it can land you in — is felt well beyond the criminal fraternity. As a case in point January 2022 saw two Los Angeles police officers fired after they ignored a call to attend a burglary in order to chase down a Snorlax in Pokemon Go.
While you’re here why not take a moment to check out IGN’s ranking of the top 10 best pokemon video games of all time, or discover which Pokemon our readers have crowned as the very best of all time in our 2021 face off.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
