Gamer gets account hacked, gets petty payback on lame hacker: 'The kid was [...] begging me not to call his dad '

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
May 7, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

If there's one person you don't want to mess with, it's someone who is great at technology. Of course, most hackers do not know how competent their targets are, which is why this kid got his much-deserved comeuppance after his failed attempt at taking over this other guy's video game account.

This story is also a reminder to keep your technologically talented friends in your corner, as this guy did. He and his friend were big RuneScape people in the early 2000s, so much so that their successful accounts were worth more than $5K if they chose to sell them. That success is likely what attracted this naive teenager's attempt at hacking into the account. The gamer contacted his friend when he noticed something fishy, and it did not take long for his friend to figure out who the kid was and how to get the so-called "hacker" to leave his friend alone. 

Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. When you're done, check out this post about the top mildly infuriating moments of the week!

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  • 01
    PE som
    via Fredrick Tendong
  • 02
    Young 'hacker' found his way into the wrong account and paid for it. This isn't anything spectacular but I figure some will get a kick out of it. It has been long enough I might be remembering certain things wrong but the overall story is true.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 03
    So this was back in 2002/2003ish. I was somewhat addicted to the MMORPG Runescape. I had a lot of friends but there was one friend in particular that I played with a lot.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 04
    We were both fairly invested in the game and were in the top 2000 on the leaderboards at the time. We both had well developed accounts worth enough that I was offered $5k for my account once. I suspect it was a scam attempt but it gives a vague idea of what our efforts might have been worth if we'd decided to sell our accounts.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 05
    One morning I log into... I think it was MSN Messenger that we talked on most of the time, and my friend is very upset as his main account was hacked into. Weak password, keylogger, someone he trusted betrayed him: I don't know.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 06
    However it happened he couldn't get in. Worse, the person who did it managed to get his contact information and was taunting him over chat, threatening him and trying to bl him.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 07
    I was enraged and after about 2 hours of convincing he finally agreed to give me the contact info of this person so I could talk to them. I'm no tech genius but I know a few tricks my friend didn't and was too upset to learn at the time.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 08
    I don't remember if it was from Runescape or MSN but I got the person's IP address, and the whois tool to look up IP addresses was something I'd used a few times. So while I start into this person I'm also looking them up. I know there's only so much information I can get but it's worth a try.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 09
    It's very quickly clear I'm speaking to a kid. Maybe 10 at the very youngest, more likely 14-16 range.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 10
    And he's so c it was unbelievable. Just before whois spits out his details he says his dad is a cop and he's immune to anything. But then whois gives me a Police Department in a town in California as the source of the address. I'd never seen so specific information before but I wasn't about to question it. I'd expected to get the region and use that but now I had a golden ticket to victory. It took all of 30 seconds
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 11
    before the kid was totally freaking out and begging me not to call his dad as I rattled out his home town and where his dad worked. I couldn't just call his dad even knowing the police department location (no long distance on my phone at the time) but he didn't know that.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 12
    An hour later my friend had his account back. With bonus gifts. The kid was transfering items and gold around and all my friends' gold was gone, but I guess my timing was awesome because there was 10x the value of the missing gold in items that he gained in exchange.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 13
    My friend and I played for another year or two before moving on.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 14
    Distdistdist 1 day ago Most excellent work! 1.1k ☐ Reply Share
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 15
    TheVaneja OP. 1 day ago Thank you!
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 16
    shesinsaneornot 1 day ago Petty revenge with a side of justice (friend's account was restored, with apology gifts). Well done!
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 17
    TheVaneja OP. 1 day ago I was super tickled when he listed all the stuff he found it was awesome. Thanks!
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 18
    Beginning-Record-908. 1 day ago Dont think its petty, you did a solid both to your friend and even the hacker by teaching him a lesson. Well done
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 19
    Dranask 1 day ago Also hope OP's friend was more technically secure moving forward.
    via u/TheVaneja
  • 20
    TheVaneja OP 1 day ago Me too. As far as I know he was never a victim of it again, though we haven't spoken much in the last few years. I did give him a bit of a lecture on the subject afterwards lol.
    via u/TheVaneja

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petty-revenge-reddit runescape kids friends petty revenge hacked hacked irl reddit thread video games Reddit payback
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