In Japan, a man has received a 22-month prison sentence after he created a fake website of Yahoo Japan in order to steal personal information from users. Kazuma Yabuno, 42, created the phishing scam in February 2005, in order to gain illegal access to the private email of Yahoo members. The sentence was suspended for four years.
"This case is significant, because it is the first time a phisher has been convicted in Japan," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Some will raise eyebrows at the leniency of the sentence as the middle-aged culprit has effectively got away with it. One wonders if he had broken into hundreds of houses, and not stolen any belongings, whether he would have escaped with a slap on the wrist."