Bangkok  - Inspired by the online game Grand Auto Theft, a 19-year-old Thai boy over the weekend stabbed a taxi driver to death, media reports said Monday.

Polwat Chinno, a 12th grade high-school student, was arrested at 2:30 am Sunday as he was attempting to make a getaway in a Bangkok taxi.

The taxi's driver, 54-year-old Kuan Pohkang, was found dead in the back seat with more than 10 knife wounds in his body.

Polwat confessed to police that he had killed Kuan to rob him of his money in order to finance his addiction to online games, of which Grand Auto Theft was his favourite, said the Bangkok Post.

"I needed money to play the game every day," said Polwat. "My parents give me only 100 baht (3 dollars) a day, which is not enough."

The game, which allows people to play the role of a criminal in a big city, includes one episode in which a taxi driver is killed and the culprit escapes in the cab.

Polwat told police that while killing the taxi driver was "not a difficult thing to do," he had run in to trouble driving the car away which was harder than it looked on the game. (dpa)