Virtual Pet Fish Commits Credit Card Fraud While Playing Video Game

 A virtual pet fish stole the money of a Japanese gamer and YouTuber Mutekimaru during a YouTube live stream.

The virtual pet fish accessed the gamer’s credit card and took control of his eShop account, according to Techspot. The entire Nintendo Switch game was a test to check if the pet fish could navigate through Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in an unassisted way. In order to achieve this, a camera monitoring the fish’s movements was connected to the computer, the outlet reported.

The incident occurred when Mutekimaru temporarily left the stream, the outlet noted. The game went on until the 1,144th hour when it crashed, allowing the system to register inputs from the fish. 

The Japanese YouTuber already did this experiment in 2020 when the pet fish completed Pokemon Sapphire in approximately 3,195 hours, Techspot noted. Tech company Nintendo refunded the almost £3 ($4) Mutekimaru lost. However, the fish initially stole just over £5 ($6), the Daily Star noted.

Several gamers saw this event as an opportunity to take advantage of the YouTuber’s account, the outlet said. They put up a new avatar, acquired a Nintendo 64 emulator app, and attempted to create a Paypal account, according to the Daily Star. However, it never went beyond the confirmation of the user’s email address, according to the outlet.