Netmarble Subsidiary Employee Illegally Distributes In-Game Items, Gains 5 Million KRW in Illicit Profits

Enhanced Items Sold at High Prices After DB Access
"Referred to Disciplinary Committee... Internal Audit System to Be Strengthened"

An employee, referred to as A, from the development team at Netmarble N2, a Netmarble subsidiary, was caught abusing their authority to illegally generate high-value in-game items, convert them into cash, and gain illicit profits.

On July 10, the development team of Netmarble's "RF Online Next" announced in a notice, "We have confirmed this shocking and regrettable incident involving the abnormal sale of items by an internal staff member."

RF Online Next is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Netmarble N2, a Netmarble subsidiary, and launched domestically in March. Since its release, it has remained among the top ranks in app market sales, making it a popular game.

According to Netmarble, A illicitly created a total of 16 "+10 Antigravity Drive" items, which are tradable in-game items. In the process, A directly accessed the game database and arbitrarily set the enhancement value of the "Antigravity Drive" to 10. The items were then sold at high prices, allowing A to obtain approximately 5 million KRW in cash.

RF Online Next. Provided by Netmarble

Netmarble stated that on July 6, they received a report about the incident through their customer service center, reviewed transaction logs, and confirmed A's abnormal item enhancement and trading history. Subsequently, A was removed from their duties, and the account used was permanently suspended and seized. Netmarble also reported that A was referred to a disciplinary committee, and that they plan to pursue civil and criminal actions against any future misconduct.

The company added that all items illicitly distributed by A will be traced and fully recovered, and that affected users will be compensated for the purchase costs and any items equipped prior to the purchase.

Netmarble stated, "We deeply reflect on the shortcomings in our internal personnel management and operations revealed by this incident," adding, "We will further strengthen our internal audit system and rigorously manage data access permissions to prevent such incidents from recurring."