The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department gave out details about the arrest of a 21-year student recently. Tomoya Konishi was arrested on the charge of making an expensive fraudulent purchase using the credit card details of other people. What is more concerning is that he made a purchase of anime merchandise of famous anime using the wrong means. Here is everything there is to know about this particular anime theft.
Anime is a huge part of media, and as the different series build their empires, they release additional content for the fans. This includes home release DVDs, OVAs, posters, and, most importantly, it includes anime merchandise. In 2020, the sales revenue from the animation merchandising market reached 582 billion Japanese yen. Merch is a very important revenue source for many companies that help build some of your favorite series. It includes key chains, watches, mugs, and figurines, among other things. However, it is high time to ask if these companies are releasing merch that is too costly for an average person. This might result in people using the wrong methods to get these items.
Anime Theft: 21-Year-Old Uses Wrong Means To Buy Anime Merch
Tomoya Konishi is a third-year student at the Nihon University in Japan. As per the details, the youngster was working as a part-timer at a Chinese Restaurant. The Police suspect that he spied on his coworkers to take their credit card details to make the purchases. He tried to buy four limited edition watches from famous anime series. They cost around 1.34 million Japanese yen at a mail order website and luckily he was caught. The Police say that he used the information of at least ten people that he got through illegal means.
During the investigation, the suspect admitted to the charges. He also explained how he learned to steal money in this manner. At an unofficial drinking party, another student from the same department told him of his method to steal money. Konishi then decided to use it on his coworkers from part-time to buy anime series merchandise.
Related: Is Platinum End Getting Canceled After Fan Suicide? What Do Makers Say?
Conclusion
Although the actions and the results of the actions belong to the student alone, it is important to ask some big questions. Should anime merch continue to be so costly? It would be useful for the companies to look at their finances and cut production costs to make cheaper products. In fact, maybe if Konishi was able to buy those watches with his money from a part-time job, he would not have tried to cheat his way to money using these unfair means.
As of now, the student has admitted to the charges, and the Police are looking to wrap up the case by finding out if there were any more people whose details he used for big buys like these. Keep reading this space for further updates as they come.
