A Japanese man was arrested for modifying Pokémon Scarlet and Violet game saves and selling rare Pokémon to other players on marketplaces for real money. He could face up to 5 years in prison, Japanese media reports.

According to machine-translated reports by NHK and Asahi Shimbun, Kochi Prefectural Police arrested 36-year-old Yoshihiro Yamakawa on April 9 after cyber police caught him selling characters on the Internet.

The market for selling Pokémon has been around for a long time. To raise a Pokémon with ideal characteristics, many factors need to be taken into account and it can be very difficult. Yamakawa decided to get around this problem by tampering with the game and changing the save file.

To create the “perfect” Pokémon, you need to cross two upgraded Pokémon with the right items. After that, the resulting Pokémon child must be trained in battles against specific Pokémon and fed with the right vitamins.

This process can take many hours, and such Pokémon are usually not cheap. The naked eye cannot distinguish such a Pokémon from one created by tampering with the save files, so some sellers may abuse this method. But even in the realities of the market, Yamakawa set too high prices for his Pokémon, which attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies.

Yamakawa was arrested on suspicion of violating Japan’s law on the prevention of unfair competition.

According to the police report, Yamakawa was caught in a controlled purchase. The detainee pleaded guilty and said that this was his only source of income.

Between December 2022 and March 2023, Yamakawa allegedly sold his monsters for 13,000 yen each, which is roughly equal to $85. Although Yamakawa reportedly confessed to the charges and told officers: “I did it to make a living,” the case is still under investigation. Police suspect that Yamakawa’s total profits amounted to millions of yen.