18-Year-Old Modern Warfare 2 Pirate Was Arrested


Recommended Posts

There are a lot of games that end up on the market well before their official release dates and there's nothing the publishers and developers can do at this point but accept the fact and deal with the losses. Well, Activision will have none of that and has decided to take a hands-on approach on the smuggling business. When an ad for several Modern Warfare 2 Xbox 360 bundles surfaced on Craigslist, the company decided to contact a private investigation firm to deal with the matter.

IPCybercrime.com, the Dallas-based firm, responded to the ad and requested to purchase said bundles, but also spotted another ad. The seller claimed to be a stock boy for a major game retailer and the two ads were put together by the company when the two suppliers of pirated Modern Warfare 2 copies were found to be related via a social network. The private eyes relayed the information to Activison that confronted the two ?dealers,? whom, faced with reality, decided to give the games back to the retailer's loss-prevention staff.

What was a narrow escape for these two was a bit of a more dramatic scenario for Christian Del Amo. The investigators found one of his posts on an Xbox piracy forum, in which he asked people to donate him the funds to purchase one of those ?early? MW2 bundles. What would seem like simple naivety quickly turned into insidious intentions, as he claimed that he would need the copy in order to crack it and redistribute it online.

IPCybercrime tracked his e-mail address to a Facebook account, from where it obtained his cellphone number and found out what the 18-year-old's name was. The police department was contacted and it put together a sting to apprehend the young man. The game was delivered by an intermediate that eventually led it back to Del Amo. He was arrested and is currently held in the Miami Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. This wasn't his first incident regarding piracy, as he was known to have sold modded, 250GB Xbox 360 hard drives pre-loaded with some 125 hacked games. Even with its incisive actions, Activision wasn't able to keep Modern Warfare 2 from reaching the net, and, apparently, the Xbox 360 version is already available on several torrent sites.[/Sourceurce : Softpedia

activision in their failed attempt....first they **** of their loyal pc fans then they try to go all "RIAA" on everyone...can't wait to see what they do when someone cracks iwnet in the new game

Why is it fail?

When people sell illegal copies of disc I think it's totally fare to take legal action.

Pirate is a bit of a misleading term in this article if you ask me. They were legitimate copies, they just happen to be stolen from a retailer. Pirating generally tends to suggest an illegitimate copy, rather than an official boxed one. Bit of FUD if you ask me.

Pirate is a bit of a misleading term in this article if you ask me. They were legitimate copies, they just happen to be stolen from a retailer. Pirating generally tends to suggest an illegitimate copy, rather than an official boxed one. Bit of FUD if you ask me.

I agree and whatever he did was retarded. Specially posting this in Craigslist... :no:

Thanks Activision for giving me another reason to not buy MW2.

what? why? because they busted some idiot teen who wanted to make a buck out of illegal copies? what harm has been done to you that you decided not to buy the game?

TBH, I don't believe you were ever going to buy it...

People complaining about Activision taking action are either retards or repeatedly pirate games.

Maybe both.

Give me a break. This kid is clearly a moron, but he doesn't deserve to go to jail for what he did.

what? why? because they busted some idiot teen who wanted to make a buck out of illegal copies? what harm has been done to you that you decided not to buy the game?

TBH, I don't believe you were ever going to buy it...

He didn't want to make a buck off illegal copies. That was a separate incident involving different people. He just wanted to get donations so he could buy it and share it online.

Pirate is a bit of a misleading term in this article if you ask me. They were legitimate copies, they just happen to be stolen from a retailer. Pirating generally tends to suggest an illegitimate copy, rather than an official boxed one. Bit of FUD if you ask me.
What was a narrow escape for these two was a bit of a more dramatic scenario for Christian Del Amo. The investigators found one of his posts on an Xbox piracy forum, in which he asked people to donate him the funds to purchase one of those ?early? MW2 bundles. What would seem like simple naivety quickly turned into insidious intentions, as he claimed that he would need the copy in order to crack it and redistribute it online.

IPCybercrime tracked his e-mail address to a Facebook account, from where it obtained his cellphone number and found out what the 18-year-old's name was. The police department was contacted and it put together a sting to apprehend the young man. The game was delivered by an intermediate that eventually led it back to Del Amo. He was arrested and is currently held in the Miami Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. This wasn't his first incident regarding piracy, as he was known to have sold modded, 250GB Xbox 360 hard drives pre-loaded with some 125 hacked games. Even with its incisive actions, Activision wasn't able to keep Modern Warfare 2 from reaching the net, and, apparently, the Xbox 360 version is already available on several torrent sites.

Thats the piracy part.

Actually I am surpirsed that if he was known for selling modded 250G Hard drives with 125 hacked games on it, he wasn't already in deep trouble. He probably was on probation, and the MW2 thing was the final straw.

the title makes it sound like he downloaded it an then a swat team arrived...

what actually happend is he physically PAID for stollen goods and then took money for doing this on the understanding he was going to copy and re distribute the thing!

i'd hardly compare it to downloading a copy for personal use.... not that thats ok either...

So you think that the guy who pirated the game did the right thing? I think he is just another idiot.

Well let me clarify. I do not agree with intellectual property rights, so piracy is a non-issue for me, though I do avoid it not for moral reasons but just to avoid the consequences.

That said, I am completely against real theft, such as a stock worker stealing copies as described, that is both stupid and wrong. So I would agree, he is just another idiot, but he is not the one trying to sell me a game, so I have little else to comment on him.

Now lets consider Activision, from what I gathered the copies were stolen form a retailer, not Activision itself. I'm assuming Activision was already paid for these copies, and lost nothing but the IP argument of the "potential sale" via the copying that would ensue after the theft (which can just as easily happen with any legally obtained copy). That to me seems like the only reason they got involved was to publicly make an example of piracy, not theft.

Now when the company is spending it's resources on private detectives for the sake of making an anti-piracy scare tactic instead of spending it on resources to make their product better, I will be critical of them and I won't buy their product.

**actually reads the article** he wasn't a "real" pirate

He's a real pirate or he's being accused of being one. The original copies were real but supposedly he wanted them for the sake of copying them.

I am against theft and for copying.

I don't blame Activision at all for protecting their work in these situations. Violating the release date is serious business with games nowadays and the guy in the story should have known that. What irks me most about the release date breakers is not the piracy aspect of it but that the endings of a game could get given away before people have played the game. I could care less how a person gets a game or when just don't spoil it for me before I get to play it lol.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Apple raises MacBook and iPad prices as memory costs surge by Karthik Mudaliar Apple has raised the U.S. prices of several MacBook and iPad models, including the MacBook Neo, which it launched for $599 less than four months ago. The company’s cheapest laptop now starts at $699, while some MacBook Pro configurations have increased by $300. The changes affect the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. Apple has not changed the hardware or storage included with these models, so customers are simply paying more for the same configurations. Here is how the new US pricing compares with the previous starting prices: Product Previous price New price Increase MacBook Neo $599 $699 $100 13-inch MacBook Air, 512GB $1,099 $1,299 $200 14-inch MacBook Pro, 1TB $1,699 $1,999 $300 16-inch MacBook Pro $2,699 $2,999 $300 11-inch iPad Air, 128GB $599 $749 $150 13-inch iPad Air, 128GB $799 $949 $150 11-inch iPad Pro, 256GB $999 $1,199 $200 13-inch iPad Pro, 256GB $1,299 $1,499 $200 The updated prices are already appearing on Apple’s U.S. online store. The MacBook Neo increase will probably attract the most attention. Apple introduced the laptop in March for $599, pitching it as a more affordable Mac for students and buyers considering Windows laptops or Chromebooks. It uses an A18 Pro processor and originally undercut Dell’s new $699 XPS 13 by $100. Following the increase, the two laptops now have the same starting price. The M5 MacBook Air has also lost the price Apple promoted when it launched in March. The 13-inch model arrived with 512GB of storage for $1,099, while Apple’s store now lists the MacBook Air range as starting at $1,299. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip and 1TB of storage has gone from $1,699 to $1,999. Apple has made similar changes to its iPads. The recently released M4 iPad Air, which launched at the same $599 starting price as its predecessor, now starts at $749 for the 11-inch version. The 13-inch version has risen from $799 to $949. The iPad Pro increases are larger in dollar terms. Apple’s 11-inch M5 iPad Pro now starts at $1,199, up from $999, while the 13-inch version has moved from $1,299 to $1,499. Both base models still include 256GB of storage. Apple blamed the increases on the rapidly rising cost of DRAM and NAND flash, which provide system memory and device storage. The company told Reuters that it had tried to shield customers from the increases but could no longer absorb them. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” Apple said. Tim Cook had already warned that price increases were coming. Cook said Apple’s existing component inventory had softened the immediate impact, but that higher memory costs would increasingly affect the company after the June quarter. Much of the pressure comes from the construction of AI data centers. Memory manufacturers are directing more production toward high-margin server products, leaving PC, tablet, and smartphone makers competing for the remaining supply. Apple has not said whether the new prices are temporary or whether further increases are planned. For now, the changes show that even Apple’s purchasing power has not been enough to keep the AI-driven memory shortage away from consumer devices.
    • Ventoy 1.1.16 is out.
    • This is a none story - these low volume Chinese models will always get new experimental features first because Apple and Samsung can't produce them in huge volume to meet demand.
    • Nvidia GeForce NOW gains support for Dark Scrolls, Empulse, and more by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe The final update of June for Nvidia's cloud gaming service GeForce NOW is now available, and it is touting support for six more games. The company is also drawing subscriber attention towards the summer sales kicking off across stores, so they can stock up on more cloud-supported titles. Of course, the Steam Summer Sale is the biggest promotion, which is kicking off later today. "Supported Steam games can be streamed across devices with GeForce NOW, making it easy to buy a game once, keep progress synced and pick up where the gameplay left off on PCs, Macs, handheld devices, phones, TVs and more," says the company. "In other words, the Steam Summer Sale brings the deals; GeForce NOW adds the flexibility." Don't forget that the GeForce NOW summer sale is still active as well. This limited-time offer drops the 12-month Performance membership from $99.99 to $64.99, saving members $35. At the same time, the 12-month Ultimate membership is currently going for $129.99, dropping the price by $70 from the original $199.99. Here are the games joining GeForce NOW's supported list this week: Dark Scrolls (New release on Steam, available June 22) SAND: Raiders of Sophie (New release on Steam, available June 22) Deer & Boy (New release on Steam, available June 23) EMPULSE (New release on Steam, available June 24) The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales (Steam) FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves (Steam) With the June expansions coming to an end, Nvidia should be announcing its July GeForce NOW plans next week. Keep in mind that, unlike subscription services like Game Pass or EA Play, a copy of a game must be owned by the GeForce NOW member (or at least have a license via PC Game Pass) to start playing via Nvidia's cloud servers. There is also a limit to how many hours subscribers can use the service per month.
    • Davinci Resolve 21.0.1 by Razvan Serea DaVinci Resolve is the world’s only solution that combines editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics and audio post production all in one software tool! Its elegant, modern interface is fast to learn and easy for new users, yet powerful for professionals. DaVinci Resolve lets you work faster and at a higher quality because you don’t have to learn multiple apps or switch software for different tasks. That means you can work with camera original quality images throughout the entire process. It’s like having your own post production studio in a single app! Best of all, by learning DaVinci Resolve, you’re learning how to use the exact same tools used by Hollywood professionals! DaVinci Resolve is the only post production software designed for true collaboration. Multiple editors, assistants, colorists, VFX artists and sound designers can all work on the same project at the same time! Whether you’re an individual artist, or part of a larger collaborative team, it’s easy to see why DaVinci Resolve is the standard for high end post production and is used for finishing more Hollywood feature films, episodic television programing and TV commercials than any other software. Davinci Resolve 21.0.1 release notes: Addressed multiple DNG and Apple ProRAW color issues. Addressed issue with automatic smart bins after deleting keywords. Addressed issue with multiple linked audio in media management. Addressed multiple Resolve FX issues in photo page. Addressed issue with key shortcut to switch viewer in photo page. More consistent creation of new photo albums. Addressed color thumbnail refresh for photo transform indicator. Transcription now honors project settings language. Improved face recognition in IntelliSearch. Addressed exported bins not retaining generator and title properties. Addressed ease control display and sensitivity issues. Addressed keyframe issue when copying clips with Fusion effects. Addressed keyframe refresh for Fusion effects in the edit page. Addressed issue with 3D renders in Linux with non-English locales. Addressed Fusion viewer color issue for some RCM settings. Addressed issue with saturation limits in Fusion gradient controls. Addressed Fusion display issues with dual screen layouts. Addressed issue with non-English character inputs in Linux. Disabling MultiMaster now disables trim blanking controls. Addressed crash in some scenarios with CineFocus. Addressed lag when toggling bypass grades and Fusion effects. Addressed occasional issue with Fairlight loudness meters. Addressed data burn display of good take tag in upgraded projects. Addressed project manager scroll lag for large project libraries. Support for Sony Alpha 7R VI ARW RAW stills. Support for decoding Affinity RGB 16-bit formats. Addressed a color issue with MainConcept H.265 HDR renders. Addressed a color issue with Windows native H.265 HDR renders. RemoveMotionBlur API now uses correct encode parameters. Addressed character limit consistency in GenerateSpeech API. General performance and stability improvements. Download page: Davinci Resolve 21.0.1 | 3300 MB (Free, paid upgrade available) Links: DaVinci Resolve Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      kinowa earned a badge
      First Post
    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      463
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      171
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      134
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      77
    5. 5
      Xenon
      77
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!