NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some Nashville children are getting their first taste of what it's like to be a crime victim after being burglarized while playing a popular children's Internet game.

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Webkinz is a virtual world for children where gamers spend hours accumulating virtual money and then spend it on furnishing an online home.

Jesse Shafer spent a year putting together a fantasy world and then all of a sudden it was gone after his account was hacked.

"I had a pool table, clocks. I had a couch, some plants. I had movies,” said Shafer. "About $30,000 worth of stuff went down the drain."

Word started spreading at Shafer's school that everyone was getting their Webkinz world hacked and robbed.

Justin Shafer tried everything to save his virtual world.

"So I logged off to change my password. I logged back on and everything was gone except for three items, and those were pretty much worthless,” said Justin Shafer. "I just spent hours trying to figure out how to make my room look good, how to spend my money. ... It made me really sad. I don't know why people would do it, but they do."

Webkinz is a world that does not develop quickly. Users must earn their money over time. Your world improves over time. In many ways it's like real life.

"In that sense I think it does teach them a certain sort of value about what the real world is like. Unfortunately they also found out that the real world isn't always a nice place and people will come and take your things, sneak in like a thief in the middle of the night. That's a value I wish they hadn't learned," said Nashville dad Mark Shafer.

So what does Webkinz have to say about this? Does this go beyond a dozen kids in west Nashville that have been affected?

The parent company of Webkinz, GANZ, based in New York, has been silent on the issue.

Related Link:

Webkinz Web site

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