AN ACCUSED computer hacker alleged to have made up to $1000 a day selling player details from a US-based gaming developer claims to be a victim of the elaborate scam.

Police allege Kingaroy man Shane Duffy, 21, hacked the servers of developer Riot Games and sold player and IP address details for online game League of Legends.

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The details could be used by cheating players to “attack” computer IP addresses of opponents through denial-of-service attacks to slow or hamper their playing abilities in a bid to kill them in the game and take their possessions.

Police said players were able to sell their skins, costumes and vanity items for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars online.

But Duffy’s mother and carer defended her son, saying while the computer whiz was capable of the cyber crimes, he did not commit them.

His mother, who asked to be known only as Leah, said her son had more computer hacking knowledge than Queensland’s best cyber detective.

The mother of two said her son had Asperger’s syndrome and had stopped going to school in Year 4 because the education system did not want him. Since then he stayed home, teaching himself about computers.

“What the police are saying is not correct … he’s not guilty of the charges he’s accused of,” she said.

“Shane’s capable, but then the information he had and accessed was freely available on the internet. Somebody else has thrown the database out there.”

Fraud and Cyber Crime Squad Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said the investigation spanned six months and involved the FBI and the game developer. He said the case “challenged the mythology” around hackers.

“These hacking threats can come from anywhere,” Det Supt Hay said.

“When you get the imagery that a skilled hacker has to be in a major city with a big bank of computers and sophisticated file servers surrounding them in a little bungalow … we are talking about a 21-year-old living with his mother and family with a laptop.”

Police will allege there were 880 transactions to Duffy linked to a website set up to sell the data last month.

Duffy is charged with three counts of computer hacking and misuse, two counts of fraud (dishonestly apply property to own use), two counts of fraud (dishonestly obtain property from another) and one count of fraud (dishonestly cause detriment and possessing equipment for purpose of committing/facilitating the commission of an offence).

He is due to appear in the Maryborough Magistrates Court on April 8.

Originally published as My son’s not ‘The One’ you’re after