Gamertell

In the old days a pirate was a seafaring thief who committed his crime at sea and at times on the shore, the first known acts of piracy took place in the 13th century B.C., but today modern day pirates sail the digital seas on the internet and siphoning the revenues of hardworking corporations through counterfeit products.

The hunt for modern day pirates live on and with the rise in demand for certain videogames and gaming consoles, these pirates ready their vessels for the opportunity to offer their counterfeit consoles and games to those consumers desperate enough to purchase the product as a substitute for the real deal.

More recently, a modern day pirate was caught in Canada selling counterfeit Xbox 360 and modified PlayStation 2 consoles as well as the games for the systems, according to a City of Richmond, BC news release.

According to the release, store owner and operator Chi Hong “Terry” Wong appeared in court on November 5, 2007 to answer the charges made against him on December 14, 2006 when the RCMP Economic and Computer Crime Unit received a search warrant to investigate Wong’s store Toy Revenge Hobbies and Entertainment Ltd., where the unit seized numerous modified gaming consoles, the equipment used for modifying the consoles and numerous counterfeit games.

The crack down on video game piracy in Canada actually started two years ago by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada who hired private investigators to search for businesses engaging in piracy and according to Danielle Parr, executive director of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, in an interview with the local Canadian news source The Province, video-game counterfeiting is growing despite DVD and CD piracy being the more popular form of piracy.

“There has to be sufficient deterrent, as opposed to just the cost of doing business,“ Parr told The Province. “There really is an impact locally in our ability to invest in the industry.“

Wong pleaded guilty to the 26 counts of fraud. According to the Richmond BC release the charges against Wong’s company were stayed but sentenced WOng to pay a $25,000 fine with forfeiture of all counterfeiting related items sized by the police during their search.

Read [The Province] News Release [Richmond, British Columbia, Canada] Site [ESA Canada]

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