Former OSRS dev 'Mod Jed' sentenced for stealing in-game gold from players

A former Old School RuneScape developer who stole in-game gold and items from players has been handed a three-year suspended sentence at Cambridge Crown Court. Andrew Lakeman, known to the community as "Mod Jed," pleaded guilty to the offences on September 3, 2026, and was also ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and complete a 25-day rehabilitation requirement, Cambridgeshire Police reported.

Jagex hired Lakeman in 2015. Suspicious account recovery activity involving valuable items surfaced in May 2018, stopped for months, then resumed. An internal investigation conducted without informing the wider company traced the activity to Lakeman's devices and home address. Jagex dismissed him in September 2018 for "gross misuse of moderator privileges" and returned items and gold to affected accounts.

Police, who took over the case in 2019, said Lakeman used his position as a content developer to access high-value accounts and sold their "game wealth" for more than £300,000 (about $407,000) on the black market. Device searches showed messages to his wife detailing plans to make money before leaving Jagex. The sources differ on the total: police cited £364,829 (about $490,000) banked from crypto dealers, while the theft proceeds were put at over £300,000.