Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) reported a significant surge in unauthorized stock market trades in April, with almost $2 billion in funds illicitly moved by hackers. Updated figures reveal that nine (9) securities firms reported 2,746 fraudulent transactions through nearly 5,000 breached accounts in April alone. The hackers executed over $1 billion in sales and approximately $902 billion in purchases. For the first quarter of 2025, the FSA previously noted fraudulent transactions totaling $350 million in sales and $315 million in purchases across twelve (12) securities firms. These figures represent the total fraudulent transactions within compromised accounts. Typically, hackers access these accounts using stolen login credentials, sell stocks or securities, and reinvest the proceeds in domestic and foreign small-cap stocks. The hackers manipulate stock prices by using breached accounts to inflate the value of smaller stocks they own. Once the stock prices rise, they sell the stocks for profit. Cybersecurity experts have highlighted a recent increase in phishing campaigns in Japan, which likely contribute to these breaches. Researchers have pointed out that tools like ChatGPT enable hackers to create culturally tailored phishing emails. There has also been a recently released a report on CoGUI, a phishing kit popular among Chinese cybercriminals for stealing usernames, passwords, and payment information.