The shutdown of the service comes only three months after its launch, as in July 2019 hundreds of customers suffered as a result of unauthorised access to their accounts. The company launched the cashless payment service on July 1 at over 20,000 stores across Japan but has suspended acceptance of new users and the addition of credit to its smartphone application as the breach was confirmed soon after launch.
The company behind the service, Seven & i Holdings Co, admitted at a press conference it had failed to adequately strengthen its security system and promised to fully compensate for losses through purchases made by unlawful access using stolen IDs and passwords.
Moreover, it added that its countermeasures against logging in from multiple devices and additional verification steps were insufficient and there were also problems with risk management.
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