Tokyo Police Arrest Man for Alleged PayPay Fraud

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo police have arrested a 33-year-old man for allegedly using smartphone payment app PayPay to defraud electronic money from an individual, people familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

The suspect, Masanobu Kimura, a resident of Sapporo, a city in Hokkaido, northern Japan, has denied part of the allegations, the people said.

The Metropolitan Police Department received about 180 reports on similar cases last year alone.

Kimura allegedly received instructions in Chinese on highly secure messaging app Telegram, using a translation app. The police believe that a "tokuryu" anonymous crime group was involved.

On Aug. 14, 2025, Kimura and others allegedly conspired to send an email to a woman who ordered from an online shopping website, saying that she would be given a refund due to a lack of inventory.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]