Former OSRS dev 'Mod Jed' gets suspended sentence for stealing player gold
A former Old School RuneScape developer who stole in-game gold and items from players has been handed a three-year suspended sentence. Cambridgeshire Police said Andrew Lakeman, known in the community as 'Mod Jed,' used his position as a content developer at Jagex to access high-value customer accounts and steal their game wealth, selling it for more than £300,000 (about $407,000) on the black market. Police said he banked over £364,829 in cash from cryptocurrency dealers.
Suspicions surfaced in May 2018 when the OSRS support team noticed suspicious account recovery activity involving valuable items and gold. The activity stopped for months, then resumed. Investigators concluded an employee was responsible because accounts were recovered using information genuine owners would be unlikely to know. An internal investigation, run without informing the wider company, traced the activity to Mod Jed's devices and home address.
Jagex dismissed him in September 2018 for gross misuse of moderator privileges without naming him. The case went to Cambridgeshire Police in 2019. Lakeman pleaded guilty and on September 3, 2026 received a three-year sentence suspended for two years at Cambridge Crown Court, plus 150 hours of unpaid work and a 25-day rehabilitation requirement. A proceeds of crime timetable is still pending.
The sentence closes a years-long case in which a trusted developer exploited insider access to loot player accounts, underscoring how game companies' internal privileges can be turned into real-world profit on gray markets.