Sapporo Man Held on Suspicion of Creating Sexual Deepfakes of Female Celebrities, Gaining Over ¥11 Mil. with Images

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:29 JST, January 20, 2026

A 31-year-old man was arrested Monday on suspicion of creating sexual deepfakes of female celebrities and sharing them on membership-based websites.

The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Tatsuro Chiba, an unemployed man from Nishi Ward, Sapporo, on suspicion of posting around a dozen sexual images closely resembling female celebrities and making them available on two membership-based sites between December 2024 and May last year.

Chiba is suspected of using free image-generating AI software on his home computer and trained the AI on images of actresses and pop idols to create sexual images, the police said. He is thought to have then posted sample images on X and Instagram, directing those wishing to view them to the two membership-based websites.

The MPD allege that Chiba had created at least 500,000 sexual deepfakes of about 300 people, including actresses and pop idols, that he shared on websites from summer 2023. The MPD suspect he illegally obtained about ¥11 million with these images.

The websites have monetization models, where users pay to view content and those who post images receive a portion of the fees. Chiba reportedly accepted requests from high-tier plan website members on which celebrities they wanted to see in the fake images.

The MPD believe Chiba used the money he earned for events and other activities featuring his favorite underground pop idol, among other things.