Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 6 hrs ago
Microsoft and Japan disrupt marketplace behind more than a billion scam messages
Microsoft and Japan’s National Police Agency disrupted a cybercrime marketplace called YAM Store and two related phishing services.
Since January 2026, the services have enabled more than one billion malicious messages targeting over 75,000 organizations worldwide.
The messages reached consumers, health providers, financial institutions and businesses in more than 150 countries.
Scammers used the marketplace to buy accounts and phishing tools that helped them impersonate organizations, including banks and police departments.
Microsoft says it disabled more than 20,000 connected accounts and blocked over 100,000 web domains used for fraud.
With the nonprofit Health-ISAC, it also seized and redirected domains that powered the services, disrupting infrastructure used to run the scams.
Microsoft and Japan’s National Police Agency helped dismantle a cybercrime marketplace called YAM Store and two phishing platforms, CoGUI and Iron Man.
Since January 2026, the platforms enabled more than one billion malicious messages targeting over 75,000 organizations worldwide.
More than 750 million of the messages targeted Microsoft customers, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft said the messages reached consumers and organizations in more than 150 countries and generated tens of millions of dollars for the operators.
Microsoft disabled over 20,000 connected accounts and blocked more than 100,000 web domains used for impersonation and fraud.
- Who
- Microsoft and Japan’s National Police Agency worked to disrupt the network.
- What
- They helped dismantle YAM Store and the CoGUI and Iron Man phishing platforms.
- When
- The platforms had enabled malicious messages since January 2026. The articles were published on October 14, 2026.
- Where
- The activity targeted victims in more than 150 countries. The AD article also reported that a fake Dutch Tax Administration website was offered for sale.
- Why
- The marketplace supplied scammers with accounts and phishing tools to carry out fraud and impersonation.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man enabled more than one billion malicious messages, according to Microsoft.
The Verge and AD reported that Microsoft and Japanese authorities had disrupted the network.
- Platforms
- YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man
- Messages
- More than 1 billion since January 2026
- Organizations targeted
- More than 75,000 worldwide
- Countries reached
- More than 150
- Accounts disabled
- More than 20,000
- Domains blocked
- More than 100,000
2 sources
What people are saying
Since January 2026, YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man have collectively enabled more than one billion malicious messages targeting over 75,000 organizations worldwide