Three French Teens Arrested for Stealing Games in Japan

[Logan Frederick]

Three French Teens Arrested for Stealing Games in Japan

Three international students stole one million yen in games, tried to fight the law, and the Japanese law won.

Moving to Japan from France to continue their educational studies, a trio of sixteen year-olds traveled to the Akihabara district of Tokyo to do some post-holiday shoplifting. On 18 different days since November, the three teenagers stole 92 games and seven consoles from retailer Sofmap. They then turned around and resold the products for over one million yen ($100,000).

They could've perhaps gotten away with the thefts if they hadn't tried to resell the stolen goods using fake college IDs on their last trip to a different store - also owned by Sofmap.

After being caught by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the kids revealed they were stealing to have as much spending money as their wealthy classmates.

"Stealing is simple in Japan," commented one student. "Japanese people shouldn't be so easily trusting of people."

Source: NIKKEI [http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/shakai/20090304AT1G0401L04032009.html] via Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5164049/three-french-teens-arrested-in-akihabara-for-stealing-games-and-consoles], JapanProbe [http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=9116]

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[Angelic-Dragon]

That is sad... and stupid

 

[minarri]

What a bad idea. Still, they do bring up the point that it would be extremely easy to steal in this country; people leave things unattended quite frequently. Why you would steal is beyond me though. It's kids like that who give foreigners a bad rap.

 

[VashtaNerada]

what happened to them after they got caught? are they now in a Japanese prison?

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

oh god....japanese prison? they ain't coming out sane.

 

[N_of_the_dead]

What a bad idea. Still, they do bring up the point that it would be extremely easy to steal in this country; people leave things unattended quite frequently. Why you would steal is beyond me though. It's kids like that who give foreigners a bad rap.

and thats why i hope the three kids get screwed over bad in court, would they be sent france to for their punishment (im thinking jail time since its so much) or would they get reprimanded in Japan?

 

[DoomDispenser]

Not only did they steal, but what a poor motive. Having as much money as your friends is such a weak excuse. A message to any and all thieves out there: Get a job.

 

[Trivun]

Given that this was both technology theft (sort of), and in Japan, do they get the death penalty?

 

[oliveira8]

They minors so they wont be trialed in Japan...also they foreigners so most likely they would get deported and have a trial in France anyway.

And they will probably have their passaport locked so they cant leave the country for sometime.

 

[The Gardener]

Amateurs. Honestly, their eficency and creativity is impressive, but their ridiculous use of REAL IDs is bloody ridiculous.

 

[Baby Tea]

"Stealing is simple in Japan," commented one student. "Japanese people shouldn't be so easily trusting of people."

Yeah, heaven forbid that people DON'T act like selfish little insecure pricks.
And if stealing is so simple there, then I guess you only proved how much of an idiot you are by getting caught.

Have fun in jail, you morons.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think you have a typo, 1Million yen = $10'000 as oppposed to $100'000

Anyways, what a dumb thing to do. On the other hand, Japanese prison probably won't be too... oh wait, Japanese prison... oh dear...

 

[dalek sec]

"Stealing is simple in Japan," commented one student. "Japanese people shouldn't be so easily trusting of people."

Yeah, heaven forbid that people DON'T act like selfish little insecure pricks.
And if stealing is so simple there, then I guess you only proved how much of an idiot you are by getting caught.

Have fun in jail, you morons.

Pretty much this, nice one Logan.

 

[scotth266]

Wow, way to improve the Japanese veiws of foreigners. Oh well, this group of people is a load of idiots.
It's stuff like this that makes it so I can't get hardware out of those impenetrable plastic packages, as well as putting up with security stickers and the like.

 

[LifeSarcastic]

I didn't think stupidity on this level existed. They stole stuff so they could sell it and have spending money like other people. What were they gonna buy that costs that much? I hope the Japanese law system gets to have its way with these kids. They deserve it.

 

[PieMaker]

What were they gonna buy that costs that much?

stuff is REALLY expensive in tokyo, still not a reason to steal.

 

[jebussaves88]

They're calling the japanese "too trusting" as if it's a bad thing? How dare they generalise about a whole nation. Stupid French.





jk

 

[Milkman Dan]

What were they gonna buy that costs that much?

Video games, of course!

Oh wait...