Teen in custody after allegedly unsubscribing more than 40,000 anime accounts
Fri, July 10, 2026 at 5:46 AM
The 15-year-old suspect allegedly taught himself to code in elementary school and told investigators he used ChatGPT to complete the program after changing programming languages during the development process. (AI-generated WKRC photo)
TOKYO (WKRC) – A teenage boy was taken into custody after he allegedly utilized AI to unsubscribe more than 40,000 anime accounts
According to The Asahi Shimbun,authorities in Tokyo, Japan, arrested a 15-year-old boy after he allegedly admitted to using ChatGPT to construct a program that allowed him to forcibly delete approximately 46,000 accounts on Bandai Channel, a streaming service for Japanese animation (anime)
Per the report, the suspect is a high school student from Saitama Prefecture
When speaking with law enforcement, the student allegedly stated, “I created the was taking a long time, I asked ChatGPT and completed it in a different programming language.”
The publication reported that investigators determined the teen sent malicious commands to the servers of Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc., which operates Bandai Channel. The commands reportedly caused the deregistration of 46,812 accounts, forcing the company to suspend services for a period of time
Mainichi reported that the company resumed full service in December after engineers repaired its systems. The Asahi Shimbun reported that even after Bandai implemented countermeasures to block the teen’s access, he allegedly changed his IP address 30 times to continue sending malicious commands
According to the publication, the suspect was a junior in high school at the time of the incident and was arrested in June on suspicion of committing other cybercrimes. When speaking with investigators, he reportedly said he had taught himself to code in elementary school. He also said he held “no grudge” against Bandai but “did it because there were many accounts I could log into.”
Bandai contacted law enforcement in November 2025, and the following month announced that personal information associated with up to 1.36 million accounts may have been exposed in a potential data breach. The company said no secondary damage has been confirmed, and stated, “we take this situation very seriously and will continue to conduct regular checks and strive to prevent any recurrence,” per The Asahi Shimbun
According to the publication, the student is suspected of the following:
- Fraudulent obstruction of business
“Cyberspace is highly anonymous, and people may be tempted to commit crimes casually, but these actions can lead to grave consequences,” a senior investigator told the publication
