OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police believe two boys, aged 17 and 18, used information obtained from a phishing site to defraud victims out of more than 10 million yen.
To create the phishing site, the suspects appear to have used generative AI, reports Nippon News Network (Oct. 28).
According to police, the 17-year-old boy, living in Chiba Prefecture, is suspected of taking over the bank account of someone he met on social media site X and fraudulently transferring a total of 500,000 yen to an account belonging to the 18-year-old boy who lives in Osaka Prefecture.
All told, the pair is suspected of defrauding a total of more than 13 million yen. The stolen money is believed to have been used to purchase brand-name goods, cryptocurrencies and other items.
When questioned, the 17-year-old boy said, “I don’t remember this incident.” Meanwhile, the 18-year-old boy has admitted to the charges.
In carrying out the ruse, one of the suspects wrote on X, “Looking for companions to an idol concert.” After contact with a victim was made, the method of payment was discussed. One of the suspects then offered to send 1 yen in electronic money to the victim to supposedly prevent transfer errors. The suspect then sent the URL for the phishing site.
The suspect explained to the victim that payment could be made if they entered their account information. This allowed the suspect to hijack the account.
“There’s no strange Japanese”
The 17-year-old boy said he had programmed the site himself using an overseas web tool. Police believe he also used the tool’s generative AI function.
Ryuta Nakagami is an expert on cybersecurity at LUC Co., Ltd. He says of the site, “This site was created using generative AI. No matter where you look, there’s no strange Japanese. With the advent of generative AI, the accuracy of Japanese has improved dramatically in recent years. It’s extremely difficult to tell if it’s a phishing site.”
The expert goes on about spotting a scam. “If you buy concert tickets, you’re the one sending the money, so all you need is the recipient’s bank account number. There’s no need to disclose your own,” he says.
