Overview
- Andrew Lakeman, a former Jagex content developer, abused account‑recovery tools to take high‑value player gold and items beginning in mid‑2018.
- Jagex ran a covert internal sting that traced the breaches to Lakeman’s devices and home, after which the company dismissed him and reported the matter to fraud investigators.
- Lakeman was arrested in July 2019 and later pleaded guilty to unauthorised computer access, theft by employee and criminal property offences.
- He was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court to a three‑year term suspended for two years with 150 hours of unpaid work and a 25‑day rehabilitation requirement after pleading guilty on September 3.
- Investigators say Lakeman banked more than £364,829 through crypto‑linked buyers and a Proceeds of Crime timetable to recover funds runs until February 2027, with the Court of Appeal earlier this year confirming that OSRS gold counts as legal property.