2 Chinese Arrested over Securities Account Hijacking

Tokyo, Nov. 28 (Jiji Press)–Japanese police arrested two Chinese nationals on Friday over a series of cases in which accounts at online securities firms were hijacked and used to manipulate stock prices. It is not known whether the suspects, aged 38 and 42, have admitted to market manipulation in violation of the financial instruments and exchange law. Over the matter, there were a total of 9,348 cases of fraudulent securities trades totaling some 711 billion yen from January to October, according to the Financial Services Agency. The two were the first to be arrested in connection with the matter. They are believed to have profited by inflating stock prices and selling shares at higher prices. The Metropolitan Police Department and others are investigating the suspects’ involvement in the cases and whether an organization was behind them. According to their arrest warrant, the two Chinese conspired with unidentified individuals to fraudulently access 10 securities accounts of people living in 10 Japanese prefectures on March 17. They allegedly used the accounts to place a large number of buy orders to raise the share price of a company listed on the Standard section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The suspects are believed to have earned about 8.6 million yen by selling shares in the company after its stock price rose from 84 yen to 110 yen, police sources said. Police began investigating the matter after receiving information from securities companies and the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission in April. The suspects are believed to have used fraudulently obtained IDs and passwords to hijack accounts. Some victims said that they may have fallen for phishing scams, according to the sources. From December last year to October, police received 3,591 reports of damage from account hijackings and other incidents nationwide. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]