Celebrity deepfake porn cases in Japan point to rise in sex-related cybercrime

Three men arrested for selling manipulated images of unidentified actresses and singers have been charged with defamation

The arrests are seen as an effort by police to head off a potential flood of deepfake footage of what appears to be famous people doing things they never did

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Japanese police are expected to step up their investigations of sex cybercrimes to head off a growing trend. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 6:29pm, 20 Nov 2020Updated: 9:45pm, 21 Nov 2020

Three men have been arrested in Japan on charges of defamation for using image manipulation software to superimpose the faces of famous actresses and singers on performers in pornographic movies and then selling access to the footage through a website.

The arrests were the second in a matter of months, with an analyst suggesting Japanese police are heeding calls for them to pay greater attention to sex-related cybercrimes.

The three men – Masayuki Futamata, 46, and Gaku Yamaguchi, 33, both of Tokyo, and 23-year-old Kentaro Kubo of Yokohama – allegedly used software that they downloaded from the internet to create 215 “deepfake” videos that purported to show well-known Japanese celebrities in pornographic films.

The videos were then released on a pay-per-view adult website. Police claim that Futamata earned more than 500,000 yen (US$4,816) from the site, while Kubo earned an estimated 1 million yen.

The celebrities who appeared in the videos have not been identified by the police, but the arrests were welcomed by the Ever Green Entertainment agency in Tokyo, which represents a number of well-known actresses, models and musician, such as Okamoto Rei, Ikeda Elaiza and Yanagi Yurina.