Chinese man accused of stealing passwords linked to e-cigarette scam, Japan says

Hu Aobo, 30, was arrested in Japan for unauthorised computer access and is believed to be linked to a syndicate smuggling e-cigarettes to China

His computer contained stolen login information of over 2 million people and several fake websites offering shopping and financial products

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Police found some 100 million email addresses on a device confiscated from the Chinese man. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:54pm, 2 May 2023

A Chinese man in Japan accused of storing stolen logins and passwords of more than 2 million people on his computer is believed to be linked to a syndicate smuggling e-cigarettes to China, police said.

Hu Aobo, 30, was arrested on Monday for unauthorised computer access in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo.

Police also found about 100 million email addresses on the device confiscated from Hu, who has denied the allegations.

Officers added Hu allegedly obtained the information through phishing or from the dark web and his computer had malware to conduct a phishing attack, NHK reported.

Thirteen Chinese nationals have been detained since last June in connection with the vapouriser scam in which Hu helmed the hacking task. Photo: Shutterstock

It also contained several fake websites offering shopping and financial products supposedly deployed to reel in personal information from unsuspected users.

Hu was in February arrested on suspicion of illegally using an individual’s Merpay mobile payment account to buy a dozen e-cigarette cartons from a Tokyo convenience store.