YOUNG video game enthusiast who sold his online game account for $1,000, stole the account, and then tried to peddle it again, was fined $3,000 fine on Friday - in the first court case here involving disputes in the virtual world.

Joshua Chua Er Jin, 20, pleaded guilty to one charge of illegally accessing a computer, an offence under the Computer Misuse Act, in a Subordinate Court on Friday. He could have been fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to three years.

Chua, an NSman, had put his A3 online game account up for sale last April for $1,000. He found a buyer, and the two met at a gaming shop to complete the deal. The buyer verified the characters and items on the account, changed the account password, and then transferred the funds to Chua.

According to court documents, Chua noticed this, and 'after deliberating for a while', decided to use the 'forget password' facility to have a new password sent to the email account. In this way he managed to regain access to the game account.

When the buyer found that he could no longer access the account, he confronted Chua, who said he did not know what had happened and refused to return the money. He made a police report and investigations later identified Chua as the culprit.

In mitigation, Chua's lawyer, asking the court to place Chua on probation, said his actions were not premeditated, but he had 'foolishly succumbed to greed' thinking he could make another $1,000.

Chua, a first-offender, had also 'immediately confessed' and 'cooperated fully' with investigations, and just last week, returned the buyer the $1,000.

District Judge Liew Thiam Leng fined Chua $3,000.