So what happens when you commit grand theft in a virtual world? You go to jail, of course.

In what has to be one of the first cases of its kind, a Dutch 17 year is being charged with the theft of $4000 euros worth of furniture in the virtual social network Habbo Hotel. This furniture was purchased by other users with real currency.

On the surface this might sound silly (because it is), but you have to remember that there was some real malicious intent on the part of this virtual burglar.

According to the BBC, he lured unsuspecting Habbo Hotel users into giving over their passwords by putting up fake sites to phish their passwords.

It’s hard to understand why anyone would pay nearly $8,000 dollars for virtual furniture, but who am I to judge? One way or another, the accused will have plenty of time to consider his next cyber-caper from inside a local jail.

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