Arrested Pokemon Hacker Could Spend Five Years in Prison

A Japanese man arrested for modifying and selling Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could end up spending five years in prison. The arrest is the latest in the crackdown on modifying and altering game files in the nation.

Modified Pokemon can be a big problem in games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Pokemon with altered colors, stats, and abilities are sometimes offered online for a fee, allowing players to have unfair advantages over those who conventionally breed and raise Pokemon for max EVs, or grind endlessly to find or breed a shiny Pokemon. While generally seen as a nuisance and a potential issue for tournaments in the west, modifying and selling Pokemon in Japan can bring major fines and jail time, which one 36-year old is now facing.

On April 9, Yoshihiro Yamakawa was arrested for the modification and sale of altered Pokemon game saves. According to police statements, as reported by the NHK and translated by Automaton, the player was offering modified Pokemon for sale online for anywhere from $30 to $90 USD between December 2022 and March 2023. In Japan, this violates the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. Yamakawa has reportedly already confessed to the crime, simply saying that he did it to make a living.

At this point, the investigation is ongoing, with investigators looking into exactly how many Pokemon were sold and for how much. They reportedly believe that the sales could have been worth millions of yen, or thousands of dollars in US currency. While it will be some time before the outcome of the Pokemon crime is known, maximum penalties for this crime include a 5 million yen ($33,000 USD) penalty and imprisonment for five years.

Considering that hacked game files and modified Pokemon are often seen for sale elsewhere in the world, this may all come as a surprise to some Pokemon fans. However, this isn't the first time that Japanese Pokemon hackers have been caught and faced an outcome like this. Back in 2021 when Pokemon Sword and Shield was the