Financial transactions via hijacked accounts top ¥500B in January-May
A total of 5,958 illegal online financial transactions worth ¥524 billion ($3.6 billion) were performed through hijacked customer accounts at securities houses in Japan in the first five months of 2025, the Financial Services Agency said Thursday.
In May alone, there were 2,289 cases worth ¥209.4 billion. The number of securities companies where such illegal transactions occurred rose by seven from the end of April to 16.
The newly affected companies are Mizuho Securities, SBI Neotrade Securities, Tachibana Securities, Naito Securities, IwaiCosmo Securities, GMO Click Securities and Okasan Securities. In addition, customer account hijacking was discovered at IG Securities.
According to the Japan Securities Dealers Association, 10 major affected brokerage houses plan to pay some compensation to customers whose accounts were used in such transactions, regardless of the terms of their contracts, while other affected companies are considering similar action.
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