Thief steals $6 million from employer, spends million on in-app purchases for mobile game

Model Kate Upton fronted the Game of War ad campaign. Photo / Supplied

When a criminal managed to embezzle US$6 million ($8.3m) from his employer, he understandably went on a spending spree with his new fortune.

Kevin Lee Co admitted to purchasing luxury cars, a golf club membership and season tickets to the San Francisco 49ers and the Sacramento Kings with his small fortune.

While these items are what you would expect a multi-millionaire to spend his loot on, the US$1.34 million ($1.85m) he spent on in-app purchases for mobile game Game of War come as a surprise.

The 45-year-old California man pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling US$6 million from heavy-equipment company, Holt California, between May 2008 to March 2015.

As the manager of the company's accounting department, Co was able to conduct hundreds of unauthorised credit card transactions.

While Co's spending on Game of War is widely excessive, he is not the first person to become entangled in the game, which has a daily revenue of US$961,000.

According to VentureBeat, Game of War had the largest in-app purchases of any mobile game in 2015, with players spending an average of $762 annually.

Despite falling well short of Co's US$1.34 million in purchases, Jason Croghan said he had spent US$12,000 on the game after being lured into spending money on upgrades to remain competitive.

"You've gone from a game that was fun to play for free to a game that's no fun to play at all unless you spend to keep up. And you will spend because you've been putting in 30 minutes a day for half a year to reach this point," he told Cracked.

"I'm not saying games are evil, but titles like Game Of War have no end goal beyond addiction."

While Co didn't explain the motives behind his $1.34 million purchases, he did plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

In total, he must repay the US$6 million and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.