Tokyo Police Arrest 32-Year-Old Woman for 2,000 Fraudulent Orders at Shueisha Shop Worth ¥4.3 Billion
Tokyo police arrested Mayu Yoshida, a 32-year-old restaurant employee from Osaka, on August 4 for repeatedly placing and cancelling orders on Shueisha's official Jump Characters Store. Using 238 accounts, she made over 2000 orders for anime merchandise such as One Piece and Naruto figures between July 2024 and May 2025, with a total listed value of about ¥4.3 billion (US$27 million). She admitted the acts, citing stress relief and a sense of satisfaction. Shueisha consulted police in June 2025.
Tokyo police arrested Mayu Yoshida, a 32-year-old restaurant worker from Osaka, on August 4 on suspicion of fraudulent obstruction of business. Yoshida is accused of repeatedly placing and then cancelling orders on Jump Characters Store, the official merchandise shop of publisher Shueisha. Over more than 2000 orders placed through 238 different accounts, she ordered popular anime merchandise, including figures from One Piece and Naruto.
Between July 2024 and May 2025, her orders had a combined listed value of approximately ¥4.3 billion (US$27 million). She never completed payment: some orders were automatically cancelled after she failed to pay by the deadline, while cash-on-delivery orders were refused at the doorstep. Shueisha estimated the total value of cancelled orders at about ¥4.3 billion, though the figure reflects only the listed prices and does not represent actual direct losses suffered by the company.
In her confession, Yoshida admitted to the actions, saying they stemmed from 'stress accumulated in daily life' and gave her a sense of 'satisfaction' and 'refreshing clarity.' Shueisha consulted police in June 2025. The arrest follows the detention of a suspect accused of distributing pirated content via an anime BitTorrent index site, and a separate incident in which a 50-year-old government employee attacked a colleague for spoiling the plot of Oshi no Ko.