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Tokyo police arrest two Chinese students over NTT Docomo e-money hacks

Jan 20, 2021 | News On Japan

Jan 20, 2021 (Japan Times) - Tokyo police arrested two Chinese exchange students Tuesday for their alleged involvement in fraudulent money withdrawals related to mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc.’s Docomo Koza e-money service.

The two have denied the charges, according to investigative sources.

A mastermind behind the students, both in their 20s, allegedly created Docomo Koza accounts using free email addresses and connected them with other people’s bank accounts.

The two students are suspected of conspiring with somebody to create Docomo Koza accounts in the names of a man and a woman in their 30s to 40s in Okayama Prefecture in August and September last year, and transferring a total of some ¥700,000 into the Docomo Koza accounts from the Okayama residents’ accounts in Chugoku Bank.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department’s cybercrime section, the suspects are believed to have purchased heat-and-burn tobacco products and tablet devices, worth a total of some ¥4.5 million after the money transfers, using a settlement service of NTT Docomo.

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