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Hacker charged with fraud after 'stealing' in-game FIFA currency

A US man is standing trial for mining in-game FIFA currency and reselling it for millions of dollars.

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Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
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Michelle Starr
fifagame.jpg

Promotional image for the game FIFA Ultimate Team.

 Electronic Arts

A US man is facing felony wire fraud charges for the theft of digital currency from game developer Electronic Arts. According to an FBI indictment, Anthony Clark and his co-defendants are being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud for "stealing" in-game currency in multiplayer football game FIFA Ultimate Team for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

The indictment details that Clark and three others, named as Ricky Miller, Nicholas Castellucci and Eaton Zveare, members of hacking group RANE Developments, designed an app using the game's source code and developer kit.

This app fraudulently told EA's servers that thousands of matches had been completed in the game. These completion reports were rewarded with FIFA coins, which the group sold to what the FBI called "black market" coin dealers. Between them, the group earned $15-$18 million.

The FBI seized a home in California, over $3 million from several accounts listed under the names of all four defendants, and several cars. Miller pleaded guilty to the charges against him in October 2015, Kotaku reports.