Dina Bader: Japanese police arrest Pokémon Sword and Shield hacker

The hacker generated Pokémon and charged a fee.

What you need to know

Japanese police arrested 23-year-old Kazuki Kawamatsu for violating the Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Act.
Kawamatsu generated Pokémon on his jailbroken Nintendo Switch on a made-to-order basis and charged a fee to send them to others.
His profits amounted to just shy of $11,000 in less than one year.

Media outlet Game Watch recently reported that a 23-year-old man named Kazuki Kawamatsu was arrested in Nagoya, Japan, according to a translated report by Siliconera. Kawamastu, who is unemployed, jailbroke his Nintendo Switch back in 2020 and offered a service in which he generated hacked Pokémon and charged a fee to distribute them to those who requested the digital monsters.

Kawamatsu charged his patrons ¥500 (or $4.74 USD) per Pokémon, as well as charging an additional commission of ¥400 - ¥800 ($3.80 - $7.59 USD) to customers who wished to order more than 6 Pokémon at a time. His made-to-order Pokémon service was advertised on a Japanese market website. His profit exceeded ¥1.15 million, or just short of $11,000 U.S. Dollars, in under one year.

Kawamatsu was arrested because his service violated the Japanese Unfair Competition Prevention Act. The arrest was also the first of its kind. This comes after The Pokémon Company announced that they will be banning players who modify their Pokémon Sword and Shield games and restrict those players from participating in online activities, such as trading with friends. Pokémon Sword and Shield are in the running to be some of the best-selling games on Nintendo Switch, so it's no surprise that perfect Pokémon are in high demand.

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