ROME (AFP) – Italian prosecutors have launched a real inquiry into a virtual crime — a burglary of items including a jacuzzi, a designer sofa and a billiards table from the popular Facebook game Pet Society.

The inquiry is for "illegal and aggravated entry" into someone's email account — a charge that carries a potential prison sentence of between one and five years in prison under Italy's criminal code, officials said on Friday.

"In order to furnish the house you have to go to virtual shops for furniture, clothes and gifts," the woman who reported the crime, 44-year-old Paola Letizia, was quoted as saying in Italian media reports.

Letizia, an official at the local car registration office in Palermo in Sicily, also reported missing paintings, carpets, an acquarium, mirrors — all for a luxurious home the woman had built up for her virtual cat.

Italy's postal police has been given the task of tracking down the thief.