Gold Farmer Sues Over Stolen Real-Life Gold

[Andy Chalk]

Gold Farmer Sues Over Stolen Real-Life Gold

A woman in Australia who used her World of Warcraft [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B002I0HKIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298484963&sr=8-1] gold farming profits to buy real gold bullion is suing her insurance company for refusing to pay up after it was stolen.

Kristina Fincham was a very successful gold farmer in World of Warcraft, operating a business mining virtual gold and then selling it to other players for real cash. So successful, in fact, that she was able to buy 74 bars of real gold bullion worth roughly $74,500 with the proceeds. It seems a bit bizarre but all was apparently well until March 2008, when the gold was stolen from her home.

But Fincham's insurance company refused to pay up for the loss because it claimed the whole thing was staged in order to cash in on the policy. "Ms. Fincham was not covered for any loss caused by, or arising from, fraud or fraudulent means used by her or anyone acting on her behalf," the company said.

The insurance company wouldn't budge, so Fincham filed a lawsuit seeking $75,000. A trial date will be set in May and lawyers for both sides say the case is expected to make it to trial because neither side is likely to settle.

What's the lesson here? Well, gold farming pays, for one thing, and gold, as pointed out by a reader at the Gamer/Law blog [http://www.gamerlaw.co.uk/2011/02/wow-gold-farmer-buys-real-gold-loses-it.html?showComment=1298476490891#c6359149904474100325], is a solid investment. But I think lesson number three is the one we should all take to heart: don't pile up your big stash of solid gold bars in the laundry room. That's just asking for trouble.

Source: Adelaide Now [http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-trial-delves-into-fantasy-world-of-video-games/story-e6frea83-1226011012149]


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[TheRightToArmBears]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

 

[olfelix]

Rarely does a story make me go "huh?". But this one certainly does... here has to be an appropriate Xzibit "we heard you like gold, so we?" joke in here somewhere...

 

[uppitycracker]

the irony.... oh, the wonderful, wicked irony....

 

[luvd1]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

To build into a throne with cup holder for your champagne flute carved from solid diamond so you can watch your washing go round in the dryer of cause.

 

[Idlemessiah]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

Because gold bullion is quite literally currency, the meaning behind the little bits of paper you buy stuff with.

I hope she gets her money. Thats a lot of loot to lose.

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I think I was the most surprised when I learned she was actually successful at gold farming. I mean first of all, isn't that straight out illegal? Secondly, it seems like mostly it doesn't pay that well for a lot of time and effort.

After that, she bought REAL gold? I don't even know what to say, something about comic books or fort knox... whatever.

 

[Iwana Humpalot]

Oh my, that golf-farming apparently pays off really well. Maybe i should start it too?
But really, why would you buy gold as a normal person? For me it seems like the whole robbing thing could have been staged. Still a pretty funny story though.

 

[randommaster]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

Gold retains it's value over time because there's a (relatively) fixed amount of it. Whatever one pound of gold will buy you today is what it will buy you in fifty years while your casj has become less valuable because of inflation.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

Gold retains it's value over time because there's a (relatively) fixed amount of it. Whatever one pound of gold will buy you today is what it will buy you in fifty years while your casj has become less valuable because of inflation.

Well I suppose that makes sense, but I do wonder why she didn't do what everyone else does and put it in a Swiss bank vault like everyone else, or something to that effect.

 

[Catalyst6]

I'm confused.

Why would anyone buy gold bullion? It seems so pointless.

Gold tends to increase in value, or at least stay constant. This is different from stocks and currency, of course, which can fluctuate wildly over short periods of time.

OT: So, I'm supposed to feel sorry for her? There are gold farmers we're talking about.

I do kind of laugh when thinking about the guy that robbed her. It's not every day that you break into someone's house and find solid gold bars. He must have about fainted.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Wait... Ain't the whole "Selling gold to people over the internet" illegal or atleast again Blizzard's terms?

 

[godofallu]

Gold Farmers are a strange breed.

On the one hand they sell you gold so you can literally just pay off boring grind times that for some reason must exist in MMO games(aside from GW).

On the other hand they create about 50 bots that just mine gold and inflate/ruin ingame economies all day/week/month/year long.

I guess I just wonder if she did fraud her insurance or not.

 

[sunburst]

Does the insurance company have any actual evidence that fraudulent activity has occurred or is this just a standard case of douchebaggery? With the payout so high, there's no doubt in my mind that an insurance company would try to dismiss the claim even if it were totally legitimate. But she could be running a con so I'll need more concrete information before I consider demonizing anyone. Either side could be in the wrong.

 

[coldfrog]

I think I was the most surprised when I learned she was actually successful at gold farming. I mean first of all, isn't that straight out illegal? Secondly, it seems like mostly it doesn't pay that well for a lot of time and effort.

After that, she bought REAL gold? I don't even know what to say, something about comic books or fort knox... whatever.

Gold farming isn't illegal, but it is against the terms of service. Admitting this could allow Blizzard to ban her account.

On the other hand, stealing other peoples' accounts and using them as bots to harvest gold - well, that IS illegal. Of course, it's not necessarily the case that every gold farmer does this, but they're already shady, so I'm not willing to trust that they haven't. Therefore, I kind of hope she doesn't get her money. Unless she really had it stolen and isn't a jerk. In which case, good luck to her!

 

[bushwhacker2k]

I think I was the most surprised when I learned she was actually successful at gold farming. I mean first of all, isn't that straight out illegal? Secondly, it seems like mostly it doesn't pay that well for a lot of time and effort.

After that, she bought REAL gold? I don't even know what to say, something about comic books or fort knox... whatever.

Gold farming isn't illegal, but it is against the terms of service. Admitting this could allow Blizzard to ban her account.

On the other hand, stealing other peoples' accounts and using them as bots to harvest gold - well, that IS illegal. Of course, it's not necessarily the case that every gold farmer does this, but they're already shady, so I'm not willing to trust that they haven't. Therefore, I kind of hope she doesn't get her money. Unless she really had it stolen and isn't a jerk. In which case, good luck to her!

I see, that makes sense.

I'm half and half. Half of me wants her to get back her stolen property, the other half thinks she probably deserved it for spending money on gold bars (what is she, a super villain?).

 

[Zarmi]

I hope she gets the money back. She earned that money after all. This case isn't different than if someone stole $75.000 from another person. Couldn't care less if she was a gold farmer or not. I'm just surprised people are dumb enough to actually buy virtual gold.

Edit: And with the way the current economy of the USA, and the currency of the dollar is not exactly stable. Buying gold is actually a pretty smart choice.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Storing ~$75 000 worth of gold in one's own house is daft. I mean, really... this is why we have banks. (Besides, if one is going to hoard gold the traditional manner is to bury it in the back-yard.)

Maybe I'm biased against gold farmers, but even setting aside the means she used to buy that gold I can definitely see an insurance company thinking this is pretty dodgey. (I wonder if she kept the purchase receipt for the bullion, and what the police report she must've filed said.) Bullion is a pretty good choice for insurance fraud, seeing that it can be melted down and made absolutely untraceable very easily.

-- Steve

 

[Wolfram23]

Pretty sure she's an idiot if she didn't have a nice big safe bolted to her floor to store all that gold. Otherwise, maybe the insurance company is right and she's being fraudulent...

And if she's officially a gold farmer/seller... maybe Blizz needs to get involved and stop her operations lol. Also, I wonder if she's paying her taxes on all that bullion...

Finally, I really really wish I had given gold selling a try before I quit. I had so much... it was so easy... bleh!