Microsoft and Japan took down a cybercrime network behind over a billion scam messages

<figure> <img alt="A smartphone sits on top of a surface with red tape reading “DANGER.” Where one strip intersects the phone, it continues inside the phone’s screen." data-caption="" data-portal-copyright="Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge" data-has-syndication-rights="1" src="https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23318439/akrales_220309_4977_0324.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;crop=0,0,100,100" /> <figcaption> </figcaption> </figure> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">We've all gotten a scam text about a nonexistent parking ticket or a fake package delivery, but hopefully you'll start seeing fewer of them. Microsoft says it helped <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2026/10/14/disrupting-the-service-economy-behind-transnational-cybercrime-operations/">dismantle a marketplace for scammers</a> sending phishing messages like those around the world. Through an investigation with Japan's National Police Agency, it tracked scam activity back to a marketplace called YAM Store and a pair of phishing kits, CoGUI and Iron Man:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Since January 2026, YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man have collectively enabled more than one billion malicious messages targeting over 75,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 750 million messages geared to …</p></blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/tech/1011487/microsoft-scam-messages-marketplace-takedown">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>