Many NTT Docomo Online Shop Users Hit by Hacking

August 15, 2018

Tokyo- Many users of NTT Docomo Inc.'s <9437> online shop have seen their credit card information used fraudulently to buy expensive smartphones without their knowledge, company officials said Tuesday.

The Docomo Online Shop, which mainly sells smartphones to mobile phone subscribers, was hit by unauthorized accesses from late July, the officials said, adding that about 1,000 smartphone purchases were made fraudulently.

The major mobile phone carrier learned of the fraud after receiving an inquiry from a user on Aug. 5, the officials also said.

Of the total registered users, 1,800 had their identification codes and passwords stolen. Registered credit card information was used fraudulently to buy expensive smartphones, such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone X, priced at about 140,000 yen.

In many cases, convenience stores were designated as smartphone pickup points. Most of the fraudulently purchased handsets are likely to have reached the perpetrator side, the officials said.

NTT Docomo will not charge the affected users for the smartphones. The company will report to police after investigating the total damage. Jiji Press