A Dutch teen who "borrowed" some virtual furniture has found himself behind real-life bars, reports the BBC. The 17-year-old has been arrested for allegedly stealing €4,000 (approx $6,000) of virtual furniture from a social-networking site.

　　The furniture in question was from virtual rooms inside the Habbo Hotel, a virtual networking site for teens. Users are given their own room, which they can personalise and decorate. As with other games that can be personalised, including Second Life and The Sims, a virtual economy trading in real-life cash for items has sprung up.

　　Five other teenagers, all 15-year-olds, have also been questioned by police, and the group are suspected to have gained access to the virtual furniture by obtaining the owners' log-in information through a phishing scam.

　　Sulake, the company that runs Habbo Hotel, contacted police regarding the missing furniture. A spokesperson said, "It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money. But the only way to be a thief in Habbo is to get people's usernames and passwords, and then log in and take the furniture. We got involved because of an increasing number of sites which are pretending to be Habbo. People might then try and log in and get their details stolen."

　　Habbo Hotel is reported to have six million active users across 30 different countries worldwide.