Compatible with some delightful USB ‘hands-free’ devices for experiencing ‘climax scenes’ (NSFW: male and female versions) many preferred to obtain the title via unofficial channels. Those that did were in for quite a shock.

A fake version of the game was widely available on file-sharing networks, but when installed it punished the would-be pirates. After gathering highly personal information from the victim’s computer, accompanied by a screenshot of his or her desktop and what they were doing at the time, the malware uploaded the whole lot to a public website.

It was possible to have the stuff taken down, but at a price. Not only would the victim have to apologize for downloading the ‘game’ for free, but they would also have to pay money to their tormentors.

But, as they say, what goes around, comes around.

According to a Japanese media report, this week two men were arrested on suspicion of creating the Cross Days malware and using it to extort money from victims.

Kenzo Oka, 27, of Tokyo, and an unnamed second man, 20, were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of defrauding several people out payments of around $64 each to have their personal details removed from the website.

While writing computer viruses isn’t a crime in Japan, extorting cash with them is. The pair become the first to be arrested in the country while using a virus as a tool to commit fraud.

In March 2007, we reported on another bizarre piece of Japanese code which taunted file-sharers, threatened to report them to the police and even threatened to kill them.

The author of that code was eventually arrested for breaching copyright – because he used cartoon graphics in the virus without permission.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

These games often have erotic and downright sexual elements and Cross Days from developer 0verflow is no different. The game suffered several delays before release, apparently so that it could be launched along with a special, ahem, USB ‘hands-free’ device for experiencing ‘climax scenes’ (NSFW: Male and female versions) but it was finally released just a few days ago.

Of course, not everyone would acquire the game through the official channels and many turned to file-sharing networks for their erotic gaming fix. Some, who were not particularly careful about the item they were downloading, were in for a pretty big shock.

Alongside the pirated versions of Cross Days can be found some software which claims to be the installer for the game, but is actually a piece of pretty vicious malware which appears to try to punish would-be pirates.

When run, the installer pretends to be the game but using personal information gathered from the victim’s computer (including IP address), it presents a survey which asks for more personal information – including their email address and password.

Once completed, the information is uploaded to a website for all the Internet to see – accompanied by a screenshot of the victim’s desktop. Samples of the information uploaded by the trojan can be viewed here and although much of it is in Japanese, there’s enough pictures and English text to entertain most readers and thoroughly embarrass the unlucky reader of Keily’s Plant.

Adding insult to injury, according to a report the installer’s terms of service agreement actually states that all these things happen, but as we all know, hardly anyone reads them.

Although it is possible to have the would-be pirate’s personal information taken down from the website, first the user has to effectively apologize for having tried to illegally download Cross Days.

Adding to the confusion, developer 0verflow are reporting that users of Avast! anti-virus software receive a false-positive warning (Win32: Trojan-gen) when installing the real game.

This isn’t the first time Japanese file-sharers have been targeted by malware writers. In 2007 a bizarre virus was released which threatened to kill people who illegally download using P2P.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.