A teenage computer student who took online orders for pirated CD-Rom games and delivered copies to customers was caught in an undercover sting, Customs investigators said yesterday.
The 19-year-old, who is attending a computer course at a private college, accepted about 60 orders and had made at least $6,000 during the past two months, according to Superintendent Ho Kai-hoi of the Customs' Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau.
'A list of 250 CD-Rom games, together with an e-mail address, was printed on the Web site that he set up. They were priced at $100 for seven games. After placing orders by e-mail, the games would be delivered by hand,' he said. 'We believe the 250 CD-Rom games could be downloaded from other illegal Web sites, bought in illegal markets or borrowed from his friends.'
After a two-week investigation, officers from the anti-Internet piracy team placed an order to be collected at Prince Edward MTR station on Monday afternoon. The 19-year-old man was arrested when he allegedly handed seven CD-Rom games to an undercover Customs officer.
Officers then raided the Shamshuipo flat where he lives with his parents. Officers seized several hundred pirated CD-Rom games and computer equipment. The discs and equipment were worth about $33,000.
He was released on bail pending further investigations.