{"id":777044945,"date":"2026-07-15T10:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777044945"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:56:14","slug":"japan-arrests-nine-over-offshore-gambling-payment-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/japan-arrests-nine-over-offshore-gambling-payment-operation","title":{"rendered":"Japanese police arrest nine people over alleged offshore gambling payment operation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The suspects allegedly recruited people through social media to obtain bank accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Japan.- Police have detained nine people accused of operating a payment network that allegedly enabled people in Japan to gamble on overseas online casino websites. Those arrested by Saitama and Aichi prefectural police <\/strong>include Yuta Suzuki<\/strong>, who is accused of being a senior member of the payment processing organisation Tenmei<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to investigators, the suspects allegedly recruited people through social media to obtain bank accounts, which were then used to process gambling-related transactions to offshore online casinos. This allowed people to place bets despite Japan’s prohibition on online gambling. The investigation focused on six customers who allegedly used the system repeatedly between Jan. 4 and April 13, 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officers claim to have uncovered a large-scale payment centre in an apartment in Tokyo\u2019s Ota Ward<\/strong>, where about 200 computers<\/strong> were installed to allegedly process transactions 24 hours a day. Authorities estimate that the network handled about \u00a5340bn (US$2.1bn) in gambling transactions and generated up to \u00a510.3bn (US$64m) in processing fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under Japanese law, residents are prohibited from placing bets with overseas online casinos, including if those gambling platforms are licensed in other jurisdictions. Police said efforts to trace the money trail remain ongoing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Thai police detain 12 over alleged US$307m gambling network<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The suspects allegedly recruited people through social media to obtain bank accounts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":17140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Japanese police have dismantled a significant illicit payment network, Tenmei, which processed an estimated \u00a5340bn (US$2.1bn) in transactions for offshore online casinos, circumventing Japan's online gambling prohibition. Nine individuals, including alleged senior member Yuta Suzuki, were arrested for facilitating these transactions through fraudulently obtained bank accounts. This operation highlights the persistent challenges in enforcing iGaming regulations and combating illegal payment flows in restricted jurisdictions.","focusai_entities":"Yuta Suzuki, Tenmei, Saitama prefectural police, Aichi prefectural police","focusai_location":"Japan, Saitama, Aichi, Tokyo, Ota Ward","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Offshore Operator Risk","query":"What are the immediate and long-term implications for offshore iGaming operators and their payment partners regarding increased regulatory scrutiny and enforcement in restricted Asian markets following this significant bust?"},{"label":"Payment Gateway Vulnerabilities","query":"How does the modus operandi of Tenmei, utilizing fraudulently obtained bank accounts and a large-scale processing center, expose critical vulnerabilities in global payment gateway and AML frameworks?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16338,154],"tags":[23911,470,4138],"class_list":["post-777044945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-asia-news","category-legislation-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-japan","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777044945"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777044960,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777044945\/revisions\/777044960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777044945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777044945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777044945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}